Thanks for the reply gunslinger! does that service manual have a part number in it for the upper head drum assembly? ive been looking around for a replacement video head but have really just been going by the pictures of the RCA/hitachi units on ebay but the closest ones i have found appear to be for 4 head machines. i think mine is a 6 or 7 head machine (i think they were called a 5+2 head). if i do end up finding a head for it for a reasonable price (ive cleaned them 3-4 times already with paper and alcohol so im assuming they must be bad
) i may be interested in that service manual and cables. how much would you want for them?