Hitachi 8200E pinch roller issue?

My immaculate 8200 stopped playing tapes on Saturday out of the blue.

Its been re-belted and the mechanism is running, but I notice that the pinch roller can be stopped easily with my finger which I don't recall happened before.

Can anyone comment on my starting diagnosis?

Take a look, but sounds like the pinch roller is not making good contact with the capstan.

Is it playing tapes fine? If it ain't broke don't fix it!


Ignore my send line...I see it's not playing tapes.


I just went through a whole troubleshooting on my JVC 550 deck. There is a wealth of knowledge on here and if you spend some time, you will narrow it down, and learn a lot in the process.

I'd start with cleaning the rubber tires (pinch roller / idlers). Clean the capstan.

Honestly it sounds like too much slack in the belts if the tape deck is running and you pinch the drive spindles and they stopped really easy that means there's not enough tension on the Belt

Was auto stop working correctly before? Try cleaning the pinch roller with fine grade sand paper or a nail file only on the rubber. Ensure the spring is applying enough presure on the capstan shaft, if not the tape can slip and may activate the auto stop.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I will go back through the forums here for more tips and tear it apart when i get some time and have a look.

I will update the thread as a record with whatever the outcome is.

JVC Floyd said:

Honestly it sounds like too much slack in the belts if the tape deck is running and you pinch the drive spindles and they stopped really easy that means there's not enough tension on the Belt

Click to expand...

I agree will Floyd! In many cases that is the problem. Loose drive belts cause this issue.
Pinch roller can be another problem. The rubber gets hard and shrink slightly and the pinch roller rubber won't give enough pressure to the capstan.
You have to replace the pinch roller if that is the case.