Recently I acquired a WM EX85 (Same tape mech as 701/702 series) and it works perfectly after a belt replacement except for that It does not have enough torque to rewind or fast forward using the left spindle (FF/RW changes depending on if side A or B, always left spindle). All the gears engage and the rewind and fast forward on the other spindle works well. This isn’t a motor problem since the belt is slipping on the large black pulley inside. The gears on that side just take too much energy to move. It works fine without a tape, but with a tape in the extra effort of moving the spindles (especially on the spindle with more tape) is just too much. I added very light amounts of oil to all the pivots and it hasn’t made much of a difference. Any help would be appreciated.
"This isn’t a motor problem since the belt is slipping on the large black pulley inside." Suggests belt is too big ( Make sure that the replacement belt is a good one from fixyouraudio and not generic e-bay junk) or that the pulley was not cleaned properly with a dozen cotton swabs and 70% alcohol. Cotton swabs squeezed with clean pliers into a narrow wedge tip and dipped into alcohol lightly and used to clean the pulley tracks over again and again and then replace cotton swab multiple times. Again and again till perfectly clean with no old belt residue. All surfaces and pulleys where the belt contacts. Look for hard sticky grease impeding movement or even hair wound around the left spindle etc.,
Apart from the belt and pulleys, would check 2 common problems on these mechanisms: 1. The main pulley: the grease on the shaft thickens, making it hard to turn. 2. The 3 gears that drive the table reels (see picture attached): grease on these typically hardens. These items I do as maintenance since it's a problem on the majority of walkmans having this type of mechanism.
