Need Help with PG255 bearing removal

[pitsqrd]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum as well as new to Pro Gear ownership, so please excuse potentially dumb questions. I did a fair bit of research and reading about the reels and just bought a 255 and 545.  Both are in pretty good condition but I decided to take the 255 apart because the eccentric drag lever engagement just didn't feel right. I found that the eccentric spring was broken so I will replace it. Since I have the reel open, I decide to replace the spool bearings and do some general clean up of the parts. Everything went pretty well except that I can't get the spool bearing out of the black bearing cap on the left side of the reel. It seems to be pressed fit into the bearing cap and won't come out with the force I can put (upward pull) on the bearing with a dental pick.  Is there a special tool or technique you guys can advise me to use to get this bearing out?

Also, I have seen pictures of bridge plate/shaft assemblies online, but not sure what model (from which Penn or other reel) bridge plate/shaft assembly I should be looking at for the PG255 and PG 545, if I decide that I want to or need to upgrade to a stainless assembly.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Gerald

[Bryan Young]

Hi Gerald,

there are many methods to pull the bearing out.  I now use a ReelSpeed Bearing puller, but that can be quite expensive if you don't service reels very much.  So I have take a stainless steel welding rod, bend and hammer the tip of it so I can get it in the bearing and pull hard.  I now have a loop in that welding rod so I can hold on to it and exert some force.  Others have used nails where the head of the nail fits in the bearing and shift it to the side to grab the inner part of the bearing and pull.

Regarding upgrades, the internals are the same as a Jigmaster 505 except for the yoke. 

Upgrades that I have done on these reels are:

Newell Gear Sets from Newell 200/300/400 series reesl
SS Gear Sleeve for the Penn 505/506 with 2 holes from Alan
Other than that, there is nothing available yet.  I am hoping to have ProGear 255/251 yokes made if we can find the proper thickness of stainless steel.

Ping me if you have any questions or if you want to mail me your bearing cup to pull the bearings out.  I can also replace them with new ABEC 5 bearings, opened, cleaned, and lubed with TSI301.

Good luck on the bearing extraction.

Bryan

[mackereljoe]

I actually pulled a bearing with a good stack of rare-earth magnet after trying the usual picks and scratching the bearing a little.  It worked.

[pitsqrd]

Thanks for the info guys.  I think I have a tool for compressing blind rivets that I can adapt to pull the bearings, but if it doesn't work I will definitely use the option to send to Bryan.

With regard to the parts, I take it the bridge with double dogs for a Penn 500/501 on the Smoothdrag site will not work. Is that correct?

Thanks

Gerald

[Bryan Young]

Hi Gerald,

I forgot about the bridge plate.  Yes that should work.  I haven't tried it yet though.

Bryan

[MarkT]

I take a small box nail, cut away 2/3 of the head with dykes and then hold it with vise grips as my bearing puller. I have several sizes of nails for different sized bearings.  It's simple, it's ghetto, it works.

[pitsqrd]

Thanks Bryan, I may try the bridge assembly from Smoothdrags.  I will post a build summary and review if I do decide to get one.  I was able to get the bearing from the 255 left bearing cap out by using a "ghetto tool" as MarkT describes below. When I have some time, I may make a puller out of SS stock as has been described on this post or machine a block/sheet of Alum with various size holes to hold the caps and make a hollow threaded bolt with a L shaped insert to function as the puller.

I took apart my 545 last night and spent a couple hours cleaning and checking all the parts. Both bearings were pressed in pretty good, but I was able to get them out. I am replacing both. Interesting that the 3 drag disks are quite thick, I estimate ~1/8", made of a light grey material, not like the carbontex type material at all. This must be the original drag assembly. They were pretty dry and stuck to the metal washers. I will replace the entire drag assembly with new HT100 parts as recommended in the tutorial from Mark M.

From other information I have read I believe the 545 gearing is 4:1. Is it possible to get it up to a 5:1 ratio from gears from aftermarket i.e. SS parts or particular Penn reel? Any info or opinions about this doing something like this for the 545 is appreciated.

This next questions is going to be controversial, but here goes.  Has anyone tried painting a Pro Gear reel?  My 545 is black, pretty good condition but it has the ubiquitous nick where the drag lever sits and also some sight boat rash that has scratched through what looks to be paint (perhaps it is powder coat). I was thinking about lightly sanding the areas of rash and using high quality color matched gloss black automotive paint to put a couple light coats over the entire reel frame. Thoughts and opinions welcome.

Thanks for all the info guys. I have access to a metal shop and like to design and make parts for my other hobbies and interests, tinker, upgrade and customize, so this forum and all your input is great.

Gerald

[MarkT]

They are anodized, not painted or powder coated.

[Bryan Young]

Some of the latter PGs have been painted.  I think it's probably powder coat though.

You can sand and paint it but be careful between the frame and the spool.  The tolerance can be very tight.  I've had reels lose freespool due to a little grease begin caught between the spool and frame.

[doradoben]

You mentioned a "rub" spot from what I'm guessing is the eccentric lever. Try this.. http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=10111.0
I don't think there is an aftermarket 5:1 gear set available for your 545, but just about any modification that can be done to a Penn 113H will work on this series of Pro Gear. There is a vast amount of information and some every helpful, knowledgeable people on the site.   

[Bryan Young]

Sorry, I forgot to answer your 545 gear question.  No, there are no 5:1 gear sets available for that reel.  The only gear ratios available are 3.25:1 and 4:1 based on Penn's 113H and aftermarket parts.

[pitsqrd]

Thanks for the info guys.

Bryan, thanks for the heads up on the gap tolerance between spool and frame.  I checked that out last night when I was thinking about painting and considered that if I do paint, I will tape off that section of the reel frame to prevent paint build up on the opening that interfaces the spool O.D. 

Doradoben, I did see that topic on this forum and thought it was a great idea.

So, double dogs, what is the advantage of a double dog config? If I understand the design correctly, the ratchet dog is intended to prevent reversing of the gear sleeve, gears and handle. If this is correct, is a second dog simply to increase the mechanical advantage against two cogs of the gear sleeve so that all the reverse pressure is not just applied to a single sleeve cogs and single ratchet dog?  Also, is an alternating double dog config attempting to get closer to the instant anti-reverse functionality of an anti-reverse bearing, by minimizing the engagement time/cycle of one of the dogs to a sleeve cog?


Thanks
Gerald