# American Pinball Drop Target Adjustment

**Source:** American Pinball  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2023-05-03  
**Duration:** 2m 22s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS4vkP-24Gg

---

## Analysis

American Pinball technical service video demonstrating drop target height adjustment procedures on the Hot Wheels pinball machine, covering lock nut positioning, machine screw tightness, and Loctite application to ensure proper playfield flush alignment.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Drop targets should be flush with the playfield to allow slow rolling balls to pass without getting stuck — _Dave Brennan, American Pinball Tech Service, explaining proper drop target positioning_
- [HIGH] The machine screw on the plunger rod pulls the drop target up into position and must be kept tight — _Dave Brennan demonstrating the mechanism adjustment process_
- [HIGH] Blue Loctite should be applied to the threads of the plunger lever machine screw — _Dave Brennan identifying Loctite application as part of proper assembly_
- [HIGH] Hot Wheels has two drop targets: one for the track lane and one for the saucer on the right — _Dave Brennan identifying playfield features on Hot Wheels_

### Notable Quotes

> "If it's sitting too low then the ball can get stuck on the drop target and that drop target should actually be flush with the play field so a slow rolling ball can roll past it."
> — **Dave Brennan**, ~0:15
> _Explains the functional requirement for proper drop target adjustment and the consequence of improper positioning_

> "If this is loose, then your drop target is going to sag down lower than it should."
> — **Dave Brennan**, ~0:50
> _Identifies the primary failure mode and root cause of drop target sagging_

> "This is supposed to have a little bit of blue Loctite on the threads of this screw, so make sure that that is tight."
> — **Dave Brennan**, ~1:00
> _Specifies the exact thread-locking compound and assembly requirement for the critical screw_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Dave Brennan | person | Technical Service representative for American Pinball, providing maintenance guidance |
| American Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer producing Hot Wheels machine; Dave Brennan is their tech service contact |
| Hot Wheels | game | American Pinball pinball machine featuring drop target mechanisms discussed in video |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Drop target adjustment and maintenance, Playfield mechanism tuning, Technical service and operator education
- **Secondary:** Hardware assembly and Loctite application

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0) — Educational technical content delivered professionally without subjective commentary or emotional framing

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** American Pinball producing technical service content demonstrating ongoing commitment to operator and owner education and support (confidence: high) — Formal technical service video with detailed mechanism explanation and contact information provided for follow-up questions

---

## Transcript

 Hey there, Dave Jeff Brenner with American Pinball Tech Service. Today I'm going over the drop target mechanisms on Hot Wheels. There are two in the game. You can see them. One is for the track lane and then the other is for the saucer on the right. And I get some questions periodically about how you adjust the drop target height. If it's sitting low then the ball can get stuck on the drop target and that drop target should actually be flush with the play field so a slow rolling ball can roll past it. So the way to adjust that is there is a lock nut on the bottom of the mechanism as well as a machine screw on the plunger rod that needs to be tight and in the proper position So let me zoom in here On the mechanism itself you want to make sure that this machine screw for the plunger lever, this pulls the drop target up into its position. If this is loose, then your drop target is going to sag down lower than it should. This is supposed to have a little bit of blue Loctite on the threads of this screw, so make sure that that is tight. The next thing that is the adjustment for the target height is this lock nut here as well as so you can adjust the bumper to go up or down and make sure that the target on top of the play field is flush with the wood so you can adjust this up or down depending on where it needs to be. So hopefully that was helpful. If you have any questions, reach out to me at the email or phone number listed at the bottom of the screen. Thank you for watching.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 665befb1-2dbb-4b63-8ee6-3eff25116595*