Pioneer PL-44FS Tonearm location problem

[MadeMine]

Picked up a Pioneer PL-44FS yesterday on CL. The owner said the tone arm didn't work right. He said make an offer. Went way low and he said OK. I got it home and checked for sound right away in the manual mode since he displayed the tone arm did not work at all. Some one along the way put an audio technica cartridge on it. No sound. I read the service manual from VE. I found out it has a mute switch on a PCB under the tonearm base, took it apart and turned on the muting switch and played an album in the manual mode it had great sound and the rpm speed was right on.

I went through the steps in the manual 9.1- .4 to check out the tone arm adjustment. I found out the adjustment screw for lowering the tonearm never showed up. I opened up the tonearm base to check out why. I looks like the tonearm is in the idle/stop mode when it should be in the play mode. Seems like someone replaced the tone arm the opposite of what it should be.

Has any one out there had this problem on the PL-44FS. Or got any ideas on how the tone arm should be in the right place to play correctly

 

[MadeMine]

Does any one have the factory manual for this turntable. I have the service manual that shows the individual parts of the tone arm base and the motor assembly. But I need a picture of the positions of the cogs when it is put back together after servicing the belt and lubricating the gears.

 

[MadeMine]

Has anyone out there ever replaced the belt on the tonearm motor on the PL-44FS. I can see the belt was replaced on this TT and put back together wrong. Does anyone know the proper way to put the tonearm base back together on the drive base.

 

[MadeMine]

Still no joy with this, any ideas out there.

 

[Paul Row]

Hi. I have a problem with the muting switch. Doesn't disengage. Did you ever find a manual?

 

[MadeMine]

I never got anything more than the service manual from hifiengine. On my PL-44FS the muting switch will not engage to play. I've manually switched it to play. The cogs and gear line up control this and the one I have was taken apart long ago by someone and has in my opinion has not worked since. Got any ideas on how to line these up.

 

[Paul Row]

I took several pics of the gears, cams etc. for you.
I found on mine the tone arm raise and lower cam on top of the white sprocket pushes on a plastic arm when rotated to the lowered tone arm position. That plastic arm pivots and disengages the muting switch (on top behind tone arm). The switch was not quite disengaging( ever so slightly) due to the plastic flexing and some wear in the plastic arm pivot point. I found the spring that engages the plastic arm to engage the muting switch was overly tight so I stretched the spring very slightly. This allowed the switch to disengage every time so far.

 

[Paul Row]

 

[MadeMine]

Thanks for the pictures Paul, they will come in handy. Sounds like you are having good luck with the muting switch. I'll pull mine back out and let you know how it goes.

 

[MadeMine]

Paul Row when you were working on the mute switch did you take the tone arm base apart from the metal base?

 

[MadeMine]

Problems fixed. The Darlington PH-101 transistor was installed backwards took out and re-soldered correctly C and E per manual. The tonearm set screw on the pivoting arm was lose I did not know this the whole time. Figured out where location needed to be tightened and all works.

 

[PL44FS]

This thread and Techmoan’s hilarious fail on a PL-44FS repair were just what I needed to fix my PL-44FS. The drawer slide was filthy and stiff, so I cleaned and greased it. The drawer meter needed a new belt, done. The tone arm mute switch was always in mute because the motor belt slipped. New belt fixed the mute problem. Some DeOxIt on the switch helped reduce noise. This is the worst TT for servicing I have ever seen!