Hi All,

Everyone is going to think I'm a nut, but I love cassettes.

The original cassette deck just broke in my 84 4runner and I am going to try my darndest to get it fixed. If you haven't seen the original 1st gen cassette player in a 4runner, they're pretty cool and very 80's. They have all sorts of useless nobs and buttons for adjusting everything under the sun. (will post pic)

In any case, I am trying to fix this thing myself first and am looking for advice. Has anyone every had their cassette player break and successfully fixed it?

I've already ripped the thing out and I'm trying to figure out exactly how it works. I think that either one of the bands snapped (even though I haven't seen any actual bands in it yet) or one of the motors died.

Does anyone know of a place to get motors for such an old cassette player? I found this place online, but I haven't looked into it too thorougly:

http://www.wjoe.com/vintageandantiques.htm

Also, does anyone have an old working cassette player from an 84 4runner that they would want to sell??

Thanks y'all!
George

 

found this with google: http://www.bizrate.com/car-cassette-players/
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_070XC41...tte+deck&ssi=0

 

dude this is awesome, i just swapped out my aftermarket radio for an 80's toyota radio mainly because i wanted a working cassette player, but darn if its broken, i like cassettes way better then cd's and those ipod doohickeys, i was just gonna post a thread on where to get my radio fixed, but hopefully ill find an anser. i know what radio your talking about, i wanted that one but opted for the basic single din radio because i like the tray underneath to hold my shotgun shells, but soon im gonna slide a cb in there...

 

Haha - I'm glad to know that I'm not the only cassette nut out there!

Ya, I found this guy on the internet who knows a lot about radios and stuff, so I sent him my cassette deck. He's going to look at it and see if he can fix it. If he can fix it I'll drop you his email address. Super nice guy too.

I like the CB radio and shot gun shell idea! HA!

 

lol, haha about the shotgun shells, did you ship your radio out to them/him? hopefully he knows whats wrong with it, lol, theres nothing good on the radio around here, and ipods are too complicated, cd's are to big, and you have to worry about scratching them, and jerry jeff walker sounds better when theres alot of backround white noise playin on a mono stereo system that gets no louder then 10 decibels with the worst sounding speakers ive ever heard...its just so much more rustic

 

If worse comes to worst, the other idea I was pondering is maybe if you could buy a new cassette deck (they actually still sell them ... I'm getting one put into my 78 toyota Chinook) and just some how hook it up to the amplifier. it wouldn't be too big of a difference and you could still have the original look cause the amp would be underneath it. of course, I'm not sure if all the plugs would fit together and everything. might be a gamble.

I tried ripping the cassette deck apart to see if I could fix my old one, but it's really not "handyman friendly". First, you need to saw thru the metal piece holding the amp and cassette player 2gether. Then, when you have the bottom of the deck open (by removing the metal cover) you'll find (to your dismay) that they have soldered a large computer chip over the working parts that you'd need to get to. You'd have to unsolder the chip (remember where the soldered pieces were connected so you can solder them back 2gether later) and then remove the chip and see if any bands are broken ect. I never got around to unsoldering the whole cassette player just because it seemed like a real pain, but you could always give it a shot anyway. It's not like you can really break anything if it's already broken.

Totally worth while. Screw cds! Ha

 

Jerry Jeff Walker... Just youtubed him. Never had heard of him b4. Pretty good.

Just getting into Townes van zandt. Not sure why it took me so long.

Ya, I sent my deck out to this dude:

http://www.wjoe.com/vintageandantiques.htm

If he can fix my radio, I'll let you know. Maybe he'll be able to fix yours too. Super nice guy.

I also hoped on crazedlist.org and emailed the outta everyone with toyota parts to see if someone might have one hanging around.

Good luck - I'll keep you posted.

 

lol, jerry jeff walker... one of my alltime favorites, if you havnt already, you should checkout his live version of redneck mother, its on youtube, as an old texas connection tv episodes, and my favorite 2a.m cruise around the backroads and look at the views song is the 'pickup truck song'.

now not bore ya to death, if you your looking for a used toyota radio, one place a freind of mine told me about (thanks 77lubr ) is future cars in coplay p.a, they have tons of toyota parts, especially 80's pickups and 4runners, if you look them up on google youll be able to find their number, and if you dont live near pa im sure you can work out shipping. oh and haha, took apart my radio too and it sure aint handyman freindly lol, i think a gear is bad on mine, because when you put in a casette, there is an arm that pushes two gears together, but it just clicks, so i think the one gear is stripped out and just skipping the teeth

 

g.i. junk - Allz I've got to say is that you're the man!! It sounds like that place not only has one, but they have a couple of them hanging around. Better than gold dude. Haha. Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it more than you know! I'll be picking up a jerry jeff walker tape in your honor. hahaha.

 

yeah, yeah, im the man, no need to tell me i already know, haha jk but thanks, sounds like you made out well eh? lol, i just reread your first post and lauged where you siad "They have all sorts of useless nobs and buttons for adjusting everything under the sun. " haha its soo true, so did you get a cance to call future cars? there really have every part in the boolk ill tell ya what, i bet they even have some jerry jeff walker tapes laying around too!!