Avet MXL 6/4 II - freespool disengaged when Preset Knob is tightend

[Jon_Kol]

Hi!

It's been quite some time since I had an AVET sent to me, and this time it was a MXL 6/4 which was in pieces in a plastic bag. I changed the bearings and put everything together according to the schematic.

Everything seemed ok, but suddenly I realized that when the Preset Knob is tightened just a few turns after the first click-clicks are heard, the freespool is hampered - even when the reel is set to Free. Could it be that the spool spring has been weakened by pressure in the past? The reel itself does not appear to be used much, there was not much to clean out. It's veeeery late at night here right now, so if I'm missing out on something obvious, I have noone but myself to blame.

I did find that the reel is missing one of the two spool spring washers - 15 - Spool Spring Washer (2 req.) MXL6/4-015. These washers are so thin that I can't picture that one of those being missing is the key here?

So, in short:

* Preset Knob removed from the reel = Freespool with no worries
* Preset Knob attached and tightened to the first couple of clicks = Still freespool
* Preset Knob tightened a bit more = Spool seems to be grinding against something/or the spool isn't pushed far enought to the left(?)
* Preset Knob tightened just a tad more = Same symptome as when a right side plate bearing goes bad - the handle wants to move.

Ideas? Thanks for your time.

PS: Here's the schematic: http://www.avetreels.net/uploads/MXL_2-SPEED.pdf

[MarkT]

The brake bearing slides easily on the spool shafting? If it's stuck or corroded to the shaft then the drag won't engage/disengage correctly. In addition, if the spool spring is compressed then it can't push the drag plate away from the spool and you'll get little/no free spool.

[alantani]

is the drag pressure plate moving freely along the spool shaft?  it sounds like it's binding. 

[Jon_Kol]

I think I found the problem:



The owner had started to open the reel and had bought some bearings, of which he had installed a couple, but then he decided that he did not want to open the reel much more.

To me, this bearing looks too big/too thick. I'm at work at the moment, so I won't be able to check it against my own Avet reels, but I guess this left side spool bearing is to be seated deeper in the spool?

[Jon_Kol]

No, I had NOT found the problem. However, I did find and solve the real problem about ten minutes ago. 

I checked the bearing, that I thought looked too big, against the same bearing in my SX MC 5.3. Found out that it was exactly the same size, and seated exactly the same in the spool. Then I took a look at the spool spring in the MXL, which I had found to look a bit "odd", and compared it to the spool spring in my SX MC 5.3. A major difference - the SX spool spring was longer and seemed to have the correct shape all the way as well.

I took that spring and installed it in the MXL, put the reel back together and there it was - freespool and a proper rise from Free to Strike when pushing the lever. It's a great feeling when it all comes together. This was the third and final reel that I needed to get ready to send back to the owner, so now they're all shipping out tomorrow. I will of course let the guy keep the spool spring from my reel, I hope he'll be happy getting that Avet out of the plastic bag and into use for fishing again.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions in this topic, it is always appreciated.

-Jon-