Hi All, I am new to this website, I got on specifically to find out why my spool was frozen on. The rest of the reel is very clean, all screws came out easy, washers cam apart easy, no corosion or signs of it, However my spool is tuck solid? now what.
I just had my first bout with one of these "frozen pinion on the spool shaft" episodes!!!
I lost!
The customer's reel was a salvaged 546 sideplate screwed onto a 550 body. The reel was so corroded that in the process of removing the sideplate, one of the sideplate screws broke because it was frozen in the reel base.
I then removed the bridge screws and saw the frozen pinion on the tiburon spool. I figured that since the reel was so far gone that if I could separate the pinion, I could either fix the reel or have the guy salvage the nice tiburon aluminum spool. After soaking the pinion with wd-40 for a couple of nights with failed success, I closed everything up and told the person that the reel is too far gone and it would cost more money to chase the problem. If he wanted to tamper with the frozen pinion and risk damaging the tiburon spool shaft, that would be on his ownis. It was bad enough that the reel base needed replacement because of the broken frozen screw....but to pursue further and risk the added cost of a new pinion and a new spool....
At that point, he knew when to draw the line and concluded that it would be cheaper to simply get another reel. I suggested that he should just disassemble the reel and salvage what ever parts that he could salvage and use it as a "replacement parts reel".
Geezzzz, I cannot imagine that someone would allow their reels to sit without washing the salt off and applying the proper grease and oils. This stuff is nasty!!! Gotta know when to say...this is beyond fixing!
Thankfully the customer was understanding about the lack of maintanence on his behalf.
To the fisherman and fisherwomen....please, if you're going to pack away your reels for a while, or better yet, immediately after each fishing session, please hose down your equipment with fresh water. Also, it is cheaper and a lot less of a headache in the long run if you maintain your equipment every so often or have someone professionally service it for you.
