Tascam 244 eBay parts.... Buyer beware......

[bachelorb]

I thought I'd mention this for people buying parts online. I bought a drive belt and idler tires for a Tascam 244 who's belts and tires were goo.... The belt kept slipping off after I installed it, and the tires made an awful noise.

Well, on the advice of people here I went to Teac and ordered the parts. I took pictures to show the difference.


The thinner one on the left was from Teac/Tascam. Here they are up against a ruler




The Idler tires were a little difference too. The Tascam part is the smaller one.

 

[famous beagle]

Oh wow, yes that's pretty noticeable. Have you tried them out yet?

 

[bachelorb]

Yeah.... The eBay parts weren't even close..... The belt was too wide for the pulley and the idler wheels really made noise..... I took it all apart again and replaced them with the Tascam parts.... and Shazam!!... everything works....

Now SB is telling me I have to take er all apart again to test that meter...... ahh well.....

What really burns my tail is I rebelted and tired (with Tascam parts), AND SOLD!!! a 244 that was really beat up, but worked perfectly..... This one looked barely used, so I thought I'd keep it because it was the easy one......

 

[miroslav]

You can buy off eBay...but you need to know what it is you're buying, because there are sellers that you can't trust to guarantee that it is what they say it is.

I would always go to the manufacturer if they still have the parts...thing is, with so much of this vintage gear, parts are rarely still available from the manufacturer...so you are lucky.

I just purchased a ton of spare parts from the UK for my console. It was a nice chunk of $$$...but worth the investment.
Much of the parts are no longer manufactured, so when I find someone who still has NOS stuff on hand, I stock up.
Much of it might end up never getting used, but if I plan to keep the console operational for another 20 years maybe, having the parts is my security blanket...plus, if/when I do decided to sell it one day, any spare parts I can include always sweetens the deal on vintage stuff.
Heck...in 20 years, the console will be about 45 years old....and hopefully still 100% operational.

 

[bachelorb]

I'm with you Miro..... When I was working on tractors, ebay was a big part of my life..... I've been probably 75/25 overall in favor of ebay.

but.... when something wasn't right.... I was always glad when someone brought it up.....

 

[Level Anything]

You should write to that guy who sold you those and let him know what you just told us. I did that after having the 2 belt sets he sold me fail, and he told me that it was my fault somehow. I said "Yeah, I'm at fault for trying to save $15 and go through some jerk on eBay who can't be depended on to stand by his products." Ohhhh, burned!

Anyways, I think it's worth it just so he knows that when enough people complain about the same thing, that not all of them are making the same errors (whatever error that would be to make a belt ill-fitting and cheap). Now, will he care? That's debateable, but he sells a lot of these things so he should want to at least have a good reputation.