140/145/146 squidder

Started by alantani, December 07, 2008, 04:58:51 PM

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garking84

I'm cleaning up a squidder that I just picked up.  I have always wondered if that ring on the side plate is removable?  Does it come right off,  do I remove the 3 little pins it has around.  Or are they not removable at all.

alantani

the ring is riveted in place.  made that mistake once!   ;D
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

garking84

That's good I asked I was about to pry it out somehow.  Thanks for the quick response.   

Alto Mare

very good question, saved you a side plate ;D.
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

Rancanfish

Is there an existing demand for these?  I bought mine because I used one  a guy had on his boat when I was invited SF Bay halibut fishing.  Then I never used them,  lol.   I really liked the 'back reeling' ability.   I hooked a big one and had a blast playing with him.

I have mine still in the box. Never even tried putting line on 'em.  Too many toys I guess.

I don't think they get the respect of say a well set up 501, eh?
I woke today and suddenly nothing happened.

thorhammer

two different applications...i have 4 or 5 Squidders and 2 built up 501's. the narrow jigmaster is great for just that....jigging and some lighter bottom fishing plus maybe trolling for Spanish Mackeral if youre in that latitude. The Squidder, while it has a back reel feature very applicable for flounder drifting, is first and foremost a durable surf caster: ball bearings, finned spool bell you can cast control with STP grease (i don't; i am old school and think that's cheating and may cut your distance when you should put in the time for educating the thumb). However, the Squidder is Slooooooww....3.3 : 1 if memory serves.  I  have about a dozen jigmasters all total set up for various things from casting to jigging to king mackerel trolling backup's, so it's a matter of personal preference and what you want to use it for.

bestout

should i remove that bearing cover with the stock bearings? they are just too annoying to install them and removing them.....
And when i go on freespool the lever#21 lifts up a little is this normal ???
exactly like this but on freespool im not sure if thats freespool on the picture
The monsters in my head are scared......

otghoyt

No!  That is certainly not normal.  That has some bendage going where the shifter lever screws down to the eccentric.  Take it off and tap it out on something level. 

ReelCurious

#68
Looked through all of the fun upgrades here and decided to pick up a Surfmaster with Newell bars/reel seat that I could transfer to a Squidder 140 to convert it to a 145.  So after reading this I thought I could swap it out.  Now I'm feeling like a 5 year old that can't get a square peg in to a circle hole.  I took the two side plates off, left the frame together, and swapped over the Squidder 140 left/right plates to the 145 frame.  The 145 spool doesn't seem to want to go in, but I'm not sure what I'm missing.  There is a huge gap and it's just kind of floating around in the frame like it isn't attached.  The gap is a good 1/4 inch.  I can attach a pic if it helps.  Is there something obvious that I'm missing?

Edit:  Few deep breaths and swapped everything back.  The answer I think is simple, I was wrong with the info I had that the frame supports and spool could be swapped.  The Squidder spool has a spacer type piece built in to it to handle the wider side plates.  I just don't think the spools can be swapped even if the frame supports can be.  I'll have to find a spool for a Squidder 145 to complete the conversion.

thorhammer

Yep squidder spool won't work there.

oc1

I am going to put a 1966 Squidder 140 back into service.  It was used hard for a few years and was then left to rot in a damp shed for over four decades.  Yes, I am ashamed.




The inner left ring is broken, the dog is very worn, and it will need new bearings and drag washers.  The spool has almost no chrome left but I'll keep it for now.

I ground a cut nail to make a tool for removing the splined cover holding the bearings in place.  It rests on the lip of the bearing cup while you pry the splined cover up from the center.

The bearings have never been touched but are in surprisingly good shape compared to everything else.
http://www.raingarden.us/140oldbearing.mp4
Are new Penn bearings going to be made as well?  Are generic stainless or ceramic bearings as good or better?  I'm not sure what to buy.

Also, the spring mounted ball that closes the oil hole on the handle does not pop back up.  Are there any tricks to fix these?

Thank you for any advice.

Alto Mare

Wow, that reel will need some help for sure, but I have no doubts that it will fish again.
About the bearings, they might still be good, try soaking them is some good quality oil and see how that goes.
This is what I do, I soak them in these containers, it doesn't take much oil and they don't leak.

I get those free at home centers, those should be used for testing your water, but don't tell anyone ;D.
If you need to pull the shield on the bearing, do it gently. if you pull the wrong side, the side with the cage, you will need to put it back or you'll lose it. You would be ok if you happen to get the right side, you will know it if nothing pops out... as these did

Put some oil on the handle oil port and try to move it around with a pin, sometimes it pops out. If it won't budge, don't worry about it, place a drop of oil at the base of the handle shaft and you're good to go.
Good luck with your project and show us pics as you move along.

Sal
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

oc1

Thank you very much for your help Alto Mare.  I am soaking the bearings now.  I was sure I would need new bearings because, when dry,  one bearing spins better than the other and they make a racket.  Out of curiosity I put the frame back together with only the bearings and spool in place.  No drive or pinion.  Two drops of TSI 321 on each bearing.  Then gave the spool a spin....
http://www.raingarden.us/140spin.mp4
Darn, it spins pretty well.  Twenty five seconds.  Still makes a racket.  Now I don't know what to think.
-steve

sdlehr

I'm following, Alan has my Squidder right sideplate now, I couldn't get the bearing out.... it was the loud racket from the plastic spool that I was getting that prompted me to change the bearing too.
Sid Lehr
Veterinarian, fishing enthusiast, custom rod builder, reel collector

oc1

#74
Hello Sid.  I'm pretty sure my bearing is grinding.  You can hear it in the first video when the bearing was not even in the side plate.

The bearings were soaked in oil overnight and put back in the side plates to test the spin time again.

Soaking made a big difference too..  This time when the spool was spun it ran for sixty-three seconds instead of twenty-five seconds as before.  I'm not sure why it works, but it does.  Thank you Sal.
http://www.raingarden.us/140spin63.mp4
I thought I understood why we should only use one drop of oil, but am now confused about that.

The spin time improvement is probably real because the technique for spinning it was pretty much the same in both tests.  However, I do not think the spin time can be compared to spin time on another persons bench with a different reel and different technique.  The initial speed is as important as the frictional forces slowing the speed.  Things like the size of your fingers, the amount of traction your fingers get on the spool arbor, the amount of pressure applied, etc. will impact the initial speed.  To convince myself, I tried using a short piece of line to help get the spool spinning faster initially; sort of like the pull cord on a lawn mower or a kids toy top.  The spin time increased from 63 up to 101 seconds.
http://www.raingarden.us/140spin108.mp4
You can see in the video that the spool started off spinning so fast that there was some gyroscopic action going on as the whole reel moved itself on the table.  We can think of ways to get the initial speed even higher, but there is no practical use and at some point we would start damaging the bearings.

The grinding noise is still there.  The noise doesn't bother me except that I know it must represent friction and poorer performance.

Also, when the spool stops spinning it momentarily rotates backward a few degrees.  You can see it in the video.  All my reels (new and old) do this to some extent.  This probably indicates that the spool is not perfectly balanced.   The imbalance must impact performance but I do not know how much.  Probably a tiny amount.  I've never tried to balance a spool like you would balance a car tire.  Maybe a dollop of epoxy paste could be stuck to the outside of the spool.  Don't know if the imbalance would change when the reel is loaded with line.
-steve