Someone that can recap/refurbish/recalibrate a direct drive turntable motor?

@lewm There are a range of experiences to be encountered when buying into vintage equipment. Limit these experiences to TT's and investigations will show up a variety of TT's that have undergone refurbishment or serving of some type.

Limit the TT's even further to Vintage Japanese DD TT's, investigation will show up, that there are plenty of TT's having needed work undertaken. Commonly it is seen to be operational issues where the TT is showing anomalies in how it is functioning. Usually these are resolved by a EE with the right skill set, or enthusiasts with adept EE Skills.

You went for the support that is offered from a business model, this is not the only option. I have encouraged the OP to look at an alternate option, not to push them away from your suggestion but to broaden their knowledge base.

I myself converse periodically on Two forums and have face to face discussions about the Vintage Japanese DD TT's I own.  

What the OP was gently informed of is that the overhaul of a TT can extend to the Bearing housing. We can't see inside, but for a selection of individuals that do see inside, the assessment might be a good clean out, with a replacement Trust Pad and Ball for the reassembly with new lubricant.

Individuals that have seen inside, also discover operational conditions that are very much unwanted and corrective works are required. How the corrective works are produced will vary. I have become a advocate of the work undertaken to replace all sacrificial inner bearing housing parts, that remove the risks of metal on metal contact occurring during the new replays. 

The use of Thermoplastics as Bushes and non-metal Balls and Thrust Pads, has been so attractive as finished design, there is no want to return to what was.

The OP as a owner of a Vintage Japanese DD TT is now aware of the Bearing Housing being very old and most likely never having undergone a oil change.

The OP also is now aware of how an investigation of the Bearing Housing followed by a service or overhaul will prove to be very good for its future use.

To receive the required support for a overhaul on a DD TT will be a hurdle to get over, if this is a adopted method. Other TT's have options for a overhaul readily available.  

If there are variable speed controls, either external or internal, they may need a shot of Deoxit in the green and black can. I've seen controls get noisy and cause exactly the complaint described. Photos I've seen of this machine don't show speed controls but that does not mean that they might be inside.

Its also old enough that if you plan to continue using it, the capacitors in the power supply should be replaced. If it were me I'd replace all the other electrolytic capacitors in the unit too.

I think the TT81 differs from the TT101 in that the latter TT has external buttons to increase or decrease rotational speed in small, regular increments. The TT81 does not have that feature, so far as I know, but as you say there are likely to be potentiometers internally that do modulate speed. As I understand it, adjusting such variables is part of what it takes to calibrate a DD. The servo mechanism was also described by JVC as being "bi-directional". My TT101 had the following issue when I bought it: At start up, the TT would come up to speed, but in the speed display window, an erroneous readout would appear, for example if set for 33, the digital speed readout would show "33.32" or "33.34". It would go on this way for a minute or so, and then it would stop dead. The brake would not actuate to stop the platter. The digital readout would disappear leaving only a decimal point lit up, and the platter would coast to a stop. What’s worse, the problem was intermittent but frequent. Bill Thalmann could not reproduce the failure mode in his shop. Nor could one other repair shop to which I sent the unit. Finally, I fiddled around with it enough that I made the intermittent problem into a regular occurrence. (Which is to say, although I had no idea of the real problem, I made things worse with whatever I did do.) I then found out about JP Jones and sent the unit to him. He had never worked on a JVC DD prior to working on my TT101. He found the problem described above; the PCB had cracked across a tracing which defect was hidden under a blob of solder. Apparently the JVC PCBs are hygroscopic. They absorb water from the atmosphere, swell up, and can thus damage a tracing. Once discovered, this was an easy repair. Since then I have found the TT101, with beefed up plinth and specially fabricated aluminum tonearm mount board, to be a superb TT.