E unit issue

Usually this means that one section of the drum is bad, or not making contact, or depressed.t. It is an 8 position drum and one section is bad.

If you don't want to take the E-unit apart again, you can swap the wires on the brushes of the motor. That way you will have two good forward positions for every one reverse direction.

check and see that the plunger is comming down stright.

I find that when some of these get put back to gether the side plates are at an slight angle. this will hang plunger up at times. your going to have to take it appart to do it right.

RoyBoy,  didn't think to even check the drum before I put it in!  It looked ok.  But I think you are correct about the bad section.  

Harry,  I am afraid you are correct about taking it all apart again. I will have to do some serious pondering on this one!

Some of the more recently manufactured drums I've had were defective, with crooked contacts, or contacts covered with plastic flash.
It's a good idea to inspect the drum before installing it.

I always test the e-unit before putting it back in the engine too.

All the tips mentioned above are great.  Here are a couple more I have learned from experience.

Work on e unit where you have plenty of room and disconnected from engine completely. 

Take your time.

Make sure small contacts are clean.  Ratchet plastic are not broken

I use small cutting wheel on dremel to place and X on bottom of plunger.  This reduces problems with magnetism.  Make sure plunger and plunger tube are clean.  I use alcohol to clean.

Re assemble carefully making sure things mechanism works manually then test before installing into engine, as mentioned above.

Steve, Lady and Tex

Thanks for all the suggestions.  Looks like it's coming apart again!

Let's us know how you make out.new drum and fingers you should have been ok.

Dave,

   When you get drum out, look at it under a magnifing glass. Its possible that when the contacts were pressed on the drum a little flash is left on preventing the finger from making good contact. That is if you replaced with a new drum. 

Bill