Singer 96k49 working in reverse

[CherieKingsley]

Help, i have what was a lovely working singer 96k49 with the twist dial stitch length knob/regulator, my sweet 3 year son decided to totally unscrew the knob when my back was turned, having re-screwed it back in, the machine goes backwards when its supposed to go forward, hit reverse and it goes forwards. having scoured the internet, and all parts manuals etc i found for it seem to have the info missing for the 49 version, what i did find out from other machines fitted with the same twist dial,  to remove it your supposed to hold down the reverse which obviously he didn't. I have tried holding down reverse to unscrew and reinstall the dial, its still running in reverse. 
Any easy fix suggestions amongst all you lovely gurus here,  I know its not a thick leather sewing machine before i get told off

[shoepatcher]

CherieKingsley,

Sound s like when the stitch regulator was unscrewed, the eccentric that it screwed to might have slipped.  It needs to be put back in the proper sequence to stitch correctly. Holding it in reverse when you adjust the stitch length to me  means the eccentric was rotated  by the reverse lever  to make any stitch length changes.  Without having the machine in front of me, could be tough.  take a few pics of the underside of the machine  mostly towards the wheel side so we can see more of it. 

glenn

[CowboyBob]

There might be a lever inside that the stitch length knob hits to make your stitches longer & shorter,what I think happened is when he turned it all the way out it dropped down,so what you need to do is,turn it all the way out,look in the back access plate & push it in reverse so you see what's moving & take a screwdriver & hold it up while you turn the adjuster back in.You'll probably need to hold the lever down as you turn the knob back in too.