Teddy Babe shoulder problems

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Tue Nov 01, 2022 11:42 pm

I have noticed that a gap has appeared in *Lexy's* shoulder joints resulting in her arms becoming a bit loose. What would cause this sort of thing? Is it anything to be concerned about? Is there any danger of the arms becoming unattached?

Needless to say this has been causing me a bit of anxiety. Hopefully someone can offer some thoughts on this.

*2016 standard Lisa model*

carlys_guy · Post by **carlys_guy** » Thu Nov 03, 2022 9:38 pm

i believe the shoulder is two wood discs held together with a cotter pin.

: Untitled6.jpg (69.78 KiB) Viewed 637 times

they spread it open after inserting through both discs.
several members of the UK site have replaced the pin with a stainless steel eye bolt and lock nut, but that requires opening the back and arm to do it.

carlys_guy

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Thu Nov 03, 2022 11:41 pm

Thanks for the reply carlys_guy. I had read that a cotter pin was used to keep the dowel pin in place but it sounds like the cotter pin itself is what holds the wooden discs together. That could indeed work if the cotter pin was large enough. Also it still takes a good amount of force to bend most cotter pins so as long as the wooden discs hold up, she should be ok I would think.
Or at least I hope so. I have only seen one incidence of an arm becoming detached from a Teddy Babe so I can only assume that it doesn't happen very often. The one that I saw was a Babe listed in the sales section a few years ago. I will place a link to the sales thread if I can find it. At any rate I would hate for something like that to happen to my sweetie.

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Fri Nov 04, 2022 12:42 am

Found the sales post that I mentioned:

https://www.dollforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=99195

Apparently she didn't have any problem finding a new home despite her injury. Which is understandable as she certainly is a cutie.

Post by **Zang** » Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:51 am

Hi Stewie,

Is this looseness happening in both shoulders?
Is it a case of the discs separating from each other (like in the sales post example), or just an overall feeling of flimsiness or looseness in the shoulder area?

At any rate, like you said, this condition is quite rare. For example, my own Teddy Babe is from 2008, and although she's certainly much looser-jointed by now, all her shoulder discs are still snug together. I can't say for sure, but the joint structure may have changed in the newer-generations of TBs.

Still, if worse comes to worst, there is at least one qualified Teddy Babe "surgeon" we can consult about it. He's in the UK, but he's really good.

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:22 pm

Thanks for the response Zang. The looseness is in both shoulders and the discs do appear to be separating from each other but they are no ways as bad as the example in the sales post. They just seem a lot looser than they were a few years ago. Also the gap between the discs is noticeably wider as well.
While there is a visible gap in the shoulder joint in the below picture, the gap is almost twice as wide now.
Hopefully that is just normal wear and it won't get any worse.

: 002.JPG (1.05 MiB) Viewed 564 times

Mr Franz · Post by **Mr Franz** » Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:49 pm

Don't know if this helps or not, but found a couple threads showing how Teddy arms are or were attached. Not real impressed with this arrangement.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=36822

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=42674

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:32 pm

Thanks for the links Mr Franz.

I tried to do a search before starting this thread but the forum's search function can be hit or miss with the results. :drinking:

Missionary · Post by **Missionary** » Sun Nov 06, 2022 1:11 am

About half of my Teddy Babes have their arms move as advertised.
For the other half, the arm joints are very stiff, reasonable torque will not turn the arms. I am not going to force them; I am a chicken.
I copied Karrot's Diagram of the shoulder here for you. Front view of the left shoulder.

: Karrot's Diagram.JPG (60.44 KiB) Viewed 516 times

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Sun Nov 06, 2022 1:13 am

Thanks for the reply Missionary. Everyone with a Teddy Babe should have Karrot's diagram made into a poster or something to hang on the wall as that is some very important information.
I actually like that the arms rotate like they do. I just wish they were held in place a bit more securely.

The arms on my other Babe Michelle, a 2006 model, don't rotate at all. On close inspection it appears that the discs in both shoulders are pressed tightly together and the only way that her arms can be raised up is by by lifting them up which sort of twists the fabric. Since she isn't as tightly packed as Lexy, it doesn't seem to cause any trouble. I have no idea what's going on with that. My only guess is that whoever had her before me must have did some sort of shoulder modification that locked the discs together.

samroch · Post by **samroch** » Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:51 pm

I wonder if there is a more-effective way of constructing the shoulder joint?

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:44 am

Yeah I definitely think this could be done in such a way that the shoulders could still rotate without getting loose. In fact, I could easily do this myself as I'm pretty good at that sort of thing. It's the sewing part that I don't feel comfortable with. While I can do some half-assed sewing, this is my wife we're talking about here. So anything half-assed is not an option.

I also couldn't deal with cutting into her either.

I know it's something that might have to be done someday but damn! :drinking:

Karrot · Post by **Karrot** » Wed Mar 29, 2023 9:49 am

I've repaired many Teddybabes with the shoulder separations issue. it comes from the wire they use (its not even a cotter pin) flexing and allowing additional play.

Best bet to fix it permanently is minor surgery (you need to be able to do a passable ladder stitch) and replace the pin with an M8 Stainless Steel eye-bolt, a Nyloc nut, and a couple of large washers. the Arm "Skeleton" wire can be ziptied to the eye on the bolt, and then set the tension on the nut so that that arm moves easily, but with little to no play.

K