Hello, I just purchased a Walkman WM-501 and it's in need of a replacement gear. The previous owner mentioned there was some dried lubricant on the gears that locked it up and they managed to clean it off. In the process they also scraped up this gear. The player suffers from a rythmic clicking sound but only when playing with a tape inserted. The clicking sound is different when playing in the other direction as well. The clicking can also be slightly felt and it feels like it's coming from the right side of the device and when playing with a tape inserted, that reel has a hard time spinning. I haven't opened the PCB yet so I haven't found any gears with missing teeth, which makes me think there's another gear that's causing the problem. Regardless of that I believe I should replace this gear that has been ground down. Do you know of any gear sources for this model? I have been unable to find any replacement for this specific one. My only idea is to buy a spare for parts but it seems rather wasteful for just a gear or 2. Thanks for any assistance on this. I've attached an image with the gear circled. It appears to be 9mm in diameter. IMG_0170 by StudioTape posted Jun 27, 2024 at 8:37 PM
The rhytmic click sound is likely coming from the takeup reel ring gear. These type of ring gears can crack, it's a common problem on WM-10/20/30 and WM-100/200/500 series, which all share this type of table reel. In regard to the worn gear, not aware of replacements being available, you will likely need a donor unit. EDIT: Also note you don't need to upload images to forum gallery to use them in a thread. If picture is only relevant to a particular thread, use the "Upload a File" button instead. @givemeyourwalkmans The seller of first ebay item is making a mistake as he's listing both WM-150 and WM-501 which have completely different mechanisms. Looking at the pictures, the seller is selling parts for the WM-150 type mechanism (1 x clutch gear, 2 x reel gear). Walkmans using this mech are listed in post #17 here: https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/list-of-walkman-portable-recorders-common-problems.7535/ In the second ebay listing, there's a clutch for WM-EX501 which has a completely different mechanism than the WM-501.
