Alright, I bought a walkman wm-d3 that was broken for 20 dollars off craigslist. I'm pretty handy with electronics, and was sure i could fix it. Turned out all it was was the center gear was cracked. i fixed that within a day and it worked perfectly! im listening to all my favorite 80's tapes now. However, when its silent I can hear the other side of the tape playing very faintly. I thought it might be the alignment of the head. I wanted to get advice before I messed around with that though. Any comment is appreciated. Thanks!

Interesting. Normally, for me, this only happens on some Auto-Reverse Walkmans- even when the azimuth is spot-on. Does not happen on my DC2.

While it MAY be head alignment, I'd suggest getting a Head Alignment test tape made. Best check with others first.

The symptoms do suggest head misalignment. For a uni-directional player there are only two pick up channels on one side of the head, so if there is sound heard from the other side of the tape being played through it is likely either an issue with the tape or head alignment.

Presumably if the tape plays fine in another player that has been properly aligned, then it may be head alignment on this D3.

Do the alignment screws look like they've been disturbed? Or do they still look like they are firmly in place and held fast with the original lock glue?

Im not sure what a "head alignment test tape is" if you wouldn't mind explaining.

Alright i took the front cover off my d-3, the right side (when looking down on it) screw seems to be a bit off the metal it screws into. However, the left side has a small piece of metal under it which is attached to cap unit. they seem somewhat equal distance away from the holder. The left screw still has the original glue on it, where as the right side its hard to tell because there is no glue on top of the screw anymore its only on its side.

under closer inspection i found that the glue had been broken and the screw was sitting there very loosely. i screwed it in where the glue at the top of the screw meets the glue at the bottom and it works perfectly! thank you!

I have one more question though. Should I re-glue the screw in place? and if so any suggestions for what kind of glue to use?

It is probably a good thing to lock it in place with glue, given that the screw was very loose in place. At the extreme case, you wouldn't want to risk it falling out completely and losing it or for it to fall out onto the PC board to short something out.

You can get from any good hardware store thread locking glue, or if you are strapped for cash, a blob of cheap clear nail varnish can also work. But the nail varnish may take longer to dry.