When is a reel just too far gone?

[Legal Bill]

Hm. Stock surfmaster gear has the strengthening bind ring on pinion. Yours must have been replaced. I was certain those are -60 drag washers too, because I'm reasonably certain I just took them out of a 150 I built...I wonder if your gears have been changed somehow...were my drags too large? if so, someone has switched you to 155 beachmaster gears, i think. even so that spool should go in the pinion.

Yes, the spool goes in, but the pinion you sent does not mesh with my main gear.  And yes, the drags you sent were a smidge too big.  I think that the gears were changed.

I carefully installed the dog and the old dog spring and it all went together and "worked" after a fashion.  The freespool got stuck a couple of times so I opened it up again and polished and re-lubed the sliding free-spool parts and it works a better now.  At this point, it's a perfect display reel.  If someone picks it up, all the features will function.  But I would not trust it to land a fish.  As I have an old family rod without a reel in my display area, I think I'll pair it with this reel, spool it with some old dacron line that I still have, and find an old lure to tie to the end and call it art.