Longbeach 66 modification?

sdlehr · December 19, 2015, 04:59:01 PM

Picked up a Longbeach 66 on Ebay to keep my 68 company, and when I opened 'er up I found what I believe are non-standard SS gears with a 5-drag stack. The schematic from Scott's shows a 3-stack, and I think these are SS - they sure aren't brass. Can anyone tell me what this is made of? I checked, this could be a 500 main gear and pinion, the gear sleeves are interchangeable.....

RowdyW · December 19, 2015, 05:20:32 PM

Most likely the previous owner removed the (3) 6-113 CF washers & replaced them with (5) 6-60 CF washers & put in (1) extra eared & (1) extra keyed metal washer. That's the way to upgrade the drags in a LB 66,67, & 68. Divide the number of teeth on the pinion into the number of teeth on the main to get the ratio. If it's around 2.4 to 1 they are probably std. gears. 500 gears don't fit a LB. Early models had heat treated steel main gears & later models had bronze main gears. The pinions in both are s/s.

sdlehr · December 19, 2015, 07:25:39 PM

Rudy, you are a freakin' font of information!

Surprisingly there were no CF washers after the upgrade; there were two leather drag washers and 3 red ones made of the same material as the under-gear washer! Not sure what they were thinking.... So I guess I've got an early one - the gear ratio is 2.3:1

I guess I'm surprised that Penn would manufacture a main gear with enough metal to expand to a 5-stack; that could have been seen as wasteful back then.... and that's one thing Penn was not! I wonder why they didn't offer it as a 5-stack from the beginning?

Thanks

Sid

RowdyW · December 19, 2015, 07:53:15 PM

Sid, the gear was designed for (3) 6-113 washers which are thicker then the 6-60 washers. By using the thinner washers is why you can get a 5 stack in the gear. Maybe Penn figured that a 3 stack was all the reel could handle. Don't forget they have to garrentee their product. Switching things around is what we reel hotrodders do. Just look at a 113H that has 20-23 lbs of drag from the factory is now hotrodded to 50+ lbs.

sdlehr · December 19, 2015, 09:05:42 PM

Thanks Rudy. I've seen those drag washers. Seem to be made of asbestos or something similar (I've not seen HT-100 washers that thick), they're in the Senator 6/0 I got recently..... Now I get the picture. It's hard to tell the thickness of the washer on the schematic..... but now I know what to do to upgrade the drag stack on the 6/0. I presume the stock gears can handle it?

Shark Hunter · December 19, 2015, 10:34:49 PM

That deep steel main gear is a good score Sid.
Like Rudy said, an upgrade to a 5 stack with 6-60 washers is the way I did it too.
These are usually in the older models.
Does your reel have the picture plate?

Newell Nut · December 19, 2015, 11:42:26 PM

X2 on lucky you got the deep gear. You will like the 5 stack upgrade with CFs and SS washers.

sdlehr · December 20, 2015, 03:58:16 AM

Daron, mine does have a picture left plate, but not the one you have. I've got the skinny sailfish picture on mine.(How many variations were there?)??

Shark Hunter · December 20, 2015, 04:07:07 AM

Sid,
I am not qualified to give you that answer, but these two threads should.
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=12463.30
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=12512.0

sdlehr · December 20, 2015, 03:10:25 PM

Daron, I lied. I got two reels last week, and it is the Senator 6/0 with the skinny sailfish picture. The 66 has no picture on the side plate. We went to a Christmas party last night and I saw your question when I got home, and I just wasn't on top of my game after the party and the libations.... $:-\$ $:-\$ $:-\$ My 68 has the same lighthouse picture on the left plate as yours does.

Maxed Out · December 20, 2015, 07:06:40 PM

Sid, that picture plate was discontinued in early 50's on all the long beach models. A few lingered in parts bins, but for the most part, if you have a 66,67, or 68 with the picture plate it is from the late 30's thru about 1950/51, and yep, those were steel gear years, and those were the ones with outer access drags. I have a few of those tall gears sitting collecting dust from parts reels I've obtained.

Ted

sdlehr · December 22, 2015, 02:53:40 AM

Thanks Daron, John and Ted. I've got what I need to upgrade the drag stack, everything is soaking in Simple Green right now. I got this reel dirt cheap, $30 including shipping. It came with a cracked head plate (did I mention that earlier in this thread?). I'm in search of a replacement. I've decided not to send the whole thing back, even though the Ebay seller would have taken it. I'm going to reassemble it temporarily with the broken head plate just so I don't lose any parts.

Sid

Maxed Out · December 22, 2015, 04:24:09 AM

Hello again Sid, I had exact same dilemma a few years back and discovered that a newer headplate that DOESN"T have outer drag access will not work on your reel.

You will need another older style head plate with outer drag access. I'm sure there's a few guys on here that could help you locate that headplate without emptying your savings account. (Fred Foakes, or Handi)

Ted

sdlehr · December 22, 2015, 04:54:18 AM

Sheesh, I think I did it again. It's not the Long Beach head plate I need, it's a Senator 115 (edit, it's the 114, not the 115) 6/0, black, with externally-accessible drags. Maybe I just need to simplify things and just deal with one reel at a time....

foakes · December 22, 2015, 04:59:05 AM

Hi Sid --

Assuming you mean a 114 6/0 black head side with the larger opening for external drag switch out?

Or, do you mean a 9/0 115?

Best,

Fred