Pressure pads for late 60s Panasonic auto reverse R2R

Hi all,

Picked up a nice 1969 Panasonic auto reverse R2R earlier today. Been wanting one for my 70s era Zenith system and the price was right ($20). Belts appear good and it plays at the correct speeds... however audio is very low and I've noticed the tape is passing loosely and unevenly over the heads. All of the pressure pads have pretty much crumbled to dust which I think might be causing low audio and uneven tracking.

Can these pads be replaced? Noticed some 8 track pads for cheap on Ebay. Would these work as a replacement?

Appreciate the help. It has been years since I've dealt with R2R.

Thanks!

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Those green self adhesive felt pads that you would use on the bottom of a lamp work pretty well for that. You can buy packs of them in any hardware store or home center and trim them to fit. Just make sure to clean the remains of the old pad of really well with alcohol so the new pads will stick on properly. If the glue on the new pad is too weak you can glue them on with some Aileen's or similar glue.
 
Those green self adhesive felt pads that you would use on the bottom of a lamp work pretty well for that. You can buy packs of them in any hardware store or home center and trim them to fit. Just make sure to clean the remains of the old pad of really well with alcohol so the new pads will stick on properly. If the glue on the new pad is too weak you can glue them on with some Aileen's or similar glue.

I second that. Recently redid the brake pads on my Sony TC-580 with little felt squares from Ace. The squares were about the right length and had sticky backs so no need to mess with glue. Try to find ones with a decent amount of friction and near the right thickness or else it will cause the reels to slow. Hope you find what you need and best of luck!
 
Thanks to both of you for the advice. Replaced the four pressure pads in the machine with some 3/8" felt "dots" from Walmart and that went perfect.... but didn't fix my low audio problem. Finally determined most of the 50 used tapes I picked up at the weekend swap meet last week for 8 bucks were recorded in four track. That's the problem! Also the R2R hasn't been fired up in years and sounds better the longer it runs.

I've been playing it all evening and it's working great now.

Thanks again guys!

Steve


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