I'm working on a Sanyo M9998. It has dozens of connectors, some of which need to be disconnected to change the belts. Should the connectors not disconnected during the work be left alone? I'm afraid that the extensive rummaging around in the box might be enough to disturb and render inoperable or intermittent connectors that were working fine. I plan to treat the ones I have disconnected with contact cleaner, work them by connecting them a few times and coating them with dielectric grease as I finish with them. Any opinions as to the best approach? Now, belts. Which have reverted to tar. Are there belts available, maybe neoprene, that will last a lot longer than the standard ones? Boom boxes with working tape drives are significantly more valued than ones with nonfunctional drives. Given that the belts are only good for 10 years or so, does this mean that people with collections regularly replace belts, or do they just let the drives age into being nonfunctional? If the drives don't get new belts periodically and no one runs tapes in them anyway, why is there so much value placed on having the tape drive work?
Good luck on your repairs, I expect most of my new arrivals to have busted or melted belts. Up to around 10 years ago, they were showing up in working condition so I imagine most belts lasted over 30 years, which is really good considering the work conditions. Here's a place I've used in the past, belts showed up within a week. https://www.turntableneedles.com/find10.asp?manfg=SANYO-Fisher&modelname=M-9998&Select=Model I would not disconnect any connectors that don't need to be, on pinball machines, with Molex Connectors, the connectors have to be replaced if you "unplug" them. I have a handful of units that get more play than others, they all play fine. I have dozens more that need belts but won't get them until I find time to work on em.
