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Do you know if the turntable is a direct drive or a belt drive? If it's a belt drive it might need a new belt.
well...it has a belt! I took it off and put it on again. Not sure what wear looks like on a TT belt, but it didn't seem to have any marks. Only thing - it seemed kind of loose. I'm not sure how snug these things are, but it was hard to get back on, but it kept falling off the bottom of the platter...
Remarkably, when I put it back together, it seemed a little better. Not sure what I did.
turn the the belt inside out and put it back on. That might improve it more.
A new belt should be cheap.
New belts are usually $7-30 dollars. Write the name and model number of the turntable down and take the old belt into the audio store. Call ahead to see if they even have belts, many don't anymore.
In emergency situations I've had some success with first boiling rubber belts then wiping them thoroughly with undiluted dish detergent. It's a trick I learned from an HP printer repair tech.
If the platter is moving side to side but not going up and down like a tilted platter, it could also be an unbalanced platter. How that came about I can't imagine, unless it was a defect in the first place.
A belt that falls off has stretched from age. Get a new belt is recommended.
A thought just popped into my mind: I might suspect that the TT have had a serious fall from a shelf or the like. A out-of-centre platter isn't that normal...
turntable belts