Topic: Bought a used Shelti Pro foos II, whats wrong with the bars?

[Jrbman33]

At least thats what Shelti tells me... i think it is a Shelti 400, either way, since the day I bought it, the bars did not slide well. I replaced all the bearings and it still feels dry.  The rods are the black QPC treated ones so I wouldnt think that they need to be replaced, I do know the table sat for a while. Has anyone experienced this?  I bought the "super lube" along with the bearings, and have been using nothing but silicone in there as well.  I am hoping that there is something I haven't thought of.  Thanks!

[Buckshot]

Try cleaning the rods with a cloth soaked with hot water and dish soap, then clean with a clean cloth and plain hot water. Then lube. This fixed the sticking problem on my Fireball when I first got it, I hope this works for you.

[xmanicmattx]

You could also try 90% rubbing alcohol before lubing to as it evaporates fast leaving no residue. (If there's a reason not to do this someone please chime in. This is what I've always done as I've always been told nothing but that should go on your table.) Once you get it fixed you should let us all know how the table plays. I've always been curious about the Shelti tablesbut as of yet haven't had a chance to play on one. Good luck. Hope one of the methods help with your new baby.

[foosnewbie]

I know with the Fireball rods you can use some 3000 grit sandpaper to smooth out the QPQ surface on the rods. Gently, gently.

Another, more risky solution is to remove a small amount of plastic material on the inner bearing surface. If you have the old bearings still, it might be worth a try. The idea is to increase the inner bearing dimension just enough to improve the rod travel. If you take too much off, you will affect playability because the rod will feel loosey goosey.

The way to do it with a Fireball split bearing is to take a foosball rod, wrap a heavy grit sandpaper around it, and then work it back and forth a little. Don't know if you could do this with a Shelti bearing.

[Jrbman33]

Wanted to check back in, the rods were rather dirty, probably my bad for not cleaning them better when I replaced the bearings.  I used the 90% isopropyl alc to clean then relubed.  Thanks for the tips!  If I get desperate enough I may try to sand the bearings or rods, maybe with a terry cloth, steel wool is obviously too course right?

[xmanicmattx]

Personally, unless there's rust and it was absolutely necessary, I'd be petrified to use anything to sand down my rods. Hopefully it's working well for you now. My fireball has the QPQ rods but I never had an issue. They feel like ice compared to my Tornado. Tornado is older though. A friend has a new t3000 coin op that is damn near close to the Fireball's, they'd say the Tor is faster though it doesn't feel that way to me. I don't know. I'm rambling though. I hope your rods are better now after a thorough cleaning.