u/ImpromptuSharkTank

I picked this beauty on Facebook MP for $5 with a hope and a dream that I could fix it up but I’m a complete noob to turntable repair.
What I’ve diagnosed thus far, the turntable idler wheel will make contact with the motor pin-thing and will spin when the platter is removed if I hold the manual down with my finger, but will drift away back to center if I release it and the idler wheel will lose its contact. I’m have trouble getting the turntable to spin at all when I go to start phase and have to spin the wheel to ‘unlock it and move the need to the end with wheel spinning to free the mechanism.

It feels to me that in manual mode something isn’t quite latching and locking into place, are there some common areas that get gummed up or misaligned that may be causing the problem?

Any and all help is much appreciated. Cheers!

Ok, I found this beauty on Facebook Marketplace for free and in an impulsive wimsy, I picked it up!
I have no experience renovating or restoring jukeboxes and this thing is in rough shape - there is rat poop, spiderwebs, and dust galore, both inside and out.

Would it be crazy to completely gut this thing (ie remove basically everything internal) then rewire it with a Bluetooth speaker set up to make it a ‘modern jukebox’? Or is that completely idiotic and disrespectful to what thing originally was?

Obviously, I’m in way over my head so any wisdom is appreciated - Thank y’all!