Common problem? Penn Fathom 25N

[USN_ED]

No I didn't Russ. I do want to, but it would be 5-6 months from now.

Sal

Russ, after answering you, I did some more tests to make sure. The reel was  disengaging, but but still with a little resistance.  Not much, but you could feel it.
At some point I lost freespool, I couldn't figure out why, so I opened the reel back up.
From taking another look at the yoke, I noticed that there is enough clearance there.
On my previous test, I was pushing the jack too far up with a screwdriver as I was testing it.
So, disregard what I've mentioned above, the yoke is fine as is.

I did notice a shiny line on the jack that I didn't like, there is lots of force there when shifting to freespool.
The jack has squared tabs, I wonder if those would get changed with something as a trapezoid shape would help any, sorry, the only way I could explain it. This might actually work, the pinion has almost zero sideway movement.
Or, you could just live with it, as Steve and a few others have mentioned, it's not  a big deal, once you get used to it.

I also want to point out that there is a good chance that the helical cut gears are helping with this small issue, maybe softening the pitch will cure it. Those get jammed pretty tight when engaged.

Sorry for wasting your time guys, this is a nice little reel and I just wanted to help a little.

Sal 

Sal - This thread which includes Penn's solution - a lengthened Eccentric Pin may be of interest to you.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=6588.0

Penn's fix is explained at the bottom of the thread.