Belt Replacement for Sansui SC-1110 (and similar)

Blueshift

New Member
I just resurrected my old machine hoping to transcribe some old tapes to the computer, but of course the drive belt has the consistency of freshly chewed liquorice and the other three belts have lost the will to be 'belty'.

So, here's how to do it. It is a bit fiddly but doesn't need special tools. It does need a bit of patience, but I got it done and reconstructed in about an hour. Make sure you keep a note of which screws go where as you undo stuff. Phone camera is ideal for this!

Just to state the bleeding obvious - unplug the machine first! ;-)

Here's the tools (you also need some cloth or kitchen roll)
tools.jpg

1. Remove the eight screws of the top cover (six on the sides with washers).

Here's my old belts and view of interior - yours might look a bit different...
old belts.jpg
2. Remove the two smaller belts and flat main drive belt. Use nail varnish remover, Q-tips and cloth, etc to throughly clean the flywheel, motor spindle, and all the plastic drive wheels. Take time to make sure they are as clean as possible.

3. Now the tricky bit! You have to get the new drive belt in the very narrow gap between the long metal plate (running down the middle of the above picture, next to the wires). You will need to loosen, but NOT remove two screws. One is a metal one, show here: metal screw.jpg
(note the bit of wire sticking up - on my machine, that's just a cable tie holding the wires in place and obscuring the metal screw!). Loosen by a few turns.

4. Now loosen a plastic cross head screw just below and to the left:
plastic screw.jpg
The space is tight to get a screwdriver in, as there's a circuit board in front of it. Note: if there is some red or green glue-like stuff around the screw, using nail varnish remover and a small flat head driver to scratch it away, will make loosening it a lot easier. I used a cross head bit and plyers to reach the screw and carefully turn it anticlockwise to loosen. You need to undo it a couple of turns but don't remove it!

5. You are now able to move the metal plate holding the motor slightly away from the flywheel in order to get the flat belt in. But first, use some thin card or folded paper to move around in the gap to clean away the dust and dirt! Fold the belt in half and slide under the long spacer that the loosened metal screw sits in. Carefully push one edge of the belt in between the gap behind the flywheel (holding the plate back as you do so). Once half of it is under the flywheel it's easy to get the remainder back onto the motor spindle:

new drive belt in.jpg

6. Now carefully put the two smaller belts back on. Of the three smaller belts in the pack, the second smallest sits on the left, and the longest on the right. Carefully retighten the plastic screw to the same position it was in before (don't overtighten it otherwise it could obstruct the flywheel). Fully retighten the metal screw. Re fit the cable tie (if appropriate):
new transport belts 2.jpg

8. Almost done! Just need to tun the machine around and fit the final belt. For this you need to remove the front cover and the plastic cover surrounding the capstans and keys. Remove all the screws top and bottom holding the front panel:

remove front panel.jpg

9. Pull off the front panel knobs:

knobs.jpg

10. Remove the plastic surround:

remove front panel 1.jpg

11. Remove the old belt, give everything a good clean and replace the belt:front pulley.jpg

12. Replace and covers and knobs and you're done! A bit fiddly, but quite good geeky fun in a way!

I hope this was useful. :)
 
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Thank You. The sc-3110 is virtually the same but a little easier. When loosening the plastic screw there isn't a circuit board obstructing the use of a screwdriver.
 
Muchas gracias, después de años con mi Deck Sansui abandonado, hoy por fin pude darle vida nuevamente. Todo gracias a tu publicación.
:)
 
The screws to loosen the capstan motor plate are easier to get at if you unclip the Molex connectors on the G-1230 circuit board from boards G-1218 and G-1217; this enables you to keep the circuit board out of the way while you replace the capstan belt.
 
Thank you for such a detailed post, I need to do exactly this for a Sansui SC 1300. This is very helpful indeed.


I just resurrected my old machine hoping to transcribe some old tapes to the computer, but of course the drive belt has the consistency of freshly chewed liquorice and the other three belts have lost the will to be 'belty'.

So, here's how to do it. It is a bit fiddly but doesn't need special tools. It does need a bit of patience, but I got it done and reconstructed in about an hour. Make sure you keep a note of which screws go where as you undo stuff. Phone camera is ideal for this!

Just to state the bleeding obvious - unplug the machine first! ;-)

Here's the tools (you also need some cloth or kitchen roll)
View attachment 831228

1. Remove the eight screws of the top cover (six on the sides with washers).

Here's my old belts and view of interior - yours might look a bit different...
View attachment 831230
2. Remove the two smaller belts and flat main drive belt. Use nail varnish remover, Q-tips and cloth, etc to throughly clean the flywheel, motor spindle, and all the plastic drive wheels. Take time to make sure they are as clean as possible.

3. Now the tricky bit! You have to get the new drive belt in the very narrow gap between the long metal plate (running down the middle of the above picture, next to the wires). You will need to loosen, but NOT remove two screws. One is a metal one, show here: View attachment 831234
(note the bit of wire sticking up - on my machine, that's just a cable tie holding the wires in place and obscuring the metal screw!). Loosen by a few turns.

4. Now loosen a plastic cross head screw just below and to the left:
View attachment 831235
The space is tight to get a screwdriver in, as there's a circuit board in front of it. Note: if there is some red or green glue-like stuff around the screw, using nail varnish remover and a small flat head driver to scratch it away, will make loosening it a lot easier. I used a cross head bit and plyers to reach the screw and carefully turn it anticlockwise to loosen. You need to undo it a couple of turns but don't remove it!

5. You are now able to move the metal plate holding the motor slightly away from the flywheel in order to get the flat belt in. But first, use some thin card or folded paper to move around in the gap to clean away the dust and dirt! Fold the belt in half and slide under the long spacer that the loosened metal screw sits in. Carefully push one edge of the belt in between the gap behind the flywheel (holding the plate back as you do so). Once half of it is under the flywheel it's easy to get the remainder back onto the motor spindle:

View attachment 831241

6. Now carefully put the two smaller belts back on. Of the three smaller belts in the pack, the second smallest sits on the left, and the longest on the right. Carefully retighten the plastic screw to the same position it was in before (don't overtighten it otherwise it could obstruct the flywheel). Fully retighten the metal screw. Re fit the cable tie (if appropriate):
View attachment 831252

8. Almost done! Just need to tun the machine around and fit the final belt. For this you need to remove the front cover and the plastic cover surrounding the capstans and keys. Remove all the screws top and bottom holding the front panel:

View attachment 831247

9. Pull off the front panel knobs:

View attachment 831254

10. Remove the plastic surround:

View attachment 831246

11. Remove the old belt, give everything a good clean and replace the belt:View attachment 831255

12. Replace and covers and knobs and you're done! A bit fiddly, but quite good geeky fun in a way!

I hope this was useful. :)
 
Thank you for such a detailed post, I need to do exactly this for a Sansui SC 1300. This is very helpful indeed.
I have a SC-1300 I am replacing the belts on too. The main belt replacement seems like it would be a bit different. Have you replaced the belts and done the cleaning yet? I would really appreciate a little guidance on mine if you can spare the time, and the pictures(especially for the main belt) Thanks. (I think I should have replied in a common reply, but wasn't quite sure, so posted a somewhat different reply below to the author of this post)/ Thank you.
 
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I have a SC-1300 I am replacing the belts on too. The main belt replacement seems like it would be a bit different. Also wondering if a "bug and tar remover" for cleaner would work to remove melted on belt material. This will be my first belt replacement. I have two other dual dubbing decks from the 80's or early 90's that won't play or rw or ff either, but want to just fix this one as it kind of matches my Pioneer SX-980 Receiver.
Thanks
 
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