New owner - advice on belts and auto reverse

[richi71]

Hi All,

A new owner here having just bought a 931. A great looking and sounding ghetttoblaster The unit is in decent all round shape however both decks have some issues I could do with advice on.

Deck A plays ok but the autoreverse clicks back and forth between directions. Sometimes also when ejecting a tape the tape light stays on like a cassette is still loaded - possibly something is sticking internally and potentially an easy fix? I wondered if any advice on this - any areas I could target to clean? Here's a video of the issue - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wFTdyYFSzZ9RS12awo4dJ2bHpptR9QYP

Deck B plays, rewind, FF all work but the sound is poor (wow / flutter - and sound is very gargled). Likely a belt issue? I wondered how easy is it to replace the belt on deck B and where can I buy / what length belt to purchase? I'm no electronics wizard so I would only be comfortable with a straightforward belt swap! Video at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Xey07MjOb2VEv6pCSpjym2GWiHGeBoPS

Appreciate any suggestions. Cheers

 

[trippy1313]

Just a guess, but if deck B seems to function correctly, speed is right, but just bad sound, it could be as simple as cleaning the head that reads the tape.

The first issue though sounds like something you'd have to get inside the radio to fix. These decks aren't the funnest to access, but if you are mechanically inclined and can do minor solder work its not terrible.

 

[Northerner]

I always do switch clean, rebelt, clean the heads, lube the deck, check the idler tyre, then see where it’s up to...most of the time that sorts everything

 

[richi71]

Thanks both for your replies. I did manage to improve deck A - with a bit of a hack . I opened the box and noticed the internal mechanism had a level that was constantly moving back and forth (the auto reverse switching constantly). I placed a rubber washer to effectively jam this movement (sounds bad i know!) but it plays very well now. Auto reverse also works manually. I can't engage FF or RWD now though but I can live with that. It seems something was too sensitive and it's good to have this deck playing ok - hopefully the hack doesn't cause problems. Before it wasn't even playing so it made me a bit happier.

For deck B - I tried cleaning the pinch roller, capston and heads but it seems the problem is still there - really bad flutter. Looking I think the belt that was fitted by the previous owner might be too thick. Would an SBS 7 from https://www.studiosoundelectronics.com/belts.htm be the right belt for a 1st gen 931 does anyone know? Or anyone got a pic of a good fitting belt in the box?

Cheers again!