Replacing MD drive in Marantz Deck

[MCM635]

Hi,

I'm a newbie here, but have searched the forum without finding what I was after, so hopefully someone may be able to help.

I have a Marantz CM635 CD/MD combo deck which I have had for about 8 years. Recently the MD drive seems to have become more temperamental - a disk it once recorded to and played now won't even load - makes a sort of grinding sound then spits the disk out. Other disks sometimes take a few attempts to load, but once loaded are OK for recording and playing.

I am now concerned that the MD drive is on its way out. I really like this deck - one button dubbing from CD to MD, slim - and would hate to have to replace it with separate CD and MD decks.

Has anyone got any experience of replacing an MD drive? As I understand it there were only ever a few manufacturers and I believe that Marantz used a Sharp drive in their decks - would any Sharp drive do or would I need to find another CM635 (extremely unlikely).

Could this just be a case of the drive requiring cleaning? If so, would I need to dismantle the deck to do so?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Michael

[bland10000]

Check with member umwoofwoof, he takes decks apart and fixes stuff...the guy has forgotten more about md decks than most of us will know. Do a search for him then send a PM.