Elgin 336 reassembly (specifically, the pallet fork...)

[AndrewSi]

On this Elgin movement, the "fork" end of the pallet fork has to enter a horizontal slot in a recess for the balance staff that sits quite proud of the back plate. This seems to complicate reassembly significantly since you can't lower the backplate vertically over the gear train, you somehow have to get the fork into that slot before lowering the plate.  Is it better to try to stand up the entire geartrain in the backplate, set the pallet fork into the slot and then try to lower the entire dial side assembly over that? I very unfortunately broke one of the pallet arbor pivots trying to figure this out, so while I'm sourcing a replacement I thought I'd look for tips from anyone who's familiar with this style of pallet/gear train.

Thanks folks! Pallet fork inserted in backplate shown here.

Edited August 25, 2023 by AndrewSi

[RichardHarris123]

There was a post on here about the same issue, a clip was made out of an old mainspring to hold the pallet in place. 

[AndrewSi]

Ahh, found that post. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense - that post has exactly the kind of guidance I was looking for, thanks for the pointer.

[ForgedBlades]

Can someone point me to this thread as I am in the middle of this problem as well.

Many Thanks

Dave

[nevenbekriev]

I can offer a simpler decision - just arrange all the parts on the 'backplate' like if it is base plate, then cover with the base plate. Only the center wheel may remain on base plate fixed by the cannon pinion.