221 D.A.M. Quick Restoration

[mo65]

   I had a neighbor once who restored old German cars...VW...Porche...and Mercedes. He had a late 50s Mercedes Benz 220s, and every piece on that car was, for lack of a better term, "over~built". Even the oil filler cap was a huge chunk of machined aluminum. It must have weighed a few pounds! That's what this Quick 221 reminds me of...those rock solid German cars. These reels are definitely built for the long haul. I'd love to see someone manufacture aluminum spools with modern larger drags for these reels. The gears in this reel could handle it without breaking a sweat. I'd say the neck would snap off before you'd ever shred a gear.
   

Here's what the reel looked like when I received it. Not in terribly bad shape...mostly just dirty. That handle could be a problem, it's got some corrosion issues.
001 by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

Same on this side, note how dull the chrome is. I wonder what the inside looks like?
002 by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

As expected, there's that famous brown grease. It really wasn't too petrified, but had a lot of dirt and debris in it.
003 (1) by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

This ratchet wheel was the only piece on the reel that showed any damage. Fred said it looks like the click tongue locked up. He is sending a new ratchet wheel.
004 (2) by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

Remember that handle arm? A little rubbing with Brasso and it looks like I had it chromed!
004 (3) by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

I decided to experiment with pinion bearing grease. I've been using top dollar lubes lately, and have been wondering if its all so necessary. I made a blend of Valvoline and Three in One, the two least expected lubes for this job. Surprisingly, it feels buttery smooth. We'll see how long it takes to deteriorate.
006 by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

Look at those bits and pieces! Maybe I got carried away? I dunno...that polished slide looks boss!
007 by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

Wow, that chrome looks a whole lot better. The "engine" detailing under the hood is sweet too. I used Penn blue on the gears, that Valvoline/Three in One blend on the pinion bearing and axle, and Corrosion X HD on every thing else. The drag stack is the stock Resistex setup.
P7151701 by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

The finished piece...I love the polished handle. Definitely gonna have to fish this reel.
P7151703 by Mike Shaver, on Flickr

[Midway Tommy]

Nice, Mo! Catch a big one with that ol' girl!

[foakes]

Fantastic job, Mike --

The new click ring was sent out Friday -- ETA is tomorrow (Monday) at your doorstep, in Ohio.

Best,

Fred

[mo65]

  Got the new ratchet wheel yesterday, slapped it into place and everything feels correct now as line is peeled off the spool under drag. Good call Fred, it even sounds better. I used some of that red braid I bought for the black/maroon Squidder 146, this reel has the same colors. It looks great...but would be best with lighter line. I bet nobody else has 40lb. braid with a 16lb. leader on their D.A.M. Quick 221! ...think'n big...

[Midway Tommy]

Be careful, Mo! That braid could play havoc on that plastic spool. Red mono would look pretty, too.   

[mo65]

Be careful, Mo! That braid could play havoc on that plastic spool. Red mono would look pretty, too.   

   Ya know Tommy...I never even thought about that! We always fish braid mainline/mono leader on our freshwater bass combos. This is the first plastic spooled spinner I ever planned to fish. Not that I think I'll fish it hard...but still...would hate to chew up that spool. If you think this is a possibility I can switch her to red mono. Thanks for the enlightenment!

[Midway Tommy]

Fred would probably be more in tune than me. If you do switch to mono you should probably use a dacron or braid backing, though. Too much tight mono can also be tough on plastic spools and pop the front off. No real problems, though, if care is taken while spooling. Once the front rim gets scarred they're hard to get smooth again, even with ultra-fine sandpaper.   

[oc1]

Braid can cut into or indent the plastic spool at the point of contact.  As far as I know, it is mostly cosmetic damage.  But, stretched mono can warp or explode the spool from within.  Mono was a bit of a problem on the Penn 710 plastic spool but I don't know about the DAM.
-steve

[foakes]

Mono can break any plastic spools apart, if stored for a long time -- particularly over a few years in varying temperature ranges.  Also if wound too tight by a machine with an aggressive line installer guy.

Just use a backing like Tommy suggests of about 1/3 dacron or similar -- or use cork or nylon spacers -- but the backing is the easiest and best.  If your mono gets spooled (only happened to me once-- you still have a chance) -- there is still enough line to likely land the fish.

Some of the older series of Quicks have metal spools, that will work on the Finessa non-N series reels -- all that is needed is to swap out the spool arbor and adjust the drag stack.

Penns somewhat, but particularly Quicks, Cardinal 3 & 4, are all prone to this breakage with mono when stored improperly.

Most good Mitchells have metal spools -- some are plastic.

Best,

Fred

[Midway Tommy]

As an example, for other than the largest freshwater fish, i.e. musky, northern & big blues or flatheads, my standard spooled mono is between 110 & 120 yds. The rest is backed with 12# dacron. I'm totally comfortable with that amount of main line and have never even come close to needing it all. I do go with extra mono yardage on a couple of my bigger, Card 6 & 7, musky/northern setups, but then those reels have aluminum spools.

Like Fred pointed out, over stretched mono or leaving the outfit out in extreme cold, which makes mono shrink, is really hard on plastic spools.     

[Shark Hunter]

Great work on that 221 Mo.
I have a ton of Dam reels from Fred by doing some horse trading.
I need to get them out and ogle them.
Back in the day, My Uncle and I would fish the lakes of Kentucky every chance we had.
We mainly used spinners, Cardinals and Pfluegers with cork backing on the spool and Royal Bonnyl mono line.
The only red mono I use now on my Surfmasters and the like is Cajun Red Lightning line from Wally World.

[mo65]

   Thanks for the compliments fellas! This reel did have the cork arbor on it, and even using it I still got 100 yds. of that 40lb. braid(same dia. as 12lb. mono) on it. Like Tommy said, ya just don't need hundreds of yards of line for most freshwater fishing. Even most hard pulling large freshwater fish just don't take long runs. Some make long fights, but never go very far. Big cats will run back and forth between jam ups trying to break free.
   Funny how the mono stretch thing works. Most folks don't realize that the lighter mono causes more trouble than the heavy, just because it stretches more. Another big factor is the number of wraps. Ever see that Youtube vid where they wrap rubber bands around a watermelon until it implodes? A few wraps won't hurt much...but hundreds...you get melon soup!

[happyhooker]

Beautiful reel & same with the work you did.  Yeah, don't hesitate to fish it & enjoy the experience.  Took my DAM Quick 220 out this last weekend on one of the better known MN lakes; reputation of the lake didn't help the fishing tho, as I could only manage one small northern in several hours of fishing.

[mo65]

Well sports fans...my Penn 720z may have took a dive in round one of the last fishing trip...but this Quick 221 streaked across the finish line like Jesse Owens. Here's a short video of the first catch.

[bhale1]

So cool Mo! I need to get out and do some bass fishing soon, and that vid certainly reminds me that there's no time like the present!!! Good job.
Brett