MTH 11-90068 Remote control magnetic crane problem solved by a stretched out traction tire

sincerely thanks

Hi, would you show some pictures that will help others if they run into the same problems!

Sincerely thanks

Alan

Followup report on magnetic crane repair. The use of the stretched traction tire was not successful. The tire was too wide for the pulley. So, I called Bill Harrison at S&W  Train Parts and he sent me part # 6208063615. which are drive belts for the crane. They also work on the #282 modern day magnetic cranes. The crane now works great. I was also able to get 25.5 mm and 31.5 mm 1/16" O rings at my nearby hardware store. So, bottom line, there ARE solutions to solving these crane woes. If you want further info reach me at: milt@paiger.org

I was able to pick up a rubber drive gear for my mth tinplate repro 165 magnetic crane from the new mth parts website when they first went online. If I recall, I went to the parts link and typed “crane” into the search bar, then a list of crane parts appeared.  I don’t know if you checked there and they are out of stock, but the part number was HH5200245 when I bought it.  I picked up two, one for current use (I had the same issue as you) and a second spare.  Glad you were able to find one elsewhere.

I called MTH and spoke to Don in the parts Department. He said the drive belts for the 165 crane were unavailable and would not become available unless they remade the crane which won't happen because the tinplate agreement MTH had with Lionel is over and MTH will no longer make any tinplate. Fortunately, there are guys like Bill Harrison at S&W Train parts who can help. By the way the 31mm diameter, 1/16" belt will also drive the American Flyer Coaling tower and the more modern Lionel 282 magnetic cranes. The drive belts in the portal gantry cranes go bad as well.