PSA: Swap meet seller sold me a 'refurbished' reel-to-reel, turns out it had a dead motor

Was at the Rose Bowl flea market last Sunday and grabbed a Teac X-1000 for $180. Guy swore he'd replaced the belts and lubed everything, but on the ride home it started smoking. Opened it up and the capstan motor was seized solid, the old grease had turned to glue. He'd just painted over the rust and put new belts on top, didn't touch the actual drive. I'm now checking every motor shaft before buying anything with a running mechanism. Has anyone else got burned by these 'restored' decks at swap meets, and how do you test them without power?

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abby3081d ago

Heard a guy on a podcast say to spin every pulley by hand first, if it grinds, walk away.