> Am I trying to do something akin to trying to stuff toothpaste back
> into the tube?  Is there a way of recovering 8-track tapes after such
> a discouraging event?

Hoo, boy!  (That's English for "Oy, vey!")  It's very unlikely that
your tape machine is at fault.  It never hurts to open things up, clean
the head and the foil-sensing contacts, and buff the accumulated
graphite off the capstan (i.e., the shaft that turns) with a bit of
fine aluminum-oxide abrasive paper -- I think I used to use #200 grit.

If a sticky capstan somehow caused your problem, this will fix it.
It also prevents tape slowdown due to the capstan slipping on the tape.
I used to stipple the capstan with an electric engraving tool while it
rotated, but I think this is a bit too extreme.

But this would all be too easy.  No, the problem is in the cartridge
itself.  The reel inside has only one flange on it.  The tape is pulled
from the center of the reel by the capstan.  The tape returns to the
outside of the same reel.  Since the diameter of the reel is fairly
large, the tape is seemingly taken up by the outside of the reel faster
than it is pulled off of the inside of the reel.  This keeps sufficient
tension on the tape so that it moves nicely past the head.

Examine the tape that's been pulled from the cartridge.  If there are
no twists in it, you're lucky: straighten it out so that it falls in an
orderly loop.  The tape should emerge and go back into the same hole on
the cartridge, preferably the hole where the rubber roller is.  You may
have to stand on a chair to let the tape fall in a nice loop.  The
presence of a cat during the operation is contraindicated (they love
tape.)

Directions are given as if you've got the tape in the machine and are
standing behind it: big part of label up, end label upright so you can
read it.  Now, gently tug on the portion of tape that's to the right of
the roller.  This is what comes from the center of the reel.  The reel
should rotate inside the cartridge shell.  In doing so, it should pull
some of the tape back in on the left side of the roller.  With luck,
more tape will go in than you have tugged out.  Continue doing this and
you should see the tape loop gradually getting smaller.  Keep at it
until all of the tape has gone back into the cartridge.

When the above doesn't work, surgery sometimes will.  Put the cartridge
on a table with the label up, so you can read it.  Open the cassette
shell.  You'll have to snap it apart: cut through the label first and
pry.  You'll break off the odd plastic tab or two, but you can tape the
shell together afterwards.

Leave the cartridge on the table: the object is to avoid having the
tape fall off of the one-flange reel, and that flange is on the bottom.
Have a look at the various components.  Make sure that the roller can
turn, pull it off its shaft and lube it with a touch of light grease.
Clean the roller surface off with rubbing alcohol, scrubbing it with a
handkerchief dipped in alcohol.  If the rubber roller has turned to
glop or has hardened, replace it with one from a scrap cartridge.

Then have a look at the 'pressure pad' that holds the tape against the
head.  These were usually a piece of foam with a bit of cellophane on
top of them to let the tape move freely over it.  They usually turn to
something like stale sponge cake.  Make your own out of some foam
plastic sponge, or swipe one from another tape cartridge.

Make sure that the reel turns freely.  If it doesn't, you'll want to
lubricate it before you try fooling with the tape.  Again, a touch of
light grease on the center bearing will help.  (This usually isn't a
problem, but lots of time has passed since I last did an 8 track.)

Finally, fool with the tape.  Make the loop described above and rotate
the reel to make the loop progressively smaller.  Chances are, the tape
was wound too tightly on the reel.  And this means is that the graphite
lubricant on the tape is gone, and you can't do much about this that
I know of.  However, it always seemed to me that you could, by just
fooling with the cartridge, get a few more plays out of it.

Please let us know your progress.  There's a lot of good material on
8-tracks.  It wouldn't be impossible to set up a reel-to-reel machine
with an 8-track head to salvage the music from the tape of a really
destroyed cartridge.  But these are the techniques that have
occasionally worked in the past for me.

Mark Kinsler
Kinsler Hi-Fi Service, 1968-1989
http://www.frognet.net/~kinsler