Penn Inter 50VSW - drag issues

[Jason Groombridge]

G'day All,

I have a 50VSW in for service. The drag felt pretty bad and when I cracked it open it became obvious why. There had been a lot of water under the drag cover. There was salt piled up in there everywhere and quite a bit of corrosion on the spool and in the threads that the drag cover screws into. It took me ages to pick and scrape it all out.

Anyway, I cleaned it all up, greased the drag washers and re-assembled. And the drag still feels like rubbish. Very lumpy. The drag plates didn't look too bad. There were some spots that looked burnished but I thought that may have been just a glue issue that Alan has mentioned before.

The LHS bearings, both spool and side plate, were just OK, felt a little gritty. RHS bearings were OK. Belleville washers were quite badly rust pitted.

What should I do to get the drag working and feeling OK? Do I need to replace both the drag plates or is there something I can try to get them working better?

Cheers

Jason

[Tightlines667]

Replace any bearings that have any roughness at all (when side loads are applied they will be worse), replace the bellevilles, deburr the spool shaft (especially where the bellevilles sit, and where it passes through bearings, and plate), if there is any noticable (can be felt with your finger) on the metal drag disc either replace it, or use fine grit sandpaper on a piece of glass to hone/refurbish it, check your CF drag disc on a flat surface to see if it is even and level with no high/low spots, and no sign of salt intrusion under the carbon fiber or delamnation.  If there is/are, replace this as well.  If not clean the CF with brake cleaner, use a clean rag to work up the weave, and grease with Cal's  (wipe clean after working the grease into the weave).  This may be a pricey fix, but you want to do it right.

Best of luck!

Keep us posted (pictures help too).

[Jason Groombridge]

G'day Tightlines,

Thanks very much for your input. I will do those things and see how I go. Will also post some photos tonight.

In your reply you said "If there is any noticeable (can be felt with your finger)....". I think you missed a word there before the brackets. Should that be "any noticeable ridge"?

Cheers

Jason

[Jason Groombridge]

And yes it could be a pricey fix, but you're dead right it has to be done properly. There's no way I can send it back as it is.

Cheers

Jason

[handi2]

With the bearings hold it in one hand and use your finger in the middle of the bearing to turn it. Apply pressure with your finger. If it's rough at all it's bad.

[Tightlines667]

With the bearings hold it in one hand and use your finger in the middle of the bearing to turn it. Apply pressure with your finger. If it's rough at all it's bad.

X2

Yea I mean't to say if you can feel any ridges on the plate, it needs replacing or resurfacing.

John

[Jason Groombridge]

Here are some photos. I didn't get one of the drag plate directly but you can see part of it in the corner of one of the other photos. I'm guessing that I would have to lap the whole plate down until it was dead flat right across it's entire surface. At the moment you can see that there is a ridge around the outside caused by wear in the middle of the plate.











The CF washers look pretty crappy. This is before I cleaned them up. All I did was try and scrape all the black goo off them (a mix of CF dust and grease I think), then rubbed them with a bit of old towel to try and get the rest off, then greased and rubbed the excess grease off.

Cheers

Jason

PS I also have a 50TW from the same fella that I disassembled last night after I posted. That has 2 seized bearings and the drag looks to be in pretty bad shape too.

[josa1]

WOW!  These are the best "before" pictures that I've ever seen.  Wonder how a reel can get in this condition without actually trying to damage them?

My thoughts that you need to just bite the bullet and get new parts.  I'm sure that you could save some of them, but looking at it this way, each parts partial damage cumulatively adds up to a very poorly functioning reel.

These are the kind of reels I like to rescue though, so it will be fun bringing it back into good condition.

I would surely like to see the "after" pictures!

josa1

[Tightlines667]

That's a familar looking picture.  My gut in these instances is to replace everything (all new bearings, bellevilles, drag discs, and plate.  You also want to check your cam assembly for any noticable marring.  But this stuff can get awful pricy quickly.  If the cost of parts exceeds 1/2 to 2/3 the value of the reel you start to push the 'is it worth it to fix price?'  Office course, I have fixed many Internationals that clearly broke this rule and a few that ended up being a loss for both parties.  Good news is it can be brought back to like new functioning condition, and it is rewarding and educational to do so.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[handi2]

But..

Those drag plates will clean up nicely if you take the time. I've used mineral spirits or Kerosine and a soft brass scrub brush to clean the drag surface and the metal plate the Dura drag is bonded to. Scrub them real good and put them in the sun to dry. Where I am there's plenty of hot sun.

I would do the same with the spool.

[Tightlines667]

I agree with Keith, I have successfully refurbished worse.  Still plenty of weave there.  Given the costs, definately worth a try.  Don'the mess around with the bearings though.  If there is any roughness replace them.  Make sure you pack the them full of grease before reinstalling.

[Jason Groombridge]

OK, I have kerosene and a brass brush so I will have a go at the drag plates and see how they come up. I will recommend to the customer replacement of bearings and bellevilles. When I disassemble this reel again I will try and measure how deep the wear is on the SS drag plate. That may determine whether or not it is worth me spending time to hone it back to flat or whether it would just be easier to replace it.

Just for interests sake I looked up the Australian retail price of the 2 CF washers and the SS drag plate and they total about $300.00 AUD. It is probably worth trying to save what I can.

Thanks for all your help so far. I'll keep you updated with how this goes.

Cheers

Jason

[handi2]

They will clean up nice and the weave will be clean again ready for some Cal's grease.

If you can't get the bearings check here and we will have them.

Show some pictures when your done.

[Jason Groombridge]

G'day All,

So i got around to pulling this reel apart again today to revisit the drag.

I removed both the drag plates and scrubbed them with kero and a brass brush. As you can see in the photo below the inner drag plate (top) has come up well but the outer plate (bottom) has these funny glazed sections on it and has not scrubbed up as nicely. Also the outer plate has a funny glue line around it. I don't know if this is from the factory or if someone has tried to bond new CF to the plate. I ran a straight edge across this plate and in certain spots I can get it to rock so the plate is not flat. I reckon this is the source of the lumpy drag. The metal drag washer seems OK, no ridges that I can feel. I think I will replace the outer drag plate, bearings that are crunchy and bellevilles and hopefully that will sort it out.

Cheers

Jason

[Jason Groombridge]

OK, so I finally got the parts for this reel yesterday and installed them tonight. 3 new bearings, new bellevilles and new outer drag plate.

The drag now feels much better.

Thanks for all your help!

Cheers

Jason