Factory stereo - cassette player "tune-up"?
 

2002 FLHTC with factory stereo. Cassette player still works but sounds muddy and sometimes like it's eating the tape (but doesn't eat the tape) Tried a head-cleaning cartridge, no luck.

Has anyone done head adjustments on these or know of any other way of "tuning" these old stereos up aside from replacing them? I took a quick look and didn't see any access holes for adjustment like some of the old car stereos used to have. The radio still works great and I still have a great collection of classic rock on cassette that never gets used.

Thanks for any tips.

You can send it to Radio Sound who did the warranty service on those- good customer service.

heads are cleaned with isopropyl ( 90% or so) on a long foam or q-tip like swab from electronics store or radio shack, likewise clean the rubber pinch roller, it can get sticky and the tape'll wrap around it.

2.) get a cassette/ line adapter and put all your stuff on an ipod--- or if you want real tidy you can use an FM modulator it's $6 vs $100.

all the stuff you like and more is available as mp3's--- a big ipod will hold all the music. not just yours, but all of it.

Mike

Sometimes you have to replace the heads on the deck but with that cost you should put your cassettes on a storage device or rerecord them to CD and upgrade your stereo

I got a few long swabs today with foam tips today so I'll try cleaning the head and pinch rollers. If no luck with that I'll go with an iPod or MP3 player. I agree having it fixed wouldn't be worth it.

Why not just replace your stereo or radio??

I remember back in the day I also used to demagnetize the head of cassette players, it was supposed to improve the sound.

Trying to keep the cost down and the radio in it still works great.

Thanks. I'd forgotten all about that.

Got some left over Fujitsu document scanner pick up roller and belt cleaner and foam-tipped swabs and took that to the head and rollers. Seems to work great so far!