A Successful Rebuild

[Norcal Pescador]

I rebuilt an older Penn 50-V I bought used and took it on Alan's first 5-day trip. Unfortunately the big bruiser wasn't needed so it stayed on the rack. I sold it to a local friend who is a long range regular and he just came back from a seven-day trip.

With apprehension, I awaited his review of the reel. When he said, "It was flawless!" I was so relieved.  He picked up a 130 pound marlin on the first trolling round, then another later. The last fish brought to the boat by trolling was a nice wahoo. The only complaints were from the crew because it wasn't a two-speed. Waaaahh 

It was my first lever drag repair and I did just about all I could. New bearings throughout, 117DN-50 drag washer replacing the original asbestos(?) disc, and other non-metallic washers. I took EVERYTHING apart, cleaned, polished, and lubed it using Alan's favorite stuff and topped it off with 130-pound Izor hollow braid and a '6/0' Kolekar grip. 

I'll probably see it again when it needs to be serviced. 

[oc1]

Good going.... but be careful not to act surprised. 
-steve

[Alto Mare]

Good job Rob!...I'm not surprised at the reel and your work .

Sal

[mhc]

Sounds like your friend gave it a decent workout - good to see it stood up to the test, but I'm not surprised either. 

Mike

[Donnyboat]

Hi Rob, thanks for the report, interesting, keep well, cheers Don.

[alantani]

rob, good to see you out and about!

[steelfish]

Good going.... but be careful not to act surprised. 
-steve

LOL exellent comment.

[redsetta]

 Nice work Rob

[Crow]

Good job !

[coastal_dan]

Nice, that story makes it worth it!

[Bill B]

That's the way we roll here at AT.com     Bill

[Dominick]

It's good to hear from you Rob.  I trust that things are going well.  Dominick

[Gfish]

Alright! N.P., fixed, tried and tested---success!
I recently gotta Avet LD. 1) To have a smaller LD than the 600 size Accurate in my arsenal. 2)  To see what an Avet's about from the inside-out. 3) To practice tear-down and reassembly on a moderately priced American made LD, and mabey better understand how exactly they function. I know, I know,  Avet's are relatively less complicated than others. But I wasn't smart enough to understand my TLD 15 a couple of years ago when I serviced it and put in the spool shaft sleeve(as per Bryan & Allens instructive posts). It was all I could do get it(and the Accurate) back together again.
To me, it's all about the sequence of take-down/rebuilding of each system, which is where the tutorials are invaluable. Repetitive practice, then the functional aspects start to make sense. 5 tries and I think I got it!

BTW, the Avet seems to be a well made reel(SX 6/4 MC-2speed), with limitations: a believable 14 lb. rated drag and a sensitive pinion bearing(as per posts). A good 30lb. reef reel, that cast quite well fora conventional, 'bout the size ofa large fw bass reel, but weighs 1 lb.(16 oz.=good).
Gfish

[Norcal Pescador]

It's good to hear from you Rob.  I trust that things are going well.  Dominick

Going pretty good, Dominick. I seem to be busier now than before, but it's all good.  And I make doctor's appointments without feeling guilty, "Nope, can't see the doctor that day. I'm fishing." 

[MarkT]

No need for a two speed on Wahoo. The crew would yell at you if you dropped into low on a 'hoo! I've caught about 30 of them and never have gone into low on one. Just keep turning the handle and if you can't, well, keep turning it anyway. You always want to stay tight with a Wahoo and they run out of gas quickly and then you can crank them in.