GE 3-5258a Play issue

[joel_graff]

I'm trying to rehab this boombox and get the cassette deck working again. I replaced the three belts and it greatly improved the rewind / fastforward performance, but it still doesn't play.

Upon further investigation, I discovered that the heads were not engaging with the tape. The carriage doesn't slide upward as it should and it's not clear to me what, exactly, makes that happen. For reference, the flat plate in between the uppleys with the tension spring at the top is the top part of the carriage and is supposed to slide upward when the deck plays.

I don't see anything broken or obviously missing, though there is a loose, short compression spring lying inside that I can't readily identify where it goes. Presumably, that's part of the problem.

The cassette chassis is made by GEC and I suspect it's probably very common for decks of this era (early-mid 1980's), but I've found no real useful references in sorting out. A thorough exploded assembly view would really help. Any thoughts?

 

[docs]

Check if the deck is the same as the blockbuster. This site has the solutions to the head not engaging far enough upwards and the pinch roller not reaching the capstan.

 

[Superduper]

Looking at that deck, it does look to be the same as the GE 3-5259 blockbuster deck. If that is the case, then this is probably what you are going to need. Not too difficult of a job to replace but you'll need to make absolutely sure to record the # of turns on the head adjustment screws before removing so you can put them back in exactly the same spot otherwise you'll have to perform an azimuth adjustment afterwards. Even the erase head is adjustable and there is no prescribed way I know of to gauge an erase head alignment aside from visual approximate.

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