Help with Walthers Crane

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Hey guys,

I recently acquired an Walthers American Crane. Its a neat model, with one troubling issue, the hook tends to "stick" to the thread. Unlike the Athearn 200 ton wreck crane, which uses meta pulleys, the hook on the walthers crane is compose of two solid plastic castings, with a "U" shaped channel cut into one. Ideally, the thread would wind through this channel as the hook is raised or lowered. I have included a part of the Walthers diagram to show the parts, which are in the lower right corner.

However, the problem on my model is that the hook like to "cling" to the thread. Initially, the piece were so tightly pressed together that I had to use a lot of force to pull the hook down to the bottom of the loop where it should hang. I split the hook halves apart and put them together again, but while I can easily tug the hook down, it requires lots of weight to actually keep it down while raising and lowering the hook.

I suspect I can spread the two halves a little further (and maybe reduce the friction a little), but do you have any suggestions for making this hook function more prototypically? Perhaps a thinner thread?

Otherwise, its a neat little crane, and I was really looking forward to putting DCC in it.