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[Brian Jojade]

I have an old Tascam 122 audio cassette deck that's been sitting around for a while.  Of course, the belts deteriorated, so I got some replacements and put them in.  Quite a bit of disassembly required, but stuff is human sized, so not too tough.

Well, after putting it back together, I found that it would play for a couple seconds, then stop.  That's annoying.  Double checked everything and couldn't see any connections I missed.  Did find this little round magnet about the size of a dime with a hole in the middle I didn't recognize.  Cute magnet, though it was a stray on the bench from something somewhere.

Anyway, couldn't figure it out and dug around and found the actual service manual from 1981.  Wow, this is a SERVICE manual.  The amount of detail that they go into is simply amazing.  They not only describe what each process is supposed to do and which components do it, it also includes the theory as to WHY it's done!  CRAZY!

Most service manuals I see today basically say it's broke, get a new one!!

Anyway, initially, I was expecting that the machine was stopping because of some electrical failure or overload somewhere.  The service manual explained what things needed to be in place or it would trigger the stop circuit.  It showed me what to measure and where.  Everything seems to check out.  Then I accidentally hit the 'pause' button and the motors kept spinning instead of stopping. Hmmm... A few more pages into the service manual and I find the page that shows how they detected end of tape.  There's a circular magnet that triggers a reed switch on and off as the pickup reel is spinning so it knows it hasn't run to the end and stops. 

Wait, that cute magnet is round!  Well, low and behold, I find that little reed switch and the shaft the magnet needs to go back on and magically the tape deck works like new again!!

Without such a complete manual, there's pretty much NO chance I'd have figured out why a tiny little round magnet would have been needed, or where to look to put it back to make this thing work.

That's the end of my happy story today.

Carry on.

[Bob Faulkner]

We should be keeping those older manuals as a reminder of a better time.

[Tim Weaver]

A lot of my learning came from reading old EV, JBL, and Altec literature from way back in the day. I was reading manuals from the 60's to the 80's while I was in the 2000's trying to make all that old stuff keep working.

On that end I have owned a 62 Ford Falcon (3 on the tree!) and a 67 Ford Galaxie and those manuals taught you how to do all sorts of service and emergency repair.

[Tim McCulloch]

A lot of my learning came from reading old EV, JBL, and Altec literature from way back in the day. I was reading manuals from the 60's to the 80's while I was in the 2000's trying to make all that old stuff keep working.

On that end I have owned a 62 Ford Falcon (3 on the tree!) and a 67 Ford Galaxie and those manuals taught you how to do all sorts of service and emergency repair.

Oh yes.  Back when there was real information in a manual wrapped in an education.  dbx, Yamaha, Meyer, the brands you mention... any white papers.

Ah well, those rose-tinted recollections of the mythic past. 😱

[John Roberts {JR}]

On that end I have owned a 62 Ford Falcon (3 on the tree!) and a 67 Ford Galaxie and those manuals taught you how to do all sorts of service and emergency repair.

That's why they invented Hurst floor shifters.....

JR

[Mike Caldwell]

A lot of my learning came from reading old EV, JBL, and Altec literature from way back in the day. I was reading manuals from the 60's to the 80's while I was in the 2000's trying to make all that old stuff keep working.

On that end I have owned a 62 Ford Falcon (3 on the tree!) and a 67 Ford Galaxie and those manuals taught you how to do all sorts of service and emergency repair.

I had a 3 on the tree, Ford Falcon, Ford Granada and a GMC Handi Van.

[Scott Helmke]

It's getting tough to fix things these days if you aren't an authorized service center - companies won't share any info, other than maybe they'll look up a part number for you.  We're authorized for Yamaha and get full access to service docs, but most other companies are now very stingy with service advice and manuals.

[Kevin Maxwell]

That's why they invented Hurst floor shifters.....

JR

I had a Chevy van with 3 on the tree and I replaced it with a Hurst floor shifter. It worked much better after that.

[brian maddox]

I had a Chevy van with 3 on the tree and I replaced it with a Hurst floor shifter. It worked much better after that.

The shift linkage on those vans was amazing. SO many moving parts. SO many friction points to get loose and sloppy.

I miss those bad old days

[Mike Caldwell]

The shift linkage on those vans was amazing. SO many moving parts. SO many friction points to get loose and sloppy.

I miss those bad old days

Yes! My stub nose GMC would get stuck between gears sometimes, I bent a hook on the end of a 1/8inch
rod to reach in through the grill to pull the linkage loose so to speak.......always with the engine off!!!

[brian maddox]

Yes! My stub nose GMC would get stuck between gears sometimes, I bent a hook on the end of a 1/8inch
rod to reach in through the grill to pull the linkage loose so to speak.......always with the engine off!!!

I owned a 1968 chevy van; the one where the engine was between the front seats. The shift linkage from the steering column to the transmission that was like 10 feet away was pretty hilarious

[Mike Caldwell]

I owned a 1968 chevy van; the one where the engine was between the front seats. The shift linkage from the steering column to the transmission that was like 10 feet away was pretty hilarious

Same here with the 1969 Handi Van, made it easy to tune while driving. I put a couple layers of moving
blankets over the engine compartment to cut down on the noise.
It was actually coming out of reverse where the linkage would get stuck sometimes. 

[brian maddox]

Same here with the 1969 Handi Van, made it easy to tune while driving. I put a couple layers of moving
blankets over the engine compartment to cut down on the noise.
It was actually coming out of reverse where the linkage would get stuck sometimes.

I have owned several "classic" cars from the glory days of Detroit Muscle, but if I could only have one of them back, it would be that funky 68 chevy van. something so delightfully weird about it.

apologies for swerve....

[Kevin Maxwell]

I have owned several "classic" cars from the glory days of Detroit Muscle, but if I could only have one of them back, it would be that funky 68 chevy van. something so delightfully weird about it.

apologies for swerve....

I would want my 64 Corvette back.

[Tim Weaver]

I have owned several "classic" cars from the glory days of Detroit Muscle, but if I could only have one of them back, it would be that funky 68 chevy van. something so delightfully weird about it.

apologies for swerve....

Vans are cool.

When I started working for the big regional company in town they had one of those handi-vans complete with a three on the tree. We called it the Red Rocket.  It would do about 65 going downhill, and there was no AC and no radio. I kinda wish it was still around though. It was quirky...

[Craig Hauber]

Vans are cool.

When I started working for the big regional company in town they had one of those handi-vans complete with a three on the tree. We called it the Red Rocket.  It would do about 65 going downhill, and there was no AC and no radio. I kinda wish it was still around though. It was quirky...

I actually put the column shift back into my '63 chevy station wagon.  The aftermarket floor shifter had worn out so bad and I personally like the action on a properly restored column shift.
And a big part of it was the entertainment of watching the valet try to figure it out!  (yes I gigged for years in LA with a classic station wagon)

[John Roberts {JR}]

I actually put the column shift back into my '63 chevy station wagon.  The aftermarket floor shifter had worn out so bad and I personally like the action on a properly restored column shift.
And a big part of it was the entertainment of watching the valet try to figure it out!  (yes I gigged for years in LA with a classic station wagon)

IIRC the Hurst floor shifters were guaranteed for life..... I did break one, but they replaced it.

JR

[ProSoundWeb Community]