The cab of my TMCC Santa Fe crane does not swing.

Does the cab spin freely? If so you have the "catch" inside the RH front door of the cab unlocked. You need to open the door and press the lever inside towards the rear of the crane cab. This will engage the gears that spin the cab. I bet this will do the trick.

 

Neil

After reading this I went right out to my crane that I had taken out last night to try to remedy this same problem.  It hasn't turned since I rammed it with a highballing Pacific (don't leave it swung out into traffic).   I was going to bring it to a service station today.  Sure enough it worked!  iguanaman3 I can't thank you enough.  Like he said, open the right side cab door- in front by the boom, you'll see a plastic almost t shaped tab-the catch he mentioned- push the brass gear into the body of the crane so it is engaged with the black gear-then push the catch towards the rear so it is holding the brass gear in place. The brass gear is slotted and the catch fits in the slot holding it in place. Easy fix.  THANKS iguanaman3!!!  

I love happy endings, especially when they don't involve paying someone else to fix things!

She's back!  And working hard.  You said it right gunrunnerjohn.  Thanks again iguanaman3!  2nd pic isn't too clear, but you can see brass and black gears that need to mesh and black catch in front of gears pushed toward the rear into the slot of the brass gear.  She's been back on the job for over an hour with no snags.  The crew is still laid off though, so I haven't heard any chatter yet.  Maybe I can BS with them later after I get some work done.  Have fun

   

Thank  you guys for the advice, I also press in the little brass gear about 1/16" and slide the lever back towards the gears and that is, the cab spin to the right or to the left, crane is back in operation like a charm, with the boom car is just awesome.

You are all very welcome. Wouldn't be nice if all problems were as easy as this to fix? I learned something too. I thought the release mechanism for the cab was just for shipping but William found another purpose. When he had that collision, the cab let loose instead of doing sometihng more serious.  I never cease to be impressed with these cranes design and execution.

 

Neil  

Yeah, it would be nice, but in my case, my rig is down again.  The same problem I've had since I got the crane is recurring.  After sitting off the track, in a box or a shelf, for awhile, the longer the better, I put it on the track, it works perfect.  So I get excited, put the boom car with it and run it for a good session, an hour or so.  I come back later in the day, it works for 5-10 minutes then shuts down.  If I play with the cab, push the boom in, pull it out etc, I can get signals again.  You can see a light flashing inside when it can receive a signal and it will work for a short time , then quit.  It usually quits when it is rotating.  I've sent this back or taken it in for service at least 5 times since I got it.  Usually it sits in the box waiting to get fixed again.  It will work for a short time when it has been idle for awhile. It's like a wire gets hot that supplies the signals or a wire is pinched and getting hot with a short bit of use.  Aggravating. 

I'm sure when they get it to fix it, it seems to work fine, but they are not going to run it for a long time or at 2 or 3 sessions.  Looks like I'm going to have to try Lionel service and explain the situation clearly.  Unless iguanaman3 has another brilliant suggestion.  I need my rig back.  I got mouths to feed.   

I just left it on the track after it had stalled, while writing the last post etc, came back after about a half an hour, gave it signals- the boom worked, the winch worked, then I make a half a swing and it stalls.  I play with the boom, push it in, out, etc, and get a signal, there are 2 flashing light in the cab, the larger one shows when you it is receiving signals, and it works till I tried to turn the light on and off and it stalls again.  Now, I will leave it on the shelf long enough, so I can get it to 'cool off' so I can put it on the track and get it to operate long enough so I can configure it to fit in the box and go to Lionel. I don't think I want to try the local boys on this one.

 I got this right when it came out.  That's when I learned not to buy a first issue of anything real technical from Lionel.  Better to wait till they get the bugs out.  Oh well, I'll try again I guess.

Tried again, put her on the track, no response, pushed the cab down, you know it's going to work when both interior lights are flashing inside the cab, got signals-lowered and raised the boom-got the boom all the way up in fact- one touch to the Cab1 red buttom direction button-by accident-she goes dead-dead stuck with her nose in the air like the petulant ..... she is.....

She's going back to the shop.  Her tender is bringing the lagging back to the yard.  The crew is laid off again.  No more chatter.  I never did like that, but it did remind me we were keepin' busy.

I may open her up for a peek inside the cab.  The Lionel website has very specific schematics on this rig.  I'll take it as far as I feel comfortable.  I know enuogh to put scotch tape over the cables so they stay in their slots in the rigging.  I did a 2 am restring job a couple days ago.  Stupid crane...     

The crane is a really neat piece, but Lord help you if you really screw up the rigging, it takes a while to get it all back together!   Once was enough, I'm really careful now.

As I recall, several Forum members had the same problem you are experiencing.  To me, it sounded like a design error with an unterminated input pin that would float around voltage-wise.  I believe Lionel had a fix after a while.

I got my rigging fouled up too.  Quickly learned to put scotch tape over the rollers before looking around too much.  One 2 am rerigging seesion was enough.  Dale, thanks, it's good to know Lionel has repaired this before.  I believe I did send did back to them once.  Well, she's going back again.

This was first issue of the crane.  Another lesson learned.  Wail till Lionel works out the bugs before jumping into anything new and technical.  The models a year or two later probably don't have this problem.  I'm getting tired of learning lessons.  I just wanna have fun!

Thanks again guys

 

 

 

Look @ 2 things the lever and gear behind the big door and the cab looking pins