What you need
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Remove the corner cover shown in image. Once the screws are out, some fiddling should get it loose.
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The orange circled rocker is supposed to move once for every page spooled and momentarily press the button circled in red. When the lubricant between the gears mixes with dust it becomes sticky and the rocker does not behave as it should.
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You will know this is the case when the printer jams only if you have more than one piece of paper in tray 1. Otherwise you will only have one piece of paper to feed and it will not jam.
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Either clean the residue, add a new spring, or replace the old spring with a new and stronger one.
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In my case I did not want to disassemble the printer further, and happened to have an old spring lying around from an old car stereo.
I just pulled the existing string a little further down and managed to get it back on the bottom hock. Worked like a charm for me…
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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26 Comments
Thanks for writing this post. What is the size of the tension spring replacement I should look for? I don’t have any old stereos lying around to salvage from.
I'm not sure. You should probably look for something shorter than what's in the printer. That way when you install it, it will always be in tentsion. Better shorter and stiffer, since you can always strech and cut later.
Kevin T -
This fixed my problem. I bought the smallest spring diameter at orchard supply 1/8” diameter i think. but the springs were too long. so i cut it down. tried 4 or 5 lengths before i got it right.
If the tension is too strong, the solenoid won’t be strong enough to pull the arm down and you will get a “No Paper Error.” in that case you just need to slightly stretch out the spring and try again. Print without the cover and you will see if the solenoid is going up and down consistently.
The original spring has a really light tension so you need to hit that sweet spot.
Can you help me out? I can’t get the side panel off.
Spencer -
I just pulled the existing string a little further down and managed to get it back on the bottom hock. Worked like a charm for me…
Thank you! This guide fix my problem. I use a regular old pen spring . Gracias funciono bien,
Stumbled on this guide after having the same issue on my Brother MFC-7450 and, despite some inconsequential, cosmetic differences, the instructions translated well. Unfortunately, I buggered the spring up, but replaced it with a rubber band (a drive belt taken from a dismantled hard drive ), which has just the perfect tension. Cheers!
Excellent write-up. I was able to fix my printer using the above guide. To fix. I basically hacked the spring described above. I left the top of the spring left in place on the top hook. I disconnected the bottom of the spring from the bottom hook, stretched the spring tighter, and wrapped the bottom end around a hole in the bottom of the printer body frame. Worked great.
I need help. I can’t figure out how to take the side paneling off. Took all the screw out, but it won’t snap out or release. :(
What should I do first??? Thanks
Spencer -
Kevin T, thanks for the great posting.
Matthias, what you said worked for me too. I pulled the existing spring down and hooked at about the middle back onto the lower hook.
This tutorial was exactly what was wrong with our printer. Our Brother printer is going on 10 or 12 years old at this point and only just started jamming with the same symptoms. A single page would print fine, but multiple pages resulted in a jam. We ended up snipping the existing spring to be a bit shorter. and used a pair of pliers to bend out the top two loops to create a new hook. Sprayed the whole area with compressed air for good measure and things are working great again! Saved us $120, thank you so much!!
I need help. I can’t figure out how to take the side paneling off. Took all the screw out, but it won’t snap out or release. :(
What should I do first??? Thanks
Spencer -
hi kevin T, is this write ups also fix DCP-L2540DW, coz my printer had the same problem and cant use anymore due to this “Tray Jam” problem
Thank you very much ! Spot on with the repairs and thanks to @addison_pan for the hint. I would suggest leaving the panel open while using the copying function to adjust the tension of the spring. Printer is working perfect again ! This worked on my BROTHER DCP 7040. I believe the design is similar between models.
I need help. I can’t figure out how to take the side paneling off. Took all the screw out, but it won’t snap out or release. :(
What should I do first??? Thanks
Spencer -
My printer is the MFC7440N. I had replaced rollers and that did not help. I would probably have thrown the printer out if I had not just purchased a new toner. I found this guide and it saved the day. I used a rubber band that is used with kids braces, and it works perfectly.
brother MFC-7740N is totally awesome device under Linux. though br3 emulation would be even nice like other models which are similarly out of production for decades now.
Our 7840W laser printer has been feeding or pulling two sheets and jamming for about a year. I cleaned and replaced the separator pad and paper pick-up roller but that didn’t help. I ordered new toner and drum head cartridges too but no joy.
In putting the original spring back on we lost the original spring and just grabbed a freebie pen from our junk drawer and used the spring out of that. It was too long but we bent a new loop out 90 degrees with needle nose pliers and put that on the white hook at the top and then hooked the lower part of the spring to the black hook at the bottom, letting the excess length of the spring (about 4 ‘rungs’ or turns) hang below the black hook where it’s not in the way. It worked on the first try and works like new ever since!
As another commenter said, the solenoid may not be strong enough to pull the spring lever down if the spring is too tight (eg short), so adjust the length accordingly until it works.
I have the same problems with my Brother MFC L 8900CDW, I removed the panel , but nothing looks similar than the picture posted above.
A godsend post, and thanks to the person that gave a better description as to how to get to the assembly screws and locations!
A spring replacement that worked for me out of the box is a "mcmaster.com P/N 9654K591", about $3. Specs are .75L x .125" O.D. .012" Dia Wire. Load(lbs) min=.08 max=.49 spring rate(lbs/in) = .51. [The latter spec is the rate of increase in tension pounds as the spring is extended.]
The best I could measure: distance between anchor posts: .76". So the .75"L spring is under very light tension at rest; I wish it mounted with a bit more tension, ie, posts separated by .80" or spring .72"L.
Thank you for the post. I cut my spring down to add a little tension and the printer is working fine.
