This is the capstan pinch roller that "grips" the tape and pulls it through
the mechanism. You need to get some rubbing alcohol or, better yet, nail
polish remover and rub down any rubber wheel and rubber belt surface you can
find. Don't be shy... rub them down well. Quite a bit of dried rubber will
show up on the rag as black marks. Stop rubbing when the surfaces seem to
want to "grip" again. Try this before you invest money in new belts and
rubber. It's usually not a permanent fix and you may need to repeat this
every few months, but chances are your VCR will work again for little money.

wrote in message
oups.com...

There was a larger cylindrical rubber wheel, about 1/2 in diameter and
3/4 inch in height. I cleaned it with a Q-tip. There was amazingly
little black crud on it, considering the 20-year age of the machine and
the fact that this wheel is in contact with magnetic tape.