349h sideplate

George4741 · March 17, 2015, 03:00:59 AM

Quote from: sundancer on March 17, 2015, 01:32:30 AM

It appears that the Plate doesn't allow removal of the Drag Stack from the outside by 'a silly little millimeter', and this modification corrects that. Am I right so far?

You're right.
It sounds like you have a reel with the original asbestos washers. You should disassemble it to see what needs replacing. Those asbestos washers should be replaced with carbontex.
George

Keta · March 17, 2015, 03:47:44 AM

The 349/349H is one of the easier Penn reels to work on, go ahead and strip it down. IF you have trouble getting it back together we will help, if our "help" does not help you can ship it to me and as long as all the parts are still there and useable I'll service and reassemble it for free.

"It appears that the Plate doesn't allow removal of the Drag Stack from the outside by 'a silly little millimeter', and this modification corrects that. Am I right so far?"

Yes.

The thick SS washer are most likely chrome plated brass factory drag washers, are keyed?
The "Fiber Washer" is the original asbestos drag washer, the 349/349H uses 3 of them, wet them down, put them in a ziplock bag and put them in the garbage.

Dawn might be out of them again (if she is she will have more soon) but she sells a complete 5+1 drag stack upgrade with .047 SS metal washers that will fill the gear perfectly. I have 7+1 and 9=1 sets of metal washers but the 7+1 looses ears when under heavy loads, the 7+1 has not failed during testing. "Testing" is hooking my line to my ATV and making 100-200 hard runs as fast as I can go.

The drag set on the right is original. Note that I have a 349 pinion gear and yoke next to a 349H main gear in the photo.

sundancer · March 17, 2015, 05:46:21 AM

So that is what the asbestos washers look like.

I have 2 of these beautiful Reels, 1 spooled and ready to go. I am inclined to leave 1 'as is' and change out the spooled one.

After I take a look, I will let you know. I would like to try to squeeze as much out of it, slowly, as I can.

Keta,

Did you mis-type the drag stack you tested? You mention 7+1 loses ears and 7+1 doesn't fail. I am assuming the 9 is losing the ears.

The heavy SS Washers are not keyed. I will try to include some pictures.

Thanks Guys. More to come

Steve

Keta · March 17, 2015, 05:56:50 AM

D'oh, the ears on the 9+1 drag stack were starting to deform. Thanks for catching it.

The heavy washers are being used as spacers, you will probably find newer fiber/CF washers in your stack, possibly 113H or 114h washers. You can double up on both of these and fill the gear using the stock metal washers. You can also get an after market washer set and make CF washers or order a 5+1 set (metal and CF) from Smooth Drag. I prefer the 113H CF washers over the 114H but form my own washers, I think out of Smooth Drag #60 or #63 CF washers but I'm not sure.

George4741 · March 17, 2015, 04:05:51 PM

Steve,
You might want to search "349" or "349H" in Penn Tutorials and Questions. There are several posts on 349 drag configurations, gear sleeves, etc. Dawn's drag kit is the easiest way to go, though. I've changed mine around several times, so not I'm sure what I have in my reels now.

Quote from: Keta on March 17, 2015, 03:47:44 AM

I have 7+1 and 9=1 sets of metal washers but the 7+1 looses ears when under heavy loads, the 7+1 has not failed during testing. "Testing" is hooking my line to my ATV and making 100-200 hard runs as fast as I can go.

What a brutal way to test a reel.

I might try this myself.

Keta · March 17, 2015, 06:20:25 PM

I'm taking some of my boneyard 347's apart and putting them back together stock, even the asbestos washers. Most of them have one or another of the R&D drag setups I was tinkering with. Overall I'd say the difference between Dawn's 5 washer set and a 7 washer set isn't worth reshaping the ID and OD of the closest washer Smooth Drag sells.

surfcaster · March 17, 2015, 08:00:14 PM

Hi Lee, I just got the drag washers , Great job They are nice I was able to fit 5 stock penn ht 115 washers just messing around ,closest in size I have here. have some thin carbon drags coming from Dawn. The reel is very easy to take apart no dog spring to go flying [mounted to the bridge]
I just figured I would have the drags apart 3 or 4 times fit them so I sanded a tiny bit off the plate.