Okuma TG15 II, Drag Knob Won't Stay Put

[fishmeluck]

Minor problem that is not so minor when actually fishing. The slightest touch of the drag knob and the knob turns freely, changing the drag setting. My first fix was to set the drag and draw two radii on the knob with a Sharpie, lined up with strike and full positions. That allowed me to check the drag setting frequently to make sure it had not moved while fishing. Workable, but annoying.

The next day, I tried several different sized o-rings between the knob and the lever to add friction and make the knob stay put, but that was a mistake because the lever itself turns and that caused the knob to turn too.

Today, I took the drag lever assembly apart and took a close look at the whole thing. I noticed the knob screws into some kind of bushing which is slotted on reel-side, and the reel side-plate has a tang that fits into the bushing slot. So, the bushing is between the reel side-plate and the drag knob, it is fixed with respect to the reel and does not turn along with the drag knob. The drag knob itself has a smaller, recessed, round knob inside it, with an o-ring on it, that fits inside that bushing.

It appears that the o-ring was meant to provide a water-seal, or friction to keep the drag knob in place, or both. Whatever, the o-ring isn't thick enough to provide any significant friction. I'm thinking, I just need to find an o-ring of the same diameter but thicker.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried this, and did it work?

[gstours]

Howdy; Ive had a similar problem with the cavallas and a titus gold 20II  There is a spring in there under the drag adjust cap.  stretch it out and add another to sister them up, and add a second o ring as well,  seems like it needs pressure on it to keep it from moving freely..... it worked for me.    let me know if it helps!     gst.

[fishmeluck]

Howdy; Ive had a similar problem with the cavallas and a titus gold 20II  There is a spring in there under the drag adjust cap.  stretch it out and add another to sister them up, and add a second o ring as well,  seems like it needs pressure on it to keep it from moving freely..... it worked for me.    let me know if it helps!     gst.

Thanks. The existing spring is so weak, it's like almost zero force. I can press it solid between my fingers and barely feel any force. We engineers have a saying, "Two times zero is still zero."

So, before ordering another spring from Okuma, I'll start by taking the reel to the hardware store and try a few o-rings of different size. If that works, I won't bother ordering the second spring.

[fishmeluck]

Woo hoo! I think the problem is solved just by changing to a thicker o-ring. Here are the parts:

The o.d. of the original o-ring was .659 inches (installed). The i.d. it fit into in the knob (lower left) was .660 inches. There was no interference, just a little friction from grease, and the spring was practically useless. The BassCraft o-ring (Lowes, $0.79 for two) had an o.d. of .625 inches but was significantly larger than .660 when installed, because it was much thicker than the original. That's a new one in the photo. The knob now fits pretty snugly on the bushing. I can still turn it easily by hand, and it stays put.