Tape guide, if the lock paint is original leave alone. Tape guide is fixed, not related to the head bridge and not the cause of your problem. In regard to head bridge, there's only one thing to check: if it moves all the way into position or just partially when the plastic slider pulls it up. However given what you say about takeup torque being very high, incline towards that being a problem rather than the pinch roller. Of course fact it sits at an angle should be solved later on, but not the main concern right now. Likely issue is clutch is frozen or touching something and can't slip properly.
Yeah on a second inspection the whole pinch roller is making contact when it play (and powered). I made the mistake of seeing that when the walkman wasn't powered and thus didn't pull the head unit forward. Checking the head bridge and the slider it does move it all the way up. What should I be looking for with the clutch assembly. I'm not quite sure based on the service manual which parts I should be looking for. I assume I'll need to take the takeup gear off to see below it. Adding some images finally of the board and motor assembly:
Marked the clutch on the attached picture. However can't know if this is actually the problem. If you don't have a good feel of what a normal takeup torque feels like, it might feel it's too high even if it's not. Hence why I would suggest to compare it with any other walkman/cassette machine you may have in order to get a good feel. Test with stopping the takeup reel should be done with 2 fingers and you shouldn't struggle to stop it, but it should take a bit of force to stop it.
It was completely seized up. I popped off the retaining washer and popped the clutch and washers and they were all very heavily stuck together. I'm cleaning them now.
Thank you So much Valentin! I got the clutch parts off easily enough and cleaned them with just iso and reassembled (wasn't sure if they needed grease or oil, I can always go back in later). Wired back up and IT PLAYS GREAT! I had to adjust the tape speed by ear best I could (don't have a test tape, I'll worry about that later). The wow and flutter is there, but it's surprisingly minimal. I'm always amazed at how well these old machines will hold up. One last question if you could: I'm missing one door hinge screw for the cassette cover. I'm having difficulty finding the right screw (and for some reason the service manual doesn't have the actual specs for that thread and length). Any help on where to source a replacement would be much appreciated.
Clutch does need some grease on the middle, where there's friction between it and the middle plastic hub. If you want a small drop of oil can also be added on the nylon washer that separates the magnetic part from the metal disc. None of the 2 is critical, but it will reduce wear over time. For others reading this thread, this type of clutch is magnetic, so oil on the nylon washer will not change the takeup torque like it would on a clutch with felt pad. Door hinge screw is pretty unique, don't think you can find a replacement for that. Screw is M1.4 thread (there's only one pitch for this) x 3.5mm (length below head). However this screw is custom (larger head, thicker part without threads) and a normal one won't work right. My recommendation is to get a proper replacement somewhere, from a donor unit or someone who has many parts like tomtom87.
I ordered a new pinch roller from Fix your Audio just to keep refining this thing now that it works (along with a test tape). So I'll do another full tear down to get the clutch some oil then. They also sell a general grab bag of walkman screws so maybe I'll get lucky and one will be in there, otherwise this might just be a custom job somehow. Sadly I think the screw was missing because it broke off partially in the hole. Might be SOL without fully replacing that bracket from a donor.
For the screw, ask user tomtom87 in a private message. Chances are he has it and will be cheaper than buying a donor. Kit fro FixYourAudio has only M1.4 screws and you will find one that can work temporarily, but as stated it's not the right solution.
Yeah, bigger issue is that looking closer at that bracket hole the screw did in fact break off in there, so there's very little threading available and it wouldn't be able to screw down tight enough anyway. Also the threaded insert itself is actually loose and spins in it's hole...so that seems like something only a donor swap would fix. That or a lot of extra work to replace the threaded insert.
