Toshiba SV-771C not ejecting tape tray

[technoman9]

Greetings all,

It's been a very long time since I've posted here but am back looking for some info on what appears to be a very rare VCR: a Toshiba SV-771C. I believe this is the only tray-loading VHS VCR ever sold in the USA, and I bought it off eBay a few years ago for the novelty. It had a very good picture on our flat panel TV but soon stripped a plastic part in the tape loading mechanism so I shelved it.

Fast forward to this year and I finally got through other rubbish on my To-Fix list that I decided to try this again. To my dismay, it developed a whole new problem: it will not even attempt to eject the tape tray or load a tape. It just flashes the cassette symbol on the front panel and sometimes will spin the capstan and left-hand reel (A and B in the attached Chassis picture). Loading Motor C does not spin at all. D is the part that stripped out, but I can't figure out where until I get the whole thing loading again.

I tried manually loading a tape and run the gears to insert the tray, but still nothing. I noticed the video head was frozen up so I gently broke it free and checked the fuses but the fuses were good and still no dice. I cannot find any information about this unit online, and the only place that sells a service manual is www.stereomanuals.com which requires manual contact to get a copy.

Does anyone here have any input or experience with this model of VCR before I decide to part with it? Anything obvious that I'm missing as to why this unit won't try to eject the tray?