Question about 6500CA reels

[chainsaw1949]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on the site! I have a question about my first Ambassadeur reels, both 6500 CA's we got to fish steelhead on the Thompson River in BC. They are both 6500 CA and schematics for both are dated 79 08 00. My question is what does the "A" on the end mean? I have found 6500C and seen info on them, but never found "CA" designation. Anyone have any info or ideas on this? Thanks in advance, chainsaw1949

[Robert Janssen]

Small spool arbor + two ball bearings either in the spool or on the shaft,
or so I gather from Abu's own glossary of reel terminology.

.

[chainsaw1949]

Thanks for the quick reply Robert. The reel has the two bearings in each end of the  side plates. I also read about "A" being a small arbour spool but have never seen a reel mentioned being a "CA" in any reading I have done. So, I agree with you, that's likely the answer.

[oc1]

I have a 6000CA and agree it is frustrating trying to find specs and part numbers. Let me know if pictures would help you.  It has silver color rounded tail plate with a black plastic thumb rest across the top. It has the removable spool shaft.  It came with a brass bushing on the tail plate side of the shaft and ball bearing on the head plate side.  I upgraded to ball bearings on both sides of the spool and both ends of the levelwind worm.  I bought it at WalMart way back when and always suspected it was a low-end model, but don't really know.
-steve

[chainsaw1949]

Hi Steve
I don't know about them being "low end" just because it was bought from Walmart. Once I had both reels serviced many many years ago and the fellow who did them said "If for whatever reason if you don't show to pick these up I don't care because these old reels fetch good money, really in demand". I guess he had been stiffed before working on people's stuff. Anyhow, with the number of reels I have collected over the years I can't afford to pay someone now to clean them etc so I began the process of taking all, bait casting, spinning and mooching reels apart and maintaining them. My favorites are the 5 Ambassadeurs and the 2 Islander mooching reels, they are a real work of art. I can't count the number of steelhead in exccess of 20 pounds and big salmon caught on the rivers of BC the 6500CA's have seen, they have been real workhorses. They are solid black and the decals and finish is about all worn and scuffed and they just keep on going. Just ordered carbontex drag washers for them, the 7000 reels already had them from the factory and they were all good. So, looking for my grand kids to keep the 6500CA's going too 

[oc1]

Oh... I wasn't talking about your 6500CA.  But, my 6000CA only had one ball bearing which made me think they were trying to shave a few bucks.

Does you 6500 have the black plastic thumb rest across the top of the reel?  Maybe that's what the CA means.
-steve

[chainsaw1949]

Now I see that! You have a 6000. M 6500 has no thumb bar across the back, wide open to rest your thumb right on the spool. I still have the original boxes, paper work and reel schematic diagrams that came with the reels! All of my other reels don't, but these are all complete. There is still the price tag on one of the boxes, $99.50 Canadian, back in 1979, so that was pretty good money spent for a reel back then. I will probably do another major overhaul on them again next year, replace bearings etc to upgrade. Looking forward to getting the carbontex drag washers and trying them out. I still have the original factory style washers. I believe the C stand for double bearings for the spool and A for small arbour spool.

[oc1]

My 6000CA came with a ball bearing in the head plate side of the spool, but a brass bushing in the tail plate side of the spool.  The 'C' must stand for something else. 

On most ABU (including the 6500CA) the spool shaft is fixed to the spool, the bearings are fixed to the side plates, and the shaft rides on the bearings.  On the 6000CA and 6500C4 the shaft (axel) is not fixed to the spool, the bearings are fixed to the spool and the spool bearings ride on the floating shaft. You would think that such a fundamental difference would be reflected in the model number.
-steve