I've been working on this Otari MX 5050 mk iii-8 and was in the middle of the record alignment and the supply reel stopped working. In play, the take-up reel spins as it should but the supply reel twitches and then nothing. When it had tape on it would just move forward from being pulled by the take-up reel but to the point that it would allow too much slack spilling tape from the supply side until the machine shuts off. STRANGELY, the motor will start spinning after I give it a little umpf with my hand, and it will spin either direction depending on which way I push it. Is this normal??? I thought it was the edit function misbehaving, but after looking into it, the edit disengages the take up reel to spill from that side. I thought it might be the reel size switch, but I took apart and cleaned the primary and secondary switch(the secondary did seem intermittent when testing out of circuit, but I cleaned both and replaced them and I still have the problem. I replaced all the relays in the control board. I reflowed all the solder on the control board just for good measure. I've done the brake/tape tension alignment procedure and though I had to readjust it a second time, it seems to be operating properly. I finally removed the whole brake assembly to get the the motor wire harness and measured 50something volts ac at the motor. I'm thinking it's the motor at this point, however I know these are asynchronous motors and it's getting AC, the motor shaft moves freely and I get continuity when measuring across the coils(the same ohms as the take up reel). Is this somehow a brake issue; I mean is the take-up supposed to give the supply reel the umpf that I gave with my hand while the brake is still partially applied to give back tension or is the back tension supposed to come from the motor alone? Sorry for the lengthy description, but I want to be as clear as possible. Please help!