Penn Mag Tuned 10 testing

JRD · July 20, 2018, 12:51:02 AM

Quote from: xjchad on July 19, 2018, 06:05:35 PM
Wow Randy, this is great news!
Those parts look great!
I'm going to keep looking for more of these reels

I got my three plus a parts reel after reading Mo's write up so for once was ahead of the demand curve.

JRD · August 21, 2018, 10:23:19 PM

So here is the final update. The reel has 4 more trips on it with a large number of bass, baracuda and others. No pelagic fish yet but what put an end to the question for me was yesterday's trip. Fly lining sardeans on a kelp for dorado I hooked a pelagic Ray which headed for the bottom. Unusual since they normally stay near the surface. It dumped 3/4 of the spool in 30 seconds. Turn it around and got it close enough to pull the hook with a gaff hook. Next comes the furbag who wasn't smart enough to leave me the head with a hook in it. This guy headed for the horizon and was just unstoppable. With the knot on the spool fast approaching and the drags hammered I finally had to use a cloth on the spool to break the 30lb leader. I hate to leave any line on anything but it couldn't be helped and it's dragging a 4 leader.

A tear down revealed black drag grease but not much more. The gear sleeve score didn't look any worse and the wear on the top metal disk was just slightly more pronounced. I'm trying to source a full sized delrin washer to go between the belville and the top stainless drag stack washer to stop this wear. The level wind is still in perfect shape. The general thought that these level winds are the weak point just hasn't held true for me. I'm going to keep pushing these little things without fear. Now if I can just find yellow tail this year!

mo65 · August 21, 2018, 10:31:03 PM

Quote from: JRD on August 21, 2018, 10:23:19 PM
The level wind is still in perfect shape. The general thought that these level winds are the weak point just hasn't held true for me.

Fantastic! Sounds like we can put that silly levelwind myth to rest.

JRD · August 21, 2018, 10:42:41 PM

I think as long as the mechanism isn't too far out of sync with the line coming off the reel it's no problem with line going out. The stress comes from re-spooling. With a straight grind maybe the system fails, but using the rod correctly should take a lot of the tension off as your pulling up and winding down.

The real problem is the popularity increased and so did the price, I've got a few friends that want one but the prices on the auction site are crazy!

xjchad · August 21, 2018, 10:51:09 PM

Awesome to hear Randy! Wish I could get out and try some of that!

I'm always looking for more as well, I got lucky with the two I found.
Hoping to start the next one when I get back from vacation in September.

JRD · September 25, 2018, 01:38:34 AM

I thought that I put to rest this issue, at least in my mind of whether the level wind mechanism could stand the stress.

So I have one session of boiler Rock fishing on it with some decent size calicos and many many snags in the rocks. And then today I noticed I'm starting to see a failure in the reel.

But not the failure that I was expecting.

I hopped on a local half-day boat today and we went fishing Bonito, these are decent sized fish in the six to eight pound range. After catching my own personal limit of 5 I kept helping others fill their bags by hooking and handing, I I think the total was around 20 good size hard pulling, drag burning Bonito. As I am putting the reel away I noticed there is quite a bit of lateral movement in the gear sleeve that was not there before.

I'll tear it down later this week but I'm expecting to find that the stainless gear sleeve has worn the bridge post. The reel was torn down and fully serviced two outings ago including penn blue grease in the gear sleeve. I am thinking it's just too much pressure on the Bridge pin with the added leverage of the longer counter balanced handle. If so I'm going back to the smaller GTI counter ballanced crank and knob and try that. I've got two new bridges on the way from JDL.

Will keep ya posted

xjchad · September 25, 2018, 02:17:06 AM

Quote from: JRD on September 25, 2018, 01:38:34 AM
I thought that I put to rest this issue, at least in my mind of whether the level wind mechanism could stand the stress.

So I have one session of boiler Rock fishing on it with some decent size calicos and many many snags in the rocks. And then today I noticed I'm starting to see a failure in the reel.

But not the failure that I was expecting.

I hopped on a local half-day boat today and we went fishing Bonito, these are decent sized fish in the six to eight pound range. After catching my own personal limit of 5 I kept helping others fill their bags by hooking and handing, I I think the total was around 20 good size hard pulling, drag burning Bonito. As I am putting the reel away I noticed there is quite a bit of lateral movement in the gear sleeve that was not there before.

I'll tear it down later this week but I'm expecting to find that the stainless gear sleeve has worn the bridge post. The reel was torn down and fully serviced two outings ago including penn blue grease in the gear sleeve. I am thinking it's just too much pressure on the Bridge pin with the added leverage of the longer counter balanced handle. If so I'm going back to the smaller GTI counter ballanced crank and knob and try that. I've got two new bridges on the way from JDL.

Will keep ya posted

Interesting results Randy.
Sounds like a fun trip!
I still haven't had a chance to test my full framed Mag 10. I took it back apart and sent the frame for anodizing.
Still planning to make a few half frames, just have a couple other projects first.

Gfish · September 25, 2018, 02:58:45 AM

Great report JRD, text, pictures and all! Can't wait to see more...

JRD · September 25, 2018, 02:54:14 PM

[quote author=xjchad

Interesting results Randy.
Sounds like a fun trip!
I still haven't had a chance to test my full framed Mag 10. I took it back apart and sent the frame for anodizing.
Still planning to make a few half frames, just have a couple other projects first.

[/quote]

Chad I'm waiting for updates on your beast. Im interested to hear your experience with anodizing small batches also. And waiting patiently to see the half frames too!

mo65 · September 26, 2018, 01:11:46 AM

Quote from: JRD on September 25, 2018, 01:38:34 AM
Today I noticed I'm starting to see a failure in the reel. But not the failure that I was expecting. As I am putting the reel away I noticed there is quite a bit of lateral movement in the gear sleeve that was not there before.

How about that? While we're all waiting for the levelwind to take a crap...the upgraded gear sleeve loosens! I never saw that one coming!

JRD · September 26, 2018, 01:25:37 AM

Quote from: mo65

color=maroon]How about that? While we're all waiting for the levelwind to take a crap...the upgraded gear sleeve loosens! I never saw that one coming! [/color]

I'm having trouble believing that its actually the stainless steel gear sleeve, I truly think it's either the pin on the bridge came loose or is worn so that it allows a little movement.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get it taken apart and cleaned up and can figure out what happened

JRD · September 28, 2018, 03:52:01 PM

The reel was taken apart this morning, as I feared the problem was with the gear sleeve Bridge pin interface. I cannot get a great picture but the band around the base of the bridge sleeve pin is significantly worn on the Inside Edge of that pin. The bridge itself experienced some scoring where from the base of the gear sleeve dug in.

The level wind mechanism as you can see it's still in fantastic shape with no discernible wear on the worm or pawl.

I Believe by putting the extended counterbalance handle on it that I have over stressed that bridge pin. And caused the bridge to flex which creates that wear. You can see the silver grease on the q tip which came from inside the gear sleeve.

The drags shed a little CF dust into the grease but are still in fantastic shape.

I'm going to keep fishing it hard, if it ever breaks I will update the post.

I ordered two new Bridges from JDL and two of the plastic retainers for the magnets but cannot locate replacement magnets, does anybody have a source for those?

xjchad · September 28, 2018, 04:25:54 PM

Thanks for the update Randy!
I have one of the original magnets I pulled out of my Monster Mag as well as some of the ones I replaced it with.
I'm sending one of each to you today.
I love seeing you work these reels hard! I love the Mag 10!

mo65 · September 28, 2018, 04:42:25 PM

I'm surprised we don't see more of these bridge pins coming loose with all the power handles and upgraded drags we put into these reels. I don't know where to find those stock magnets Randy but eBay is loaded with similar size magnets...maybe do a search.

JRD · September 28, 2018, 05:33:05 PM

Quote from: xjchad on September 28, 2018, 04:25:54 PM
Thanks for the update Randy!
I have one of the original magnets I pulled out of my Monster Mag as well as some of the ones I replaced it with.
I'm sending one of each to you today.
I love seeing you work these reels hard! I love the Mag 10!

That's great Chad, thank you!!! There is still hope to get my target species (Yellow Tail) this year and I'm sure the reel will handle it just fine.

I'm waiting to see what the monster mag does!