Technics SL10 alive again

My SL10 sat on a shelf for a couple of years after I purchased a new turntable.  It was working perfectly prior to that.  Then one day I decided I wanted to hear it again.  The bad news was that it didn't work.  The platter would spin but the linear tracking arm refused to move.  That was about three years ago.  I never found time to work on it.

Now that I'm semi retired I figured it was time to see if it could be resurrected.  I did a search for Technics      S L 10 repair and found a very good u tube video that showed how to remove the inside top cover.  It also showed how the linear tracking mechanism functions.

Disassembly went smoothly.  I did not find a broken parts.  Operating the gears by hand I found the linear tracking motor bound up, basically seized.  It was not hard to remove the motor.  A few shots of WD40 and some spinning by hand freed the motor up.  I also cleaned and lubed the guide rails.

 I reassembled the unit, put on a record I didn't like just in case the arm jammed or something that might damage a record.  The SL10 works perfectly, and not only that sounds better than I remember!

This table is a work of art and absolutely the most compact LP player available.  I'm impressed all over again. 😁