VPI JMW 9 wire problem

Thanks to @wlutke ​​​​and @lewm for giving me the confidence to measure the resistance without worrying about damaging the cartridge, and a small brainstorm I had that I could simply measure resistance from an RCA cable attached to the turntable, I was able to figure out what was going on and fix it without needing to send it out for repairs.

What happened is the plastic thing that holds the pins that connect to the tonearm cables got rotated inside the connector so that grounds were connecting to the hot RCA pins and vice versa.  For some reason there is nothing preventing that round plastic thing with the pins from rotating inside of the housing.  When I unplugged it to put a twist in the wires to increase anti-skate the whole thing rotated screwing up the connections.  I realigned it and it seems to be working properly now.  I assume something must be missing from my connector to prevent that rotation because VPI's instructions for adjusting anti-skate explicitly call for unplugging that connector and rotate it to change the tension on the wires.  But in my setup all that did was rotate the pins inside the housing so it was connected incorrectly when it was plugged back in.

Now I just need to figure out if there is some sort of add on part that I can get to adjust anti-skate because I need more outer force to prevent distortion in the right channel and I already had tracking force up to 2.2 grams.

I just Fluked my DV xx2-2 and it’s 6.9 each channel.  No problem.  
For trouble shooting you can search phono cartridge color code.  
It will *most likely* have a broken wire at the connector pin under the shrink tubing.

You can also contact Steve Leung from VAS Audio. He is good friends with Harry Weisfeld and is just next door or so to VPI. He takes in JMW repairs and upgrades. If you are repairing, might as well ask him to repair with reference wire. It won’t cost much more and you’ll get a sonic upgrade out of it. 

If you need his contact information, PM me. 

@lewm I am using a Dynavector XX2 MKII cartridge.  It is 0.28mV output and only 6 ohms impedance.  

What cartridge?  If it's anything but a very low output MC with a very low internal resistance (e.g., less than 10 ohms), I would not worry about damaging the cartridge with your meter.  Even then, the danger is minimal if you keep the measurement brief.  Also, you can simply disconnect the cartridge if you remain concerned about that.

I never use the twist technique.....just asking for trouble...also it's not at all accurate.  Get in touch with VPI for a proper resolution.

@wlutke Yes, I figured out how to unscrew the connector and I didn't see anything obvious inside.  I'm not quite sure how to reorientate the pins so that they are correct when I reassemble it.  Also, I don't know if it is safe to use a multimeter to test connectivity while the cartridge is still attached?  Does a digital multimeter put out enough voltage/current to damage the cartridge if I use it to measure resistance to try and figure out where the problem is?

I believe the connecter top unscrews if I am remembering correctly.  That's where the break would be.  

Yup known issue/concern with VPI tonearms

I am hoping you disconnected the plug before dressing the wires to obtain the desired antiskate.