Full servicing/cleaning/rebuild of my 9/0

biggiesmalls · November 28, 2016, 01:25:21 PM

Greetings!

My name is Drew, and I am currently working on my 9/0 senator. I purchased it used on eBay (with a full roller rod) in July, and I have used it twice so far (without catching anything, albeit) for land based shark fishing and it works good, but not great. So, I am going to be working on it over the next few weeks to make this thing look and work better than new.

I took apart the entire reel last night. All of the internals appear to be pretty well, nothing on the inside is rusted or corroded - I'm no expert, but I do know that's good. The drag washers are the stock ones, I plan on doing a carbon fiber upgrade (as well as on my other three conventional reels). Other than that, I think I'm going to try and remove the rust/corrosion from the hardware parts of it, if it doesn't work I will just buy all new ones from Scott's Bait and Tackle online. One of the screws that holds the little back harness in place (that the wing nut goes on) is bent, so I will probably replace that one - sounds like a lot of work to bend it, that's not necessary. If I replace it, then for aesthetics I will probably replace all external metal pieces with newer ones.

So I came here for a little bit of help. I would like some reassurance along the way, just to make sure I'm doing everything right. I would also like some recommendations - other than carbon fiber drag washers, are there any other good upgrades that would be worth my time, or no? After all that's done I am going to grease everything up again as well.

Thank you all for your help

Shark Hunter · November 28, 2016, 02:22:44 PM

Welcome Drew,
Look through the senator section for upgrading tips. You can sink a lot of money into one of these.
I would say the best two upgrades for this reel is a power handle and a stainless sleeve.
Black Pearl gears and an insert are the next level, but will hit you in the pocket pretty hard.
You can always stick with stock steel gears and upgrade to an insert. This is all up to you.
There were one piece aluminum frames available here at one time.
With the extra power of the insert kit. A frame would be a wise choice.
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=17168.0

Saaben · November 28, 2016, 04:56:43 PM

Hey Drew,

I got a little carried away with mine and ran into some serious issues getting mine back together. Everyone on the board was great and helped tremendously. My only advice would be not to put too much grease on the washers when putting them back in. I ended up sending mine to Bryan (one of the admins) and he got me straightened out. I will tackle another but plan on waiting a little bit. Best of luck.

Dominick · November 28, 2016, 05:32:52 PM

Also one of Bryan's drag kits. Dominick

alantani · November 28, 2016, 05:37:59 PM

welcome!!!!

thorhammer · November 28, 2016, 05:39:37 PM

Welcome Drew! You put yourself in good hands above; you'll be building that in your sleep before Christmas!

John

RowdyW · November 28, 2016, 07:10:35 PM

Hi Drew, first you have to get together the basic material & tools to do the job starting with a good marine grease for lubrication & protection of metal parts. You can get the Penn blue grease & Cal's drag grease from SB&T when you order your parts. You will need Drag Grease such as Cal's. Just ask the members of the family here for all the help you need. Rudy

Bill B · November 29, 2016, 12:48:55 AM

WooooHoooo....we got another to turn to the Darkside

....Welcome Drew.....Bill

biggiesmalls · November 29, 2016, 12:59:32 AM

Wow, thanks for all the helpful replies! Here are my initial responses, going down the line.

Shark Hunter: What exactly makes it a "power handle" versus the handle that's already on there? Is it lighter than a stock handle, more powerful, or something different? I will look into the gears you're talking about, thanks for the recommendation. As for the Black Pearls, I'm not sure how much money we're talking (since I haven't checked them out yet) but the X-Mas season is coming up! What's the difference between the gear sleeves, the black pearl gears/insert combo, and the stock gears/insert combo? Those frames are pretty nice, but what's the purpose of upgrading it? I don't have the one-piece frame in mine, it's got the support bars between the side panels. I'm seeing prices around $100-$120 for an aluminum frame - does this sound about right, or is there somewhere to find one cheaper? And what benefit do I gain from having one? Thanks for your reply!

Saaben: Good to hear, thanks for the warning. And thanks for the advice - can't wait to get this thing rolling, and I'm sure everyone on here will be a tremendous help!

Dominick: Where would I find one of Bryan's drag kits? One thing I am focused on is getting this thing into an absolute beast - upgrading the drag is a priority of mine.

alantani: Thank you for the warm welcome! I cannot wait to become an active member of your wonderful site

thorhammer: That's great to hear, I look forward to working with everyone here

RowdyW: I have a buddy in Long Island (I am in North Carolina) who's got some stuff he's going to send me, I believe it's Penn Blue Grease. Not sure he's got anything for the drag or not, if he doesn't I will happily purchase some.

TARFU: Lol yep, do you mean reel repair, Penn Senator owners, shark fishing, or all of the above

?

Once this is done, I m also going to (hopefully) re-do the rod. It's pretty ugly looking right now - an old Shakespeare stand up rod, full rollers (I like that part), blue foam grips, cream body, and purple and orange accents. I am looking into re-doing the guides since they're corroding and two are bent, and painting the rod a solid black color with silver accents. Black reel with silver accents, black rod with silver accents, only one thing left to decide on - the line. Since I'm using it for LBSF I am going to have 400 yards of 130 pound hollow core braid and then 400 yards of 80 pound mono, but I need to decide on a color. Any suggestions that would look nice? Thinking either clear mono and white braid, clear mono and blue braid, or blue mono and blue braid.

Will post some specs on the rod in a minute, I'm not near it at the moment.

Shark Hunter · November 29, 2016, 01:31:50 AM

Drew,
Let me slow down a little. The power handle I speak of is a solid stainless arm attached to a 5/0 Grip.
When you grab it, it feels like it was made for your hand.
The purpose of a solid frame is to prevent the post frame from twisting under the extra drag provided from an insert kit.
Fully tanked out, this reel will cost $400 in just parts. That is not including the donor reel.
I suggest you get into this reel slowly.
I don't want you to spend a bunch of money until you are more familiar with hot rodding. It takes Time, Money, Patience and Experience.
I suggest with just starting with a drag upgrade from Bryan or Scott's bait and tackle.
That will push the reel in the 20lb drag range with just that single item.
This might be the only upgrade you need. It is all a personal preference.
Then when you get more comfortable, step up to a power handle, then maybe a sleeve. Take little steps.
If you need anything, just drop me a PM.
Daron

biggiesmalls · November 29, 2016, 02:13:03 AM

Sounds great Daron, thanks for the advice. I was originally going to just go with a heavy cleaning, drag upgrade, servicing, and new external metal parts (strictly for aesthetics). I didn't even know there were this many add-ons - I've got the entire thing disassembled in my "workshop" at the moment, I want to get a feel for this thing inside and out before I do anything to it. After that, I'll get a drag upgrade, put it back together, and hopefully fish with it. Eventually I'll add new gears, handle, frame, etc if I decide it's worth the extra cash. I've got a little over $100 put aside for the project now, so that should get me at the very least hardware and drag upgrades - plus some work on my rod.

thorhammer · November 29, 2016, 02:42:08 AM

check pm; lets see the rod

Dominick · November 29, 2016, 03:43:19 AM

Drew, you may as well get used to the site. I apologize for saying off hand to get something from Bryan when you are new to the site. Start on the home page. Scroll down until you see "Ultimate Upgrades by Bryon Young. Look to see what you need. Send him a PM and let him know what you need. Easy peasey. Dominick

Three se7ens · November 29, 2016, 04:02:23 AM

I still have a handful of the insert drag kits available. They will fit either stock penn gears, or stock fitment Black Pearl gears. I also offer a couple of different designs of all stainless power handles. The handle arm in Daron's picture is one of mine, and the knob is from Alan Tani.

biggiesmalls · November 30, 2016, 12:02:05 AM

Thank you to everyone for the help. The plan is to go with carbon fiber drags first and foremost, whether they're from Bryan or someone else. Can anyone recommend a way to get the most drag I can out of the reel (and still be feasible to use, obviously). Should I grease the drag washers or run them dry? Is there a drag system that works better than Bryan's?

I am looking into a new handle, and eventually will get new gears in it. I'm determining what screws/metal parts I need for it right now so I can get those ordered

Thanks again to everyone for your help. Eventually, I would like to purchase one of every size senator (1/0 through 16/0, it skips a few like 5/0, 7/0, 8/0, 11/0, 13/0, and 15/0 I believe) and find time and money to rebuild them, plus rebuild an old rod for each of them. Some day, some day