Got digging through my box of 4 broken walkmen, 2 F701Cs, a F702, and a normal 702 from that family, realized that the Silver 702 worked just fine, and it was actually the original headphones that made it sound like it was having dropouts when playing. It works fine and just needs new capstans since the old ones were rusted. F702 had a bad battery leak and killed the ribbon cable on the positive terminal, so I assume that it's a lost cause. F701C no 1 was DOA and got further destroyed in me dissecting it. So the final F701C is the one I need help with. It powers on normally, the radio works, and the buttons seem to do the functions that they need to do when a tape is out, but it won't play a tape. When a tape is inserted and any function is used, the mech binds up because the big black center pulley binds it up; hence why I assume that it's due to the old grease binding up the reel table gears. What is the best way to get access to them? I know that I can play tapes in the 702, but I would prefer to get the 701C working.
I use IPA (isopropyl alcohol) and Q-tips. If you have foam Q-tips that's even better, they don't leave strands of fibre. The higher the percentage of alcohol the better, the other ingredient is water. Hard grease is bad but old belt material is worse and can be hard to spot, keep rubbing the Q-tip until you see black and use a magnifier or zoom lens camera to spot the black goo.
