This is the first time I've shot film in almost a decade. I recently bought a Gakkenflex clone on Amazon. I had a lot of fun building it, even though the directions were bass ackwards at times. I recently came across an unopened box of Kodak High Definition 400 film that had been in my garage for years. The expiration date says August 2005 and it's been through Arkansas summers and winters out in that garage all this time, in a camera bag. So instead of buying new film to test out my new camera, I used this old film, which I'm not even sure how good it is anymore. To make matters worse, when I went to turn the knob to advance the film, it wasn't catching on the gear to turn the counter. I tried tightening and loosening the screw, but it didn't help. I eventually figured out if I apply pressure to the back of the camera, above where the gear is, when I turn it, it will work, but it still sometimes skips. So I'm not getting even shots. I don't have the materials to develop this film at home and the only place around here that still develops film is Wal-Mart. I'm afraid that since these shots are probably going to be very uneven, I'll get my photos back where the shots are half on one photo and half on another, if the film is even still good. So...

TL;DR: Should I take uneven shots taken with my Gakkenflex to Wal-Mart to get developed? Do you even think this film will still be good? Are there any modifications I can make to this camera to keep it from skipping? Is this a common problem with these cameras?