Penn Longbeach - spool not centred

[Jason Groombridge]

G'day Guys,

I have a Penn Longbeach 268 in for service. When the left side bushing is adjusted to take the sideways play out of the spool, the spool is too far to the right and the clicker is not engaging properly. I have heard you guys talking about shimming these reels to centre the spool. How do I do that? Is the shim just a small disc that sits inside the right side bush?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Jason

[cbar45]

Hello,

Yes, you have the right concept.

For shims I use discarded Teflon drag washers.

Simply punch out a few tiny dots of suitable diameter using a multiple hole-punch tool (leatherwork).

Next insert a shim into the bushing and, using a pin or similar object, carefully adjust it such that it lays flat.

It helps to keep the bushing sitting upright, open end up, at all times and during installation.

You may find it necessary to stack two or three shims, dependent on how thick they are.

Chad

[Jason Groombridge]

G'day Chad,

Thanks for that, much appreciated. I'll give it a go today and hopefully all will be good.

Cheers

Jason

[RowdyW]

It will also work by cutting small chips out of a aluminum soda or beer can with scissors.    Rudy

[Alto Mare]

Leftover Delrin from cutting the ID on the washers are doing really good there.

[sdlehr]

I picked up a Seagate and tore it apart last night. It's identical to the Longbeach 60 except for the engraving on the plates and the plastic spool. The foot is stamped "250 yds". Mike's book says the Seagate was supplied to the tackle rental trade, Scott's says it preceded the 60. Both could be correct and probably are. After I reassembled the right side of the plastic spool was rubbing on the bridge screws. I filed them down, and there was still some rubbing. I swapped in a metal spool from one of my 60's and it was quiet. The plastic spool has a different profile and is flatter and sits closer to the bridge than the metal spools do, similar to the red anniversary Jigmaster spools. I made a few shims from a coke can, still rubbing. They weren't easy to make, I threw away 5 or 6 before I figured out the best technique. I carefully drilled a hole in the aluminum, then used a hole punch (like for notebook paper) to punch out the outside, centering the hole I had drilled, then cut down the outer diameter with scissors so they would fit inside the pinion gear without rubbing. I made two, they didn't help. I replaced the right side bushing with a new one that appeared identical in dimensions to the old (but was actually 0.005" longer) and the rubbing sound disappeared. Today I'm going to go in one last time and remove the two shims, and hope it will still work without them. This is going to be a shelfie, it doesn't have to perform, but I want it to just because it's a challenge. I have a few more recent numbered 60's I can use if I want to fish that reel.

Sid

[Jason Groombridge]

G'day Guys,

Reel is all good now. The only thing I had for shims was some thin HDPE sheet. I punched a single small disc with the leatherwork punch and installed it. Was just about perfect so left it at that. Rell performs well now.

Thankyou all for your help.

I think I will have to get some acetal sheet for these shims and also for undergear washers. What thickness do you guys normally use?

Cheers

Jason

[cbar45]

Hello Jason,

Glad to hear it worked out for you.

Shims of .15mm and .35mm. thickness are the ones I use most.

Undergear washes are usually thicker, but I don't have any on hand to measure.

Perhaps Sal can provide more info regarding those.

Chad

[RowdyW]

I guess my way of shimming the spool on models with right side bushings is to cut the shims to fit inside the bushing to space the tip of the spool to the left. Put a little grease in the bushing & they won't fall out. A lot easier then cutting tiny washers.       RUDY

[cbar45]

I guess my way of shimming the spool on models with right side bushings is to cut the shims to fit inside the bushing to space the tip of the spool to the left. Put a little grease in the bushing & they won't fall out. A lot easier then cutting tiny washers.       RUDY

Yes, that is what was described in my first post above.

Tiny shims (solid discs) are placed inside the bushing to space the spool to the left.

The washers mentioned are the ones that go under the main gear, and which thickeness(es) we are looking for.

Chad

[RowdyW]

That was in answer to the way Sid went to a lot of work to shim the spool.

[cbar45]

That was in answer to the way Sid went to a lot of work to shim the spool.

My mistake, I thought you were referencing one of the other posts.

Chad

[sdlehr]

That was in answer to the way Sid went to a lot of work to shim the spool.

Thanks, Rudy. There is surely plenty of room for improvement the way I did it.