Just Picked Up a DAM Quick 440N

[The Fishing Hobby]

Much larger than anything I use but it was $9 at a local flea market so I had to pick it up. I thought it would be a good restoration candidate to do a video on for my YouTube channel and then I will list it for sale. I do believe this one would benifit greatly from a rotor balancing, it is a real wobbler!!! Any tips on these beautiful old beasts?
Here are some pictures. It should clean up nicely and it actually functions as it should, just needs a good cleaning and lubrication for free everything back up. Even dirty it cranks smooth as silk!

[The Fishing Hobby]

Never mind, I just saw some tips from Fred in another post! 
The A/R is very quiet on these and I like the bail retainer/trip mechanism, very slick!

[foakes]

You will do fine with this, Kevin --

But I would be glad to help with advice if you have a question or two.

Easiest part to lose on these, is the very tiny "C" clip retainer buried within the bail actuator mechanism.

Everything else is pretty straight-forward.

Naturally, many of these can be bought pretty cheaply -- if the old brown factory grease has been allowed to go to beeswax.  Folks do not think they are repairable.

There are less and less of these around -- many are being used by knowledgeable anglers -- or going into collections.

This is a good size for steelhead, salmon, stripers, large cats, pike, large lake trout in Canada, sometimes saltwater -- but in this case they must be cleaned after every trip.

Best,

Fred

[The Fishing Hobby]

You know the first thing I thought when I started trying it out was that it would make an excellent Catfishing reel. It should be practically bombproof.

[The Fishing Hobby]

Here is a quick video clip of the amount of reel wobbling coming from the imbalance of the rotor.  I think you can see the back end of the reel shaking from side to side in the clip. That is what my Shakespeare 2052 did before balancing the rotor. The balancing made a huge difference. Getting it close to balanced is the main thing, it doesn't have to be perfect. Can't wait to try it on this one.

[tristan]

I just picked up a 331 for too much money, just 'cause, and it has a pretty significant wobble.   I was thinking of using either lead formed to one of the internal struts, looking forward to seeing how you do it.

[mo65]

I just picked up a 331 for too much money, just 'cause, and it has a pretty significant wobble.   I was thinking of using either lead formed to one of the internal struts, looking forward to seeing how you do it.

   Just a thought here...I've noticed many spinning reels will have a bit of wobble when spun in your hands...but it nearly disappears when mounted to a rod. Significant wobble can be corrected by adjusting the counter weight, but try just mounting to a rod first, might save yourself some effort.

[handi2]

$9.00..!! You did good ..

[Midway Tommy]

I just picked up a 331 for too much money, just 'cause, and it has a pretty significant wobble.   I was thinking of using either lead formed to one of the internal struts, looking forward to seeing how you do it.

   Just a thought here...I've noticed many spinning reels will have a bit of wobble when spun in your hands...but it nearly disappears when mounted to a rod. Significant wobble can be corrected by adjusting the counter weight, but try just mounting to a rod first, might save yourself some effort.

I've found that the addition of line makes a huge difference in many reels. I'm thinking the engineers surely take appropriate weight line on full spools into consideration when balancing internals and rotors. They may even take "loads" such as lures or fish into design balance. 

[happyhooker]

Nice reel; good to fish for anything freshwater big and strong--large pike, cats, carp.

Frank