help! wounded calipers

[bmortell]

so the other day im using the lyman dial calipers and THUD they hit the floor. and now the needle points 180 degrees opposite so zero'ed im reading upside down. its still perfectly funtional though. so does this mean they jumped over a couple of teeth? surely someone here has had em apart before, how do i fix em? figured its safer to ask then just trying to tear em apart with no knowledge of inner workings.

[CastingFool]

It probably jumped a couple of teeth. There should be a thin piece of metal that you can use to "jump" the gear back into the proper orientation.

[country gent]

Yes they have more than likely jumped a few teeth. Check for burrs on jaws also first. Most dial calipers come with a small shim stock finger shaped piece that is to reach in and block gear from rack and adjust. Its kind of a pain to do and get right but can be done. You set it in place and the gear may or may not turn when inserted then make the small adjustment needed then remove again gear may or may not turn with the shim. After being dropped first check several things Jaws for burrs both sets of jaws inside and outside check saddle for play there may. be 2 set screws in top of saddle to set this play. Dropping a set of calipers really is hard on them in many ways.