Pfaff 545 reverse tension issues

[Brooksie]

I  picked up a Pfaff 545 that had sat for the better part of 15 years. It sewed great with 69 thread when I checked it out. It's in great looking condition and the hook is perfect, or at least seems so. After going over it there were lots of things to be cleaned and adjusted, most notably the looseness in the hook drive shaft that connects to the small gear below. It had allot of play and seemed to be where the noise and tension issues were coming from. The hook was lifting under tension at the end of the stitch cycle. The tension issue was that the machine could not sew through 7oz leather without either randomly pulling up to much to pilling the odd ball on the bottom. Now that the play is taken out it sews darn near perfect...accept now in reverse the tension is way to strong on the bottom resulting in an awful looking reverse back tack. So...any tips on correcting this reverse tension would be very much appreciated as this machine has almost been kicked to the curb a few times. Now I see the light at the end of the tunnel. But seriously, I just want to get back to work and start on a more peaceful path with my relationship with this old girl.

thank you, James

[Northmount]

Moved to Leather Sewing Machines.  You'll get more help here.

[Uwe]

We’ll need to see some pictures or ,better yet, a video (upload to YouTube, post the link here) of super slow motion hand-turned stitches of the hook area to have chance of figuring out what might cause your reverse stitch issues. Thread tension is only one of a dozen possible culprits, and not the most likely one. 

[Brooksie]

Thanks, I'll work on that tomorrow.