Write-Up: Repairing Cassette Player Eject Issue

Here is the tape player

Here are the tools I used…

This is the area that controls the receiving and ejection of tapes

First, we have to remove the arm that springs back and forth. Remove this black flexible washer that has a slit in it…

Here is what it looks like…

Here is the damaged gear. My dad and I have seen this particular gear broken in all four radios that we have…

We have also seen this gear failing in one unit…

To get to the broken gear, we must remove the large white gear. To do so, you will have to loosen a few screws to provide some play in order to get that gear out as it is nestled under a metal brace.

Here is the gear and washer…

Here is the broken gear out of the unit and the gear that will replace it….

and here it is going in…

When re-installing the arm, make sure that the nylon arm that is attached to it does not sit behind that pin…

It should rest on that black button that kicks out when the eject button is pushed


Just to explain how one gear with one damaged tooth can cause the tape player to no longer eject…

The arm travels back and forth in accordance with this slot…

That little pin that guides the arm is part of this gear …

Here is the bottom of the gear.

It too has a channel that works with this arm…

That arm is what raises and drops the tape docking mechanism. When the little white gear breaks a tooth this arm still wants to travels its course and pops out from under the black gears channel. When re-installing the black gear you will have to make sure to position the pin on this arm in that channel either in the fully out or in position according to the slot.

I am sure that there is a lot more that can go wrong in these units, but this is how I fixed mine. Hope you guys find this useful.

Great writeup! Where did you get the replacement gear? My cassette player also won't eject, so I probably have the same problem.

A local electrical supply place that has odds and ends had a gear that worked. But I had to search a few places before I found it, it was a little taller than the stock one and needed some grinding down. So finding a replacement gear might be the toughest part of the repair, good luck.

BMD,
Thanks for the pics and explanation.

BMD wrote:

A local electrical supply place that has odds and ends had a gear that worked. But I had to search a few places before I found it, it was a little taller than the stock one and needed some grinding down. So finding a replacement gear might be the toughest part of the repair, good luck.

Do you have any information on the gear you bought? I was looking at mcmaster-carr and they have a few different nylon gears. Here is what I was looking at http://www.mcmaster.com/#nylon-gears/=84ab23. I also found this website http://www.sdp-si.com/eStore/CoverPg/Gears.htm and this website www.smallparts.com. One of those sites should have the correct gear, but I just need to know all of the information to find the same type.

That a pretty good link. From the diagram it looks like the gear has a neck which may have to be shaved off. What I did was measure the height and the diameter and made sure it had the same number of legs. I wish I had written down those dimensions. But basically I went from store to store with the broken gear in hand and tried to find something I could work with. You may not be able to find an exact match.

beautiful write up! how much does the cassette player weigh?

No idea robo , it wasn't very much at all, for sure its less than a pound.

I TOTALLY agree that fixing is better than getting screwed... However, for anyone that can't find the parts, I went to a local "high-end" audio guy about 2 years ago (literally had Ferraris in his driveway,) and he found a whole OEM tape unit when my own had a failure in the pre-amp... $118

I took my tape deck apart and the same gear was broken. Here are the measurements: The width was in between 5/16" and 21/64" (Closer to 21/64) or .302" width and .1" for the thickness. So far I haven't found the gear anywhere. I was thinking about buying a new radio from ed morad and switching the gear out.

My apologies for bringing up an old topic, but I've found some new information that may help us source that gear.

First,

98riv wrote:

BMD wrote:

A local electrical supply place that has odds and ends had a gear that worked. But I had to search a few places before I found it, it was a little taller than the stock one and needed some grinding down. So finding a replacement gear might be the toughest part of the repair, good luck.

Do you have any information on the gear you bought? I was looking at mcmaster-carr and they have a few different nylon gears. Here is what I was looking at http://www.mcmaster.com/#nylon-gears/=84ab23. I also found this website http://www.sdp-si.com/eStore/CoverPg/Gears.htm and this website www.smallparts.com. One of those sites should have the correct gear, but I just need to know all of the information to find the same type.

I searched those two sites and they do not seem to have the correct gear. Unless I'm mistaken, the physical dimensions of the gear are 5/16" outside diamter (approx), 19 teeth. (One other poster has more precise measurements). This would require the gear to have a pitch of 64. The sites above do not have anything close to that pitch. They have 19 tooth gears, but the outer diameters are far too large.

So far, the only site I've found that has anything close is the following:

http://www.rushgears.com/Tech_Tools/PartSearch7/partSearch.php?cadAdHeader&gearType=SPUR&fromSpurGearBody

Search part number YN6419. I have not ordered this part yet. I'm going to try to look at hobby stores in my area first, they seem the best bet.

Hmm, now I wonder if my deck works. I'll have to look around and see if I actually still own a cassette tape.

My wife uses it, and I still have some cassettes that I like to listen to.

On a side note, I've got another ACDelco CD/Cassette from a slightly different year, but will plug in and work with the existing car. The interesting thing is that the eject mechanism is very different from the one pictured above and may be more reliable. It does not use the given spur gear, but instead seems to use a rack and pinion mechanism.

The above has been a very good guide for me. Unfortunately that 19 tooth 64 pitch gear seems to be pretty much impossible to find unless I order it online.