8-track player balance problem

[8-Tracker]

Hey guys, I bought this 8-track player from a guy near my town, and the right speaker isn't giving me any sound on program 4. Apart from that it's a real good player, and I'd like to fix it. It's pretty simple on the inside, but I'm no electronics expert, so could you give me some advice?

[Skywavebe]

I would say that if there is no program material on Program 4 that the head is moving up too high or that the head may have edge on it causing the audio to be made less. Have you tried cleaning with a good cleaning solution and some pressure?

[8-Tracker]

I cleaned the head after a few tapes played and it didn't sound that good. I got a lot of gunk off it and it sounded better, and I didn't notice the problem until later. I put some pressure on it too, while I was cleaning it, and it's got a convenient head adjusted knob on the back, but it didn't seem to help, it just played the same with the light set on a different program. It plays fine on the left speaker, just not the right, and it's fine on all the other programs.

[retrokeeper]

Does this player have the cheap white plastic surround head clamp material? If it does,look for a split in the plastic,that indicates that the head is out of alighnment.This may be the issue. Rob

[8-Tracker]

Does this player have the cheap white plastic surround head clamp material? If it does,look for a split in the plastic,that indicates that the head is out of alighnment.This may be the issue. Rob

Well, I opened it up again to check, and even though I've never heard of the company (Midland International?) they apparently cared because it sounds good and the head clamp is metal, so I don't think that's the issue. Also, I've messed with the head adjusted dealy on the back of it to the point where it's playing P2 on P4 and it sounds fine there, but when I switch it to P2 and it's playing P4, I get the same lack of right speaker volume. Connection maybe?

[Skywavebe]

Hello 8-tracker,

The way these things works as you can observe is the two stereo tracks on the head move up and down on the tape depending on what tracks you want to play. The difference in the playing of the extreme side tracks meaning the Program 1 and 4 could have the tape heads edge come into effect when the tape may curl on a wear edge or maybe the edge of the tape is worn or damaged. If the two channels of audio are working fine in the center positioned Programs (track pairs) then the audio amplifiers are working fine. The things that affect the outer extreme tracks need to be examined as that is where the problem is. Did you try another cartridge to rule out the tape being damaged? Did you look at the tape to see if it has wear on that track-probably the top IIRC. I have not had to work on one of those in a lot of years. While head wires could have a problem- they would be the same all the time in all the programs.

[8-Tracker]

Yes, I tried multiple tapes, and it's the same problem on all of them. I also tried the same tapes on my other player, and they work fine there.

[8-Tracker]

Hello 8-tracker,

The difference in the playing of the extreme side tracks meaning the Program 1 and 4 could have the tape heads edge come into effect when the tape may curl on a wear edge or maybe the edge of the tape is worn or damaged. If the two channels of audio are working fine in the center positioned Programs (track pairs) then the audio amplifiers are working fine. The things that affect the outer extreme tracks need to be examined as that is where the problem is.
Also, I forgot to mention, it plays fine on program 1, it's just the 4th program.

[Warped Bezel]

Sounds like a cracked wire at either end that acts up when extended all the way. Can you repair it if so?