Sloppy capstan bearings. Look see how they're mounted. Usually there are three screws. If it is not too terribly bad you can rotate the bearings, sometimes that will work, others not. If not, you'll have to push the bushings out and find a machine shop. Actually you'll have to take them the whole thing, they can push them out.

Years ago when these things were plentiful it would not be worth doing, but now that they are a rarity it might be. I don't now what a machine shop or machinist would charge, but it is not going to be five bucks.

My lathe was bigger and would not hold the tolerance for this, plus I sold it recently. But really, to be fair as a private guy, not a shop I would probably do it for like $30. Shops generally have a per hour figure for each machine, you got a few minutes to cut the stock and not more than an hour lathe time.

The way to check this is to try to move the flywheel. It will most likely move in one direction, to and fro in relation to the front of the unit. If you turn the bearings, keep in mind which way the force will be. It is pulling the tape to the right, and it is worn in the back at the top and maybe a little at the bottom. You want ti oriented so that the force does not skew the capstan which will give you even worse problems. Think about which way it was going and the force of the tape, then decide which way to turn it.

There is a possibility that due to the mounting arrangement you cannot turn the whole bearing. If this is the case then you have to push out the bushing(s)and just rotate them. Mark EVERYTHING.

Also, if the top and bottom are identical, instead or rotating them, keep them in the same position but switch them.

We used to scrap units over **** like this, but no more. You can easily get $200 to fix a betamax now. If you can actualy do it that is ...

(I just noticed the word "betamax" is marked by my spellheck, how dare they ! I HAVE a betamax !)