Penn Senators Gear Sleeves

[wish I was fishing]

Dear Alan
Happy New Year to you and your family
I have two questions relating to the Penn Senator family, I hope you can help me with.
1) Why do the outer Chrome rings always seem to be split on 2nd hand reels, it seem that everyone accepts this as normal but what is the reason for it? Is it over tightening of the screws or the pressures exerted on the reels whilst fighting large fish and twisting of the reel? Although none of the reels I have had from new or restored suffer this I am keen to avoid it, as they are costly to replace.
2) You recommend in a number of your tutorials replacing the original gear sleeves with stainless steel gear sleeves, for more drag strength do you know where I can purchase these for the 9/0 and 12/0 reels?  Scott's only seems to stock the smaller reel sizes? Or is this unnecessary for these reel sizes? As I am currently rebuilding both reels I would be glad of your advice.
Many thanks
Dave

[Irish Jigger]

Hi "wish I was fishing",

                           Re your first question. I have had this problem with the smaller Senators and Special Senators over very many years. It appears that the plastic sideplates gradually become slightly swollen particularly if left lying in a boat or wet tackle bag for a prolonged period. It was always necessary to file the outside diameter of the plastic sideplates down slightly in order to fit new replacement chrome plated brass rings. The good news is that the replacement rings(on the 112H model anyway) are now made from stainless steel and are much stronger than the original chromed brass rings. The Penn Super Mariner suffered badly from this problem due, I believe to the large diameter side plates expanding.

Happy New Year,
                      I Jigger.

[wish I was fishing]

Hi Irish Jigger,

Many thanks for your answer I thought there had to be a simple explanation, I guess the solution and prevention of this happening is good maintenance, look after the reel and it will look after you? But I have bought a reel in otherwise great condition with a cracked ring so there may be other reasons too.
I will see if I can get some stainless steel ones for the 12/0 as I need 3 and it may be worth paying a little extra for the extra security.

Now I just need to find out about the gear sleeves and whether there is any merit in changing them?

Dave

[Irish Jigger]

Hi Dave,
           I'm not sure if the 12/0 reinforcing rings are now stainless steel. If not I would replace them with standard chromed brass ones and as you say ,take care of the reel and it should be OK. I shall check with my "Penn" friend over here as he may have some at a resonable price as I always found them to be very expensive which I believe is the reason why so many s/h Penns have broken rings.These reels work OK without the outside rings similar to the Penn 149L Mariner which has only inner rings fitted.

Re the gear sleeves ,I am sure Alan shall be along to solve that one.

Tom.

[wish I was fishing]

Hi Tom,
I would be very interested at what price your friend could supply them for
Many thanks again
Dave

[alantani]

regarding the rings, you are exactly correct.  the larger penn models are worse than the smaller ones.  

regarding the larger gear sleeves, i actually have gear sleeves for the 4/0 penn 113h.  i just have to get everything set up.  mysticparts.com gets the first shipment.  after all of the screwups, i really seriously need to make sure they all fit before shipping out any of them.  the 6/0 and larger may be designed somewhere down the line.  the stock brass gear sleeves are strong enough that i think their need is limited.  alan


"Edited as per Moderators to correct Scott's Bait & Tackle over to their new store name Mystic Reel Parts / www.mysticparts.com"

[Irish Jigger]

Hi Tom,
I would be very interested at what price your friend could supply them for
Many thanks again
Dave

Hi Dave,
          My UK Penn contact has three brand new chrome brass reinforcing rings in stock as follows:

1x 2-116-O
1x 2-116-I
1x 28-116-I  He is asking £10 ($16 approx) each for them +postage to US. I can ship them to you if you wish.

Tom.

[wish I was fishing]

Hi Tom.
I managed to locate some and some other parts I needed, but many thanks
I am on this side of the pond in the UK
Thanks again
Dave

[Irish Jigger]

Hi Dave,
          Glad you're sorted,I assumed you were in the US! Those replacement rings take a lot of fitting as the side plates have to be filed down slightly to get them to fit. It helps if you can have them machined in a lathe or mill by a good machinist.  My contact is in England too and keeps me supplied with all the Penn parts I ever need.  I'm in Bangor NI.  The last 12/0 Senator I saw was in Donegal during a Giant Bluefin Tuna hunt.

Tom.

[wish I was fishing]

It is a very large reel and probably too big for inshore UK waters, big skate off Scotland perhaps? but it was only £35 on ebay.
listed as spares or repair,  and once stripped down and cleaned it revealed that the spool is in excellent condition as are most of the insides of the reel.
Alan is sending me a handle upgrade and once the other parts arrive I should have it back in service very soon,
then I have to decide where to go to try it out on my next holiday!

[Irish Jigger]

It is a very large reel and probably too big for inshore UK waters, big skate off Scotland perhaps? but it was only £35 on ebay.
listed as spares or repair,  and once stripped down and cleaned it revealed that the spool is in excellent condition as are most of the insides of the reel.
Alan is sending me a handle upgrade and once the other parts arrive I should have it back in service very soon,
then I have to decide where to go to try it out on my next holiday!

Have you considered Donegal? My friend Michael runs a charter service there and has accounted for some very large skate and BFTuna.Check it out.

http://www.rosguill.com/

[wish I was fishing]

Hi Alan,

I am in the process of rebuilding this penn 12/0; I've had to grind down the edges of the side plates
that has swollen over the years, so that the new chrome rings fit. Which I might add is very tedious and took may hours a little bit at a time!

I now have it back together but I notice there is side to side movement of the spool, I'm guessing around a mm or two.
The 12/0 does not have a screw down bearing so I cannot adjust it should I be concerned or it this normal.
I'm guessing I could build up the spool shaft with a washer or two?
I don't know anyone with one to compare it to, does anyone else own a 12/0 that has the same movement?

Many thanks again for the kolekar handle I am looking forward to fitting it, a great upgrade it feels great in the hand, perfect.

[alantani]

a washer underneath the left side plate bearing might do the trick!