I bought this deck new back in the late 90's. As of today it still works, but apparently now has an issue with the mechanical/tape loading section of the unit. I am considering looking into getting this deck serviced so that I can use it as a standby unit for archiving VHS tapes. I also have a Panasonic AG-5710 unit that needs some service too, I aim to keep these decks running as long as I am able to.

If it loads the tape but only wraps one side of the drum then one of the wrap gears has cracked. A friend of mine had one his family owned and things kept breaking especially that gear. By the time he gave up he had 3-4 parts decks and had serviced it close to a dozen times. That gear failed repeatedly, the PS board failed, and another board IIRC.
He eventually got sick of spending more time fixing it than watching it and traded me his main deck and all the parts machines for a nice working Marantz badged JVC S-VHS deck.

I kinda doubt that gear is available. At some point I will fix one or 2 of that pile of decks he traded me...When I do I'm considering making a mold of that plastic gear and casting new ones out of tin.
If you want performance these decks have it, but reliability is one thing they don't have.

If it loads the tape but only wraps one side of the drum then one of the wrap gears has cracked. A friend of mine had one his family owned and things kept breaking especially that gear. By the time he gave up he had 3-4 parts decks and had serviced it close to a dozen times. That gear failed repeatedly, the PS board failed, and another board IIRC.
He eventually got sick of spending more time fixing it than watching it and traded me his main deck and all the parts machines for a nice working Marantz badged JVC S-VHS deck.

I kinda doubt that gear is available. At some point I will fix one or 2 of that pile of decks he traded me...When I do I'm considering making a mold of that plastic gear and casting new ones out of tin.
If you want performance these decks have it, but reliability is one thing they don't have.

Is that the infamous "blue gear" that 12voltvids has several videos of him replacing?

I haven't watched any videos of that channel but I believe it was blue... There was a blue and IIRC a white gear. I haven't looked at the insides of one of those in 5 years so I wasn't sure which one it was.

I haven't watched any videos of that channel but I believe it was blue... There was a blue and IIRC a white gear. I haven't looked at the insides of one of those in 5 years so I wasn't sure which one it was.

Yeah, he has several videos of replacing a blue plastic gear in Sony VCRs that always breaks. In fact, here's a video of him servicing a SLV-R1000 a few months ago to replace said gear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAoTEI1fms

Yeah, he has several videos of replacing a blue plastic gear in Sony VCRs that always breaks. In fact, here's a video of him servicing a SLV-R1000 a few months ago to replace said gear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAoTEI1fms

Thanks for that link I will check that out. If that's the case with my deck then I will try to get it repaired. Its a great deck and still plays and records great, but seem these decks always tend to have a weakness. That darn plastic.