Thorens Turntable and new Pearl cartridge

I just finished putting a new Thorens belt on my TD 166 MKII.

 I also replaced a Grado 3 with a Pearl Cartridge.

I was unsure how old the Grado was. I had listened to a couple of older albums with the Grado and it sounded OK.

 But from reading the forum it said when in doubt replace the cartridge. I replaced it with a SUMIKO Pearl moving magnet cartridge.

This cartridge is on Magnepan Unitrac I tonearm.

I played a couple of songs off of a couple different albums and didn’t notice anything wrong. I was really busy and didn’t really sit and listen.

 Today I was listening to an album and switched sides when the first side finished. During the second song I heard the right channel drop out.

 It came on dropped out came on and dropped out for good.

 I switched albums to see if it was the album. Different album 3rd song it happened again.

 I looked at the pins attaching to the cartridge and closed them up a bit for a tighter fit. I thought they might be loose.

Seemed ok for a awhile and it started again. I swapped the L &R on the cartridge and it happens again to the same right channel randomly again.

 I put on a brand new album I just got and 2nd song right channel drops out. Any ideas to trouble shoot this problem?

Could it be grounding?

Also with another issue I have noticed. When an album finishes and I am moving the tonearm back to the resting spot. At the same spot about the middle way back I get static out of the right speaker, At first I thought the needle hit the album but that is not the case.

All input welcome this is driving me crazy.

Thanks in advance!