Legacy crane Middle hook hanging up while lowering

Perfectly normal. It's a winding drum system. If you let slack in the system, then it doesn't wind properly on the drum, and yes, it grabs on the drum and can wind the wrong way and up becomes down.

What you need to do is attach some weight to the hook. Then carefully pull and lower that hook, possibly requiring you to at time reverse direction since you've let it go slack in the past, but keep tension and extend that hook to the maximum length. Then, while also keeping tension on the hook,  raise and wind up carefully in the up direction.

Yes, as delivered and handled, there may be some drag on the string line and thus the gravity alone of the hook is not enough. Again, carefully check all pulleys along the entire string path and ensure the string is where it is supposed to be.

You may not solve it perfectly where no weight is required, but bottom line, you must NEVER let it go slack while winding any of the drums out or in, up or down.

If you follow these rules- it works as expected.

Much thanks for your help, Jerry

I went to make the lines taunt and I screwed them all up and I can't even get all the motors running. I'm going to have to send it back to Lionel's they have them unscrew it up. Again, thank you for your help

@Jerry A,

I bought a TMCC crane NIB at an auction and after an hour of use it didn’t respond to commands. I called up Lionel support and they said it was beyond the warranty period. I couldn’t even send it to them for repair, I had to send it to an authorized service center, which I did. Have you sent it somewhere yet?

Thank you for the update. I tried to call them today but they were closed. It will be unbelievable if they won't accept it to fix it. How do you find a service center who can work on these things? I live in Michigan and was wondering where you sent yours to? Please advise. I can be contacted at 734-453-1809. Thanks again for the information. Jerry

Brasseur Electric Trains was in Saginaw for many years, but closed a few months back.  The sons of the owner set up a repair business in NC, and that’s where I sent my crane a few months back. Haven’t received it yet, but I was aware it could take this long. If you search for ‘Brasseur’ on this forum you should find them.  Perhaps Lionel will do it, it never hurts to ask.  

I was able to restring mine, but it was very difficult. You can also search for restringing the TMCC cranes and see what others have done

Yep, I used to deal with Brasseur. I talked to Dean a few hours ago and mine is packed ready to go. Where do you live we live in the Plymouth Ann Arbor area? Lionel only does warranty work now. Not sure where this is going. Thanks again, Jerry

Actually I live in Houston, Texas.  There is a small service center near Dallas, but I felt it was better to send this big accessory to a larger one, so I went with Brasseur in Saginaw. My rig was up there for 2 months when they announced their closure. It was sent back and I then sent it to Brasseur in NC. I got it in May and hope to have it back before Christmas.

Good luck, I am sending mine out tomorrow to North Carolina. Much thanks for your help, Jerry