Reel: Pflueger President 6725x http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/content/purefishing/ed_PRESIDENT_6725pdf (http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/content/purefishing/ed_PRESIDENT_6725pdf)
I recently took this apart and serviced it because it was getting really hard to turn. Each bearing was pulled and inspected for rough spin - they all seemed ok (except for Bearing #61 because I couldn't figure out how to get the #60 O/S gear off).
Once put back together, the reel sticks when turning the handle at low speeds at various points in the rotation. At higher speeds it seems to reel ok. Based on that description is it easy to tell bearing vs gear or some part to the experienced folks here?
On mostall spinning reels the top pinion bearing is the one that goes first. You have to hold tghe bearing with 2 fingers in one hand then use your index finger to push and turn the bearing. If you feel anything it will need cleaning and checking again. If its bad you will definitely hear it when spinning the reel. The reel should be super quiet.
The oscillating gear just lifts off so you can get to that bearing. Hold the reel body and tap it on the table to see if it will just fall off.
minutely bent spool shaft?
maybe not enough to see, but if you roll it on a sheet of glass...
I did break it down to just the pinion gear and there is already a bunch of black stuff on there again after my previous cleaning/greasing - I wonder if the main gear/pinion gear is not meshing up right and "grinding" it down or something?
I'll pull it apart again and check the bearings a little more closely as well and roll that spool shaft around while I'm at it.
As for the OS gear I was giving it a pretty good tug and it wouldn't budge. Maybe the angle was the problem but good to know it should just lift off.
The bearing under that gear could be bad. It doesn't take much on this type spinning reel to feel something when reeling slowly. On my reels i can feel any little bump when im using it.
If you are getting "black stuff" already then more than likely those parts weren't completely clean.