Thanks ladies..I have the manual and have assembled and reassembled the tensioner part more than once, so I now understand how it works. Sent a message to sew classics and received a reply, and indeed there is more than one option for the 99 spring needed. I have reordered one, and in the meantime my husband refashioned the old one and it is back in and working better, so it's "live and learn" and that is what I love about this board...always informative and letting us learn new things. If someone had told me I'd be taking apart vintage Singers and putting them back together 5 years ago, I'd have said they were crazy. Now it's me who's crazy about quilting and the old Singers. (4 of which I've gotten in the last 12 months, plus a "toy" one. Oh, me or my!