I have an issue with a 5.25 floppy drive I'm trying to restore. It worked fine then suddenly started making a lot of noise. I was able to pinpoint where the noise is comming from and it appears to be generated by the vibrations of one of the heads.

When the floppy is inserted and the head is engaged it vibrates sometimes. If I gently touch the plastic arm that the head is attached to the noise stops. When I lift the head assembly up so it no longer makes the contact with the floppy the noise also goes away.

Second issue is the metal housing that I guess should be sitting on top of the head. Is it absolutely necessary? Mine was detached from the head and the sponge that was betwen the housing and the head seems to have perished.