Hello experts!

I pulled my old CLD-HF9G that I bough when I lived in Japan 15 years ago out of the closet to play and digitize some of my old laserdiscs. When I tried it, it would simply give me a U1 error. After a little simple research (mostly here), I discovered that it was most likely a bad spindle motor. In fact, I could get discs to play by removing the cover and giving the disc a little nudge as it loaded, so it seemed that was the problem. I was able to locate a NOS spindle motor (VXA1986) on Taobao in China and I had it shipped over and installed. Now I don't need to give a nudge and the motor is a lot quieter, but I still get a U1 error the first few times I try to play a disc. The problem mostly goes away after playing an LD for an hour or two. What should I check next to try to fix the current problem?

There is a cushion on top of the spindle that can lose grip and needs to be cleaned or replaced, in fact you may have replaced the motor for nothing. Try scrubbing the heck out of that black cushion and if that solves your problem might want to replace.

I'll do that. I am pretty sure that the spindle motor was on the way out since it was hardly working at all and made a lot more noise, but it is possible that the new motor has a dried out rubber pad since it has probably been sitting in a box for almost 20 years. I can also order a new rubber pad. It looks like the part number is VEB1237, and they are still in stock.

So I scrubbed the rubber piece (although the motor assembly was new) and I hit it with some rubber renew in case the rubber piece dried out over the years. It still has the problem, though. After playing with it a little more, I find that if I turn the machine on and load a disc, I hear servos moving, but the disc doesn't try to spin. I am guessing that these are servos on the laser, but I can't see it with a disc inserted. It then gives a U1 error. If I just close the tray again and press play (or just press play), everything works perfectly from then on. I can change discs, etc. without any problems. It isn't a huge deal, but I still wonder what is wrong with it. I also remember it had this exact issue when I first bought it from a recycle shop in Japan 15 years ago, so at least it is back to the way I bought it.

Have you replaced the loading belt?
I believe that will solve your problem and it's a fairly cheap repair. Part number VEB1184.

as laserpaal said! in almost all the cases of a U1 error, it is the loading belt, not the spindle, thats why you need to give it a nudge to lock.