True Temper/Ocean City 922C

[Bill B]

Today I will be cleaning up a True Temper 922c, a newer version of the Ocean City 922c.  This example was pretty clean and when I stripped off the old mono the spool was bright and shiny.  An interesting detail on the spool is the indents on the sides, that (presumably) for ventilation for the spool.

Removing the four side plate screws on the left side and a the plate comes off revealing the level wind gear, which is a brown fiber type of gear, that meshes with a steel gear that's driven by a gear on the left side of the spool.  There is an indentation on the steel gear that mates with a post on the left side plate.  Remove the c-clip and the steel gear comes off for lube.

The ½" handle nut, handle, drag star and Bellville washer come off next.  I didn't see a reason to remove the eccentric level, so left it i place.  Good thing too...the eccentric spring is massive!!! Four more screws and the right side plate comes off.

First thing I noticed is the bridge plate has a cut out that allows easy access to the yoke, eccentric plate, pinion, etc.  This is an advantage during the rebuild, but more on that later.

Remove four bridge screws, and you will need a 3/16" nut driver on the inside. The bridge plate and assorted parts come right out.  Note the thickness on the eccentric spring....I would not like to wrestle that back in.  Two oddities I noticed was the two piece pinon gear, where the collar has a groove that runs in the yoke.  Another was the lack of fiber drags...they were a combination of brass and stainless steel, with a THIN!!!! brass under gear washer.  The gears were all steel and the other parts are chromed brass.

A healthy glob of Cal's drag grease, reassemble the drag stack.  Now the bridge shape allows you to assemble the bridge and gear sleeve, mount it in the right plate, and then fiddle with the pinon gear, yoke and springs...I like this set up.  BTW you can assemble the upper bridge screws to the posts and then replace the yoke, pinon etc....REALLY EASY!!!


Clean and lube the level wind, and then the usual hassle with reinstalling the level wind mechanism.

Reinstall the right plate, spacer sleeve, Bellville, star drag, and handle.  This was a fun reel to play with, and I really like to bridge plate


Good Luck...Bill

[Alto Mare]

Very good job Bill, that reel is put together nicely, I like the idea of the c-clip holding everything down. Are the parts stainless?

Sal

[Bill B]

No stainless steel, gears and pinon collar are steel, everything else shiny is chromed brass.   The bridge cut out really makes reassembly a piece of cake...Bill

[tristan]

Bill, have you fished this reel, and if so what's your opinion of it?

[Bill B]

Tristan....haven't fished it yet, but with the addition of Cal's drag grease.....I have good feelings about it......very smooth and pulls drag smoothly when I pull on it.....a lighter oil like Reel X would improve the casting ( I used Penn Lube) the handle side bushing has a spring inside and makes spool  tension adjustments a piece of cake...I would put it on par with a Penn Squidder or Surfmaster class reel....and it fits the hand better....too bad I missed salmon season with this one.   I would be confident using it in the 20 lb class jigging reel.  Hopes this helps....Bill