Newell S550 - Solder SS or just give in and buy a parts reel?

[Toehi]

Newell S550, purchased it years ago from a good friend who wasn't good at reel maintenance. He tried to repair, promptly gave up, then was nice enough to offer me this bundle of joy. Bearing and pinion were corrosion welded to the spool, I replaced the bearings and pinion gear and tossed in a Tiburon spool. Reel wouldn't work correctly after the rebuild, it was having issues with pinion to spool lug engagement. I figured the deep 80lb line gouges in the frame (got stuck, wrapped line around reel to try and break free) ment the frame was tweaked something bad. I kind of gave up at that point, tossed the reel on a shelf and there it sat for the last 7 or 8 years.

Fast forward to present day, I told my self I'm going to fix this damn thing, purchased a new Tib 550 frame and spool, took the reel apart and put all the goodies on it. No go, still having the engagement issue. The pinion is not sitting deep enough when the reel is in free spool. When the bearing caps are adjusted/shimmed to correct this the pinion jumps off of the spool lug when a load is put on the spool during cranking.   So it looks like the jack or the yoke is the issue. Nothing seems bent, though I know the reel was beat on before when my friend tried to disassemble it. If I could get the yoke to sit up a few thou during free spool I think my problem would be solved. Is it worth it to try and silver solder small SS shims on the Jack arms? Or should I just bite the bullet and purchase another 500 series reel for parts?  Thanks and sorry for the novel!

[Swami805]

First what's the gear ratio? I think the 3.2-1 is a little different than the higher gear ratio. You might have the wrong pinion. Always best to buy a pair if they are used gears from the same reel or 2 new gears.
If the gears are right dollars to donuts it's a shim. Keep trying different combinations. I've had the same issue when changing frames several times.
I suppose it's possible something is bent but not likely and I don't think solder will hold up for long
Not hard to find Newell parts on line, be easier than getting a parts reel

[Toehi]

Thanks for the reply.  Reel is a 4.6, I still have the original pinion and the replacement is exactly the same (teeth count, length, and diagonal cut teeth). I bought a 10 pack of .015 shims, I'll play around with it and see if I can make it work.

[Swami805]

If It comes to buying a jack you might try bending the ears on yours a tiny bit and see if that helps,couldn't hurt if your buying one anyway. Also clean out the inside of the pinion with a little emory cloth or steel wool.
Used gears tend to "mate", and wear together, I don't think that's the problem but it might feel a little rough for a while when cranking.
It can get frustrating,personally when I think I've tried every thing I'll put it down for a few weeks and do something else and come back to it. That's just a mental health thing.
Once and awhile it can be an issue with the tiburon spool too. If you have the old spool measure the shaft and see if it's off a little. They're pretty good about replacement if that's the problem
There's a few Newell guru's on here that are more expierienced than me, Add Newell to your title and give it a few days, I might be missing something.

[gstours]

After watching this I thought the same thing.  Maybe the spool has a longer flat sided gear engagement hub than others.  Swap the spool around with another maybe.  Tweaking the jack plate may tell you something.  They are cheap and easy obtained.  You will be able to sleep better when this is fixed for sure 🤦‍♀️    The us what you did too.👌