Penn 230 GTO Levelwind

[borchcl]

I serviced several GTO reels lately and can't recommend them at all. Clickers are weak, as are handles. Lots of saltwater intusion. I would pass on the Defiance as well, too much plastic for me. An upgraded 320/330 is more substantial. The only positive I can find is the metal drag washers on the GTO reels are thinner than the GTI reels, so if you need to reduce the stack height on GTI or 113 reels there is an option.
Charlie

[Tile]

The GTO series and its replacement, the Defiance series are excellent for freshwater fishing (not recommended for sturgeon fishing). They work good for light saltwater fishing (jetties, short piers, marinas) and I wouldn't recommend them for boat fishing at all. For that there are better alternatives like the GTI, Fathom, and Senator series.

[erikpowell]

Hey gang,
For what it's worth, I just serviced 2 of these reels today from the same customer, both with the common & exact same issue Spes had with
his now (not so dearly)departed GTO. This is not the first time I've seen this with the GTO's either.

These reels had been fished very lightly as they were spotless inside and in like new condition except for some minor pitting on
the one bare spool. Had good freespool too.
The second one had about 40-50yds of 100+lb dacron backing. ( are you kidding me?) This reel had terrible freespool. But again, like new.

Here's what I came across.
There are TWO required Thrust Washers ( key 40C) 1 behind the Lt. bearing, 1 in the Rt. Tension Cap (with rubber washer 40D behind it).
They are not really washers, there is no hole, they are brass spacing discs.
IN BOTH REELS, the left one is noticeably thinner than the right one, !! Yet they share a common part #, Neither shows any wear. They are shiny new.

SWITCH them!!!   put the thicker one in the left side, thinner on the right.

Problem solved !!  Both reels 

I'm chalking this up to Poor quality control. :

Wow, just spooled up a brand new 230GTO last night and about 1/2 way thru it started doing the same exact thing that SPES reported! Amazing that the very first thread that came up when I searched "230 GTO" was this. I took the reel apart this morning without having read any of this and all looks normal. Bought it off e-bay of course, so don't know what PENN can or will do if anything. Was NIB box. Maybe this is a great learning tool!
Wish me luck! 

.... See !
I found poor assembly on both reels... body screws in the wrong spot, 1 drag misconfigured with the eared washer on top, unseated, and bent. Loose stand screws, and an overtightened level wind nut. ( the reel with poor freespool) All the drag washers were dry & seemingly unused. they all just dropped right out of the gear... lucky me 

After I had the reels working properly, I noticed one had the slightest grind when spinning the handle in freespool, like the pinion was bumping something... TIGHTen the bridge screws down hard, it goes away.. back the screws off a hair pie, the bump returns. Torque the screws down again, All set. You gotta suck that bridge down really tight to overcome poor tolerances...IMHO.

Like borchci said, I can't really recommend this reel to anyone, and I think it was Tile who noted this reel was designed more for inshore fishing and freshwater use.

The good thing is the dude will be fishing his reels again soon, and no new parts needed (imagine that  ).
BUT !!!   
I'm only going to let him spool them with 20lb mono !!! 
That's where the GTO's belong.
Cheers,
Erik

[Tile]

100lb Dacron backing is more suited for a 30 or 50 class metal bodied leverdrag reel not a freshwater reel like a GTO. Luckily my 220 came with no assembly problems at all.