[kevhead]

upc # 01030071 GM Michael Myer made by Gemmy Industries
purchased at Spirit of Halloween years ago ??
We love this prop and use it every year in our Haloween display.
Unfortunately some one did something to it this year and now it is making a clicking noise. The head turns and the arm goes up and down but it does not turn the body back and forth. I tried to figure out how to take apart the housing under the head to find out if a gear is broken but could not get it open after the first compartment. The the gears in there for moving the head looked okay but thats as far as I could get. What is the trick to getting the rest of it apart or is it glued together?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

 

[Bruzilla]

Generally the problem with these props failing isn't bad gears but the shafts that hold the gears in place slipping out of their retaining holes and allowing the gears to disengage from one another. I usually troubleshoot these first by looking at the gearbox and seeing if any of the shaft/pin holes are open, meaning there should be something stuck in there but now there's nothing. I open the boxes by using an exacto knife to cut along the seams and then cracking them open with a screwdiver, but be careful when you do that as bits and pieces can fly everywhere.

 

[kevhead]

Thanks Bruzilla I'll take another look at it to see if there a seam I can cut open.
here are a few pictures that might help people to see what I'm looking at.

 

[Bruzilla]

If you have it out, you should be able to locate the source of the clicking sound much easier, and it sure looks like you've got enough tools to do the job.

You'll need to remove those screws if they are holding the covers you need to get through on, but be aware they may do more than hold covers in place. Sometimes they also are holding internal parts in place.

 

[Nickthetoyguy]

okay this might be the problem, I don't think it's that I have a lot of props with that movement freddy jason etc. the body turning wire need to be resoldered or the white wire could be getting in the way this is a common problem

 

[kevhead]

Thanks Nick, I will take a look to see if I can figure it out.

 

[kevhead]

I think I fixed it. I finally figures how to get at the second gear box by pulling the first gear box out of the housing with a pair of needle nose pliers. That then revealed morescrews etc. After geting into the second gear box I found that the smallest gear on the motors drive shaft was striped and just spining. I took it appart cleaned it then crazy glued it back on. so far so good. I will attach some pictures to help anyone else.