Teac 4010s restoration. Need help.

[yesterdaze]

Hello. I cleaned and lubed my entire deck and reassembled it. I have one problem that I need to correct. The tape plays well in forward play mode, however the tape seems to be driven down nearly 3 mm by the capstan wheel in reverse play mode. Capstan will push the tape up just 1 mm in forward play. Audio quality seems compromised in only reverse play mode as the tape does not run squarely across the entire play head.

I expect this requires just an adjustment somewhere, but I'm not sure where to begin. A little help please?

 

[rojoknox]

Greetings from RojoLand!

The pinch roller may be hardened. Have it rebuilt by Terry Witt at Terry's Rubber Rollers (http://www.terrysrubberrollers.com/) [NOTE, however, that Terry is not taking any new work temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic.]

It's also possible the shut-off arm is bent a bit. Check with a small square, from different angles. But DON'T go bending the arm unless you are certain it needs it.

Unrelated to your issue: When you cleaned and lubed your A-4010S, did you also replace ALL the Suzuki "oil capacitors" (0.1 µF 400 V) found across solenoids and switches (and one on the power supply board)? These are known to fail shorted, go Pop-BANG! and spew their guts all over the place, releasing the "magic smoke" and possibly causing other damage. It's very important to replace ALL of these (use 0.1 µF 630 V poly film capacitors, the yellow tubular axial kind found at vintage-radio/electronics stores like JustRadios.com, Sal's Capacitor Corner and elsewhere). There are also green film caps found on some solenoids; those should be fine.

Take care,
—
J. E. Knox "The Victor Freak" (caretaker of A-4010S S/N 48104)