I have an old Hitachi VT-MX805EVPS that won't lift the tape all the way up to the far side of the head disc ("read head").
I have linked to a repair manual for the VT-700 series, but they are quite similar in regards to the parts in question. According to the mechanical parts list (4-1) on page 33, it seems to be parts number 15 (tension arm), 23 (roller arm left) and 26 (roller arm right) that are not working. Why is that? I have cleaned them with IPA and regreased them them with Vaseline (petrolatum).
The symptoms are that it doesn't read video or audio and it isn't able to track location on tape.