Hi: We're beginners who purchased a used Meade DS2000 with Autostar because we have no idea (yet) as to how to find stars and planets. We paid $100 and then discovered the horizontal axis will not rotate under power. We can hear the motor whirr, so I took it apart and noticed the gear assembly has been broken and repaired. The gears inside the mounting arm assembly are about .050 apart from each other, probably due to the repair. It seems as though it almost catches, but one of the gears appears to be flexible like rubber, as opposed to plastic, and the smaller drive gear on the motor will not engage it.
This thing is ancient. What's our chances of being able to purchase gears or the plastic gearset assembly? Thank you.