Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I strongly disagree with the use of monofilament as a backing if one doesn't need all the line a spool is capable of holding.

Mono has way too much weather related expansion and contraction. Mono backing is a great way to crack or pop the front off of the spool, even aluminum spools have been known to crack or break when mono goes all the way to the stem.

I only feel the need to have 120 yds of top line for the fishing I do so anything more than that is compensated buy the use of an arbor, or preferably dacron backing, which is relatively cheep and lasts for a decade or two before it needs to be replaced.

Hello,

Took apart and rebuilt a 80WII last night (twice), for the life of me I cannot get it to free spool. Everything else works drag level, clicker, 2 speed etc, but it will not free up the spool when the lever is set to free spool. Noticed tightening the frame screws makes it worse and loosening them allows some free spool although not as smooth and free as it should be.   

Any trouble shooting ideas appreciated before I regroup and go back in.
Thank you

Is there anyone you know of that sells ceramic bearings for these reels?  Thanks.

Quote from: Brewcrafter on April 25, 2024, 09:44:51 PMIf you are talking about the knurled piece (bearing retainer) it should face in.  When properly installed looking at the completed bearing cup assembly it will be flat/flush across the top of the bearing cup, and that lip is what allows you to carefully get in there with your tool of choice to lever it out to access/remove the bearing for maintenance. - john

Thanks for posting.  I was talking about the bronze part on the other side of the bearing, the center part of the bearing assembly.  I think that the two parts hold the outer race allowing the center race to move without touching any other part of the bearing cup, except for the end of the spool shaft as it passes through the bearing.  I'm no expert, so if I'm wrong, shout it out.  Thanks

One more question.  When the reel is assembled PROPERLY, do you feel spring pressure against the spool on the left side, if you push the spool to the left? I assembled the bearing cup with the bronze flange facing inward.  The knurled flange faces the bearing and sandwiches the bearing between the two flanges, without anything touching the inner race except for the spool shaft.  Is this done correctly?

Should there be any free play between the spool shaft end and that little post in the left side bearing retainer?  Just a few thousands? 

BTW, a dental pick works well to pull off the bearing retainer covers.  You just have to work the pick around the circumference of the cover several times, and it will eventually pop. 

Thanks for the help thus far.

This may not be the place for it but if you wanna remove the color so you can polish the heck out of an anodized spool (or anything else anodized) easy-off oven cleaner will do the job in a matter of minutes. But don't leave it on more than a few minutes or it'll just blow past the anodization and keep eating the rest of the spool. The color is in the very top layer of the anodization. If you time it right, after polishing it still doesn't oxidize.

I've heard rumors of Ted highly polishing spools before...

Thank you Slugmeister

@Brewcrafter, you will have to fill me in as I only fish freshwater. Does the electrical tape turn gummy in salt water? If it makes any difference, I'm sure all I've used is 3M  33+, since that's pretty much the only tape I carry besides colored tape. It might have been super 88, but I never buy that at home. I've taken line off reels I'm sure were on there 10 years and the tape was still good enough I could have left it on there if I wanted. I can understand why the flex wrap works though, it does the same thing without the strong adhesive. Why use grease though?

I'm not the best person to ask, but I have done some research this year on the Penn reels. I think it explains some things. It seems hard to get exact dates since some sources disagree. I did find this spreadsheet from oc1 which lists a bunch of years. https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,31112.msg385000.html#new

I do question some of the dates. We know the 700 was the first of the spinfishers, the first Penn spinning reel ever in fact. Right on the Penn website it says 1961 is the year it came out, so I have to doubt the spreadsheets date of 1963. Along with that I have found an online copy of the Penn 1963 catalog, and in that, the 710 is listed as new, so I can only assume the 700 came before 1963, and that was the year the 710 came out. So the 710 was right there as one of the originals. It was a full 5 years according to the spreadsheet before another spinfisher came out. I'll just list them below in the order I think they came out. Sorry, I'm going to skip the left hand (right side handle) versions, but the were scattered in the in between years.

700-1961
710-1963
720-1968
722-1969
704-1969
712-1971
706-1975
714-1975
716-1975

750ss-1977
450ss-1978
550ss-1978
650ss-1978

All the original spinfishers (except the 700/702 which was dropped) became the Z series in 1978

I think it's so odd the 720/722's came out before the 714/716's but that's for another day. You will notice the 710 and 712 are 8 years apart. They share the same lower body, it's only the top end that is different. I think that's the reason the 712 is what it is. It was an afterthought. The rotor is kind of goofy, the bail setup is goofy. Plus they are a little chunky since it's a 710 body.

Still, is it really as bad as we perceive? For actual size the 712 is comparable to about a 4000 size reel today. The Line capacity is somewhere between 3000 and 4000 depending on what brand you are looking at. I had a Shimano Sienna 4000 and a Penn Fierce 4000 laying around so I weighted them. The Shimano is all plastic, it's as light as you could get and it's 11.9 ounces. The Fierce is all metal body, but it's pretty light duty. It's 13.5 ounces. The Penn 712 is 15 ounces. So yes, it's heavier, but not by a mile. In terms of size, the 712 should be comparable to a 430SS. The 710 comparable to a 450SS. If anything I might guess the SS series is heavier, but I'd have to check. The only one I have is a 550SS. You do have the 4300SS though, which is a later model with a graphite body, and I assume it's lighter.

I think the 712 is a fine reel, but personally I would take the 714 if they weren't so crazy expensive. Honestly I think a 722 will do pretty much all a 712 needs to do, and if that's not enough, just get the OG, the 710.

As for the difference between a 712 and 712z, not really anything besides paint. Certain models have some changes over the years, not just when they went to the Z series. The 710 for example, almost all of the originals had plastic spools. Most were green, a few were black. I think I've even seen some maroon or tan ones. Once the 710 became the 710z they all had gold anodized aluminum spools and were painted black. I'm not aware of any model having any real mechanical changes internally.