HOW TO DISARM THE CARRIAGE

Remove 7 screws from back cover(4 are same size, 1 is larger: goes into flyback transformer, 2 are small: by the AC cord and A/V jacks. Take the back cover off (pull AC cord thru slot). Remove 2 speaker connectors at front left and right. Remove Degausing coil connector (2 wire, white I think). Remove black wire (Dag. ground) from CRT circuit board (on picture tube).Pull off CRT C.B. from end of pic. tube. Remove 7 screws that secure Cassette Unit to C.B.( 4 in front, 2 high, 2 lower) ( 3 in rear, middle very close to head cylinder). Release 2 locking tabs on bottom of TV while pulling chassis back.Turn chassis on it's side and remove last 2 screws from bottom of circuit board holding Cassette Unit to C.B.(chrome one to right: both are ground screws, but connect to plastic: go figure. Lift unit up slightly (2 cables soldered to main C.B. prevent much free play). Look at the front right (under cass. unit) side and you will see a black round plastic piece (mode select switch) that solders to board and tells MCU what position ( Stop, Play, etc.) cass. unit is in. There's a tip on switch that aligns to a gear on bottom of cass. assy. There's a small circle on C.B. that marks Eject position ( at high noon looking from front or top of TV). Turn loading motor belt to turn gear to turn tip of switch to that position. Hard to be precise from the angle of sight, but easier than you'd think. Set cass. unit down, and make sure tip of mode switch goes into round hole in gear and doesn't move out of Eject position (to prevent it from turning freely). Install a few screws back into cass.unit to hold in place for testing. Remove loading motor belt, holding front pulley so mode switch doesn't move. Slide chassis back in place temporarily and connect CRT circuit board, Dag ground wire, Degauss. coil connector, speaker connectors not needed, but I connect anyway. In order for this to work your cassette housing unit (loads and ejects tape) has to be in eject, or at least out of the way so both end sensors (stop tape at beginning and end) receive infrared light. Also the plastic clear thing ( in center of unit, top, that an LED on C.B. shines infrared light thru has to be in place, so both end sensors send correct logic ( 0 or 5 volts) to MCU. If plastic optic clear thing is broke, you can short end sensor leads together (both sides).They are located on small vertical C.B.'s at left and right, and have only 2 leads that solder to board. Usually these are fine unless major abuse has been done to VCR. Slide chassis to lock tabs, connect cable or input to TV, make sure connectors are in place and keeping a finger on loading motor pulley, plug AC in. If Eject pos. correct, motor should not spin. Push Power button, and TV should come on and not shut down. If OK, unplug AC, and slide chassis back, re-install all screws. Don't reinstall loading motor belt. If motor spins, probably not in Eject pos. Try again, it's not that hard, just avoid high voltage with back off.

A vcr carriage has at least one or maybe two little plugs going to it from the main circuit board, unplug whatever lines that are going to it. don't cut any wires.