how do you replace the drive-belt on a kenwood KRX-5 tape deck?

[autometrik]

when i looked inside my Kenwood KRX-5 cassette deck, i found that the drive-belt around that big round rotary knob thing (sorry, not sure what its called?), was melted and gooey and stuck to it, and it was also around the small gold pulley that is right next to it, since i could'nt see how the drive-belt looked when it was normal, and i had no luck finding any pictures online of how it looks, i need to find out how the drive-belt fits around those two parts ?, and how it is supposed to be routed ?, i assume that the drive-belt goes around the big round knob thing, and then is stretched out and pulled around the little gold pulley also, sort of like the drive-belt on a belt-driven turntable ?, or maybe i'm wrong ?, but thats just what it looks like to me, as if the cylinder motor thing turns that small gold pulley, which has the drive-belt around it, and then also turns the big round thing, which connects against a small gear that turns the tape playing mechanism or something?, but tell me if i am wrong with my assumption ?, any help with how i supposed to route and fit the drive-belt on it would be much appreciative, thanks
- Jonathan

 

[ovaeasy]

You are correct in your assumption. However, you have a real odd unit, it being a cassette receiver. Lots of teardown needed and probably many small tools are going to be needed, ie. small e-clips are usually prevalent in cassette decks.
Rick at stereomanuals.com has the service document, looks like it's $20.

Many youtube videos are available, including one very profane tech who sounds like he doesn't think it's worth the hassle on this very deck.

Good Luck

 

[autometrik]

thanks for the advise,
i never found any youtube videos specifically with someone disassembling a Kenwood KRX-5, i could'nt find a manual searching around google either, when usually i am pretty good at being able to find a free manual of models i have, so i just used common sense and started taking it apart carefully, using a youtube video of someone taking apart a similar unit thats a different brand.

i first had to remove the front panel, and i had to figure out how to disconnect all the things attached to it, without breaking anything, it had a bunch of strings around a pulley system that was for moving the radio tuner knob, and lot of small knobs and sliders to pull off, and finally i got that off,
i cut off some zipties that held together various wire bundles, in order to get them out of the way, then i managed to get the main cassette mechanism piece free enough for me to access the capstan flywheel, (which had the melted on rubber belt), and i pulled it off and used an exacto knife to scrape the stuff off of it and rubbed it with a rag with alcohol on it until it was all clean, but next i need to clean the stuff off of the small gold pulley, which is a little harder to reach, then i will need to get a replacement belt for it, and i can either order the proper one or i can try using a rubberband or O-ring from hardware store which some people said worked for them, like one person used one of those wide, thick rubberbands off of a broccolli stalk, i bet those big rubberbands they use to hold lobster's claws together are pretty strong?, but might be a little big in diameter?

 

[442_Tom]

Thread resurrection! Picked up my Kenwood KRX5 not long ago out of curiosity, and finally pulled it out to attack. Of course needed belts since these are probably from 1981, not much room in cassievers to get tape mechanism out - front panel comes off, undo some zip ties, wrestle with it for a few minutes.... and viola! Now comes the fun of scraping and cleaning and sourcing replacement belts. Hoping my stash of replacement belts will suffice.