Trinidad tn20 poor free spool

[tugger]

Hi all,

I bought a used Trinidad tn20 reel.  The free spool on the reel was maybe 5 seconds when I got it. So I pulled the spool bearings of and soaked them in carburetor cleaner, then in tsi301. The free spool is now about 10 seconds...still pretty bad.

So thinking that I need new bearings, I got some from local tackle shop. The bag had "smoooooth drag" prints in it,  so I figure it should be good. Put it on new the reel...still about 10 seconds free spool!  So I figure it must be packed with grease (and it was). I then soaked the new bearings in carb cleaner,  then tsi301. Put it back on for test.

Still 10 second free spool!!!

Is this the best I'm gonna get or are there other problems that I am not aware of?

[handi2]

Are you opening and cleaning the bearings? That is what you should do. You may also have a spacing problem. When the spool is assembled the spool shaft should have about 0000.1" of play back and forth. Just to enough to barely feel with your fingers.

I use allot of the Trinidad reels and If I remember right they don't have allot of freespool but much more than what you are getting.

[tugger]

I opened up the bearings on both old and new ones. The old ones didn't have grease in it, and tsi301 seemed to help some.

The new ones had grease in them. The is also bearing spacers in the bearing housing, which was a surprise to me. So the carburetor cleaner took out the grease, since I could see the white residue floating around. But I am surprised tsi301 didn't help at all! I got the same 10 second free spool before and after tsi301.

I would appreciate it if anyone can suggest ways to get better free spool. I really would like to flyline with this reel instead of getting another one.

[Fish-aholic]

There are a few 'friction' points to be aware of as the spool has a fixed axle. In free spool, this axle passes through the pinion gear which will act like a bushing. A thorough clean inside the pinion gear and very light lubrication will help.

The spool tension cap is another. Under the cap is a brass shim, give it a clean and smear it with a light coat of oil and replace. Same goes for the shim below the left spool bearing.

As handi2 pointed out, having minimal spool float should be set.

On the left side of the spool you will see a nylon cog that entwines with another nylon cog situated near the left spool bearing. These operate the dial on the left side of the side plate (external). If it's something you don't use, you can remove the cog on the left side of the spool and remove the teeth so it turns into a bushing (see below). This will also help in achieving better free spool. You can purchase a new cog from Shimano at minimal cost if you want the dial to return to function.

Before


After

[tugger]

Thanks for the reply.

I oiled the tension cap shim plate and the left bearing shim. I'll oil them again and see it helps.

I blasted the pinion gear whole where spool axle goes through before. But maybe I'll soak the pinion gear in the carb cleaner again and dip that in tsi301.

I'll take your advice and take the nylon cog off the axle and see if that helps too.

I wonder if there could be other things that slow down my free spool...

[steelfish]

There are a few 'friction' points to be aware of as the spool has a fixed axle. In free spool, this axle passes through the pinion gear which will act like a bushing. A thorough clean inside the pinion gear and very light lubrication will help.

The spool tension cap is another. Under the cap is a brass shim, give it a clean and smear it with a light coat of oil and replace. Same goes for the shim below the left spool bearing.

As handi2 pointed out, having minimal spool float should be set.

On the left side of the spool you will see a nylon cog that entwines with another nylon cog situated near the left spool bearing. These operate the dial on the left side of the side plate (external). If it's something you don't use, you can remove the cog on the left side of the spool and remove the teeth so it turns into a bushing (see below). This will also help in achieving better free spool. You can purchase a new cog from Shimano at minimal cost if you want the dial to return to function.

Before


After

this is a nice and clever mod, Im going to do it tonight.. well maybe this weekend

by chance did you remember how many seconds were you getting before and after this mod?

[Bryan Young]

By removing the cog, you should get around 3 times of free spool.

[steelfish]

By removing the cog, you should get around 3 times of free spool.

3x the original free spool time is a nice gain