Gary,
Sorry to hear that - I thought you had your DDU repaired and that you booted from your DDU instead of the tape drive.
I don't suspect the 4041 tape drive, although I would recommend using isopropyl alcohol on a swab to clean the head, and try the tapes again.
It appears the plastibands are only a temporary drive belt solution in the tape cartridge - and they will stretch as the drive rewinds the tape to the beginning before it can find any file.
This is the Amazon link I used to get 4.25 inch plastibands:
It is pretty easy to open the tape cartridge and replace the plastiband - the 4041 operators manual page 5-6 describes tape cartridge respooling with photos on page 5.7.
You don't need to respool the tape to replace the plastiband - just lift the plastiband off the white belt wheels and capstan and put the new plastiband on starting with the capstan and finishing by pulling the plastiband over the white belt wheels. Then I use a bamboo chopstick to pull the belt away from the takeup reel with the least tape and tighten the tape by rotating that reel with a finger, then release the belt onto that reel. I then pull the cover back where the tape head touches the tape and push gently with the chopstick to check the tape tension - the tape should deflect 1/10 of an inch or so, but not 1/4 of an inch.
Then put the cartridge cover back on and fasten the screws and the tape should now work.
