Marantz MV5100 svhs loading fix
 

Been on the forum lots the past two days looking into best ways of digitizing VHS, and have been watching YouTube videos on VCR repair. I'm still full of questions on capture gear, but was wondering if someone here who does maintenance / repair on their VCRs may be able to answer my question.

I've got a Marantz MV5100 that I bought at a thrift a few years ago. It worked great for a while before going into storage. After sitting unused a bit, I tried firing it up and it won't accept a tape. Now diving deeper, without taking apart the whole assembly (it's a bit of a beast), I'm narrowing it down to what the real problem may be. From what I'm seeing, everything functions fine with no issue, except for being able to load a tape fully on its own. I find that I can get the tape to load past it's halfway point when giving a little help by pushing the (pictured) large gear forward, causing it to complete its load cycle. From there, there's no issues until the tape is ejected and a new one loaded.

Can a dirty mode switch cause the mechanism to not allow the tape guides to fully move forward? I'll probably have to dig all the way in since the whole assembly needs to come apart to get to that piece on this unit anyways. Even if I think it's just dried up gear spindle lube, it's more than a quick clean.

Also, this really is just a JVC clone without the TBC and dynamic head. Now that I'm planning on capturing old tapes, I'm kicking myself for selling the 9600U that I bought new many years ago. A younger me thought I'd pick up a professional deck at some point. Turns out I pretty much had one.

Is the loading belt (on the right side of the mechanism from the front) fine? That can sometimes go a bit slack causing loading problems.

It looks fine, but I'll check it when I take it off to dive in and clean the mode switch. Insides are very similar to a 9600U, and the service manual here has a great step by step to get inside. Should be easier than first expected.

It looks almost identical to the Philips VR1600 so that's probably the closest model. The JVC equivalent would be something between the the HR-S8700EK and the HR-S9700EK I think. The JVC HR-Sx600 models from the previous year are very similar and use the same mechanism.