Problem/question about 8421 crane

[faithie999]

i know this is an old set, but i just bought one used for my grandson.  it was assembled, and i noticed the spool of "cable" was all snarled.  i untangled it and proceeded to try it out.

From watching a couple of videos on YouTube, i'm under the impression that the control lever controls whether the cable spool unspools/takes up the cable, OR the boom extends and the cable spool  is not being driven.

If this is right, my problem is that the spool never disengages, regardless of the position of the control level.  This is why the string was in a snarl from the previous owner's usage.  the boom extends and retracts properly when the lever is switched to that position.

i have disassembled and reassembled the pertinent section twice.  i'm as certain as i can be that i have the gears on the spool drive shaft in the right order.

does anyone have this crane and can advise?

thansk

Ken Baker

[Milan]

Let's move this to the Technic forum, it may have more replies there.

[Stereo]

I haven't built this exact set so it's only generic advice based on what I see in the instructons, but I believe it's intentional.  When the boom is extending, the cord needs to unwind so the extra length of string to get to the end of the boom can be made available. 

[Saruzeufel]

I had this set back when it came out and at first I thought I made a mistake too but it is exactly as described here:

12 hours ago, Stereo said:

When the boom is extending, the cord needs to unwind

I can confirm 100% that it is intentional that the cable is always engaged and you just turn the extension mechanism on or off with the lever. The speed of the spool is also chosen to roughly unwind the same length of cable as the extension is moving (plus a small bit extra so it never catches up)

[faithie999]

thanks to both of you for your quick replies.

that saves me disassembling and reassembling yet another time!

my grandson will love this crane!