Cary 306/200 service?

Clean it, (Q-tips and alcohol) and try a little light lube, first..

Clean all tray sliders and plastic gears that move it with Q-tips and metho.But DON"T use any petroleum based lube on them, as this will cause them to deteriorate. I found the small tube of PBR rubber grease to be the best, which is made from castor bean oil.https://www.autobarn.com.au/pbr-rubber-grease-17-5ml-tube-rg17

Also many silicone’s have petroleum in them

Is silicone spray petroleum based?
Avoid the spray can silicone lubricant varieties. The spray can will have petroleum based propellant and solvent to make it a spray. It will only be 5% (or so) silicone. Once the spray evaporates the silicone will remain.

Cheers George

Well, I got it open and the copper shield off. I cleaned the tracks off with isopropyl on a q-tip and it helped some. I'm looking into getting to the gears and will clean them, too. The 'pure silicone' spray I got is petroleum based with hexanes and ketones - should evaporate, but who knows how heavy 'aliphatic hydrocarbons'...as many carbons long as you like and greasy to boot. Maybe volatile, maybe not....Nice call on the rubber grease!

I've used diver's silicone for O-rings on scuba regulators on my 303/300 unit.  BTW, I've had to change my laser drive 3 times in 15 yrs.  Good luck - that's a great sounding unit - I had one years ago.

The ’pure silicone’ spray I got is petroleum based with hexanes and ketones - should evaporate

It’s these things that make plastic dry out and become powdery and brittle and gears and things break when that happens, especially on old units like this gem, just go to your local auto shop and get the Caster bean oil rubber grease, especially on a nice R2R ladder unit like the Cary 306/200

Cheers George

Thanks, guys. I opened it up and removed the copper shield to clean the rails and gears I could get to. Pretty tight quarters and wasn't comfortable taking it any more apart. Lowe's had some silica grease without petroleum products that was applied to the rails and the top of the spindles I could see. Nothing looked broken.....It seems mildly improved and actually works fine now if properly warmed up. If the top's off or it's cold, the drawer still reverses course on trying to close, though it closes with a little help in that case. It still opens and closes more slowly that it did in the past, but more smoothly with the grease I applied. . When warmed up, it closes pretty much every time. So, good for now I guess - If I were more comfortable taking it apart further, more and better applied grease would likely help. Still sounds awesome as both a player and a dac.