500/501 jigmaster

[targetdrone]

Sounds like you scored.  My 501 came with a brass sleeve and main gear.

[Ron Jones]

If your gears are 4:1 and look like stainless thn they are plain steel. These age just as strong as stainless you just need to keep the from rusting. If they are 5:1 and are not brass then they are aftermarket stainless. Either way you made out great with all the other stainless parts. An extra $30.00 or so of parts and a way stronger reel than you bargained for.
Ron

[garking84]

Thanks for the help, looks like I got a great deal  . I paid $45 and it also came with t-bar power handle and Newell bars but I was thinking of removing the bars and upgrading to a Tiburon frame. Does a Tiburon frame make it much  better than having Newell bars?  or is it just a different look

[Bryan Young]

For the drag range you will be fishing, newell bars will be just fine.

[Ron Jones]

If you have a Newell base on there as well you have a truly fantastic reel.
Ron

[garking84]

Thanks guys, 1 more thing I ran into a problem with the 500. When I first got it I noticed that when I would turn the star drag to tighten it or back it off  Its really hard. I figured it was the gear sleeve (98-60) so I changed it to a (10-505). But it's still the same and the washers are greased with cals grease... My 113h,309,9,10 etc don't seem to have this problem any help would be appreciated

[Ron Jones]

If the original gear sleeve was stainless then I would expect the star to be cross threaded. The two sleeve's your talking about have different threads and so the same star definatly will not work on both. Your 309s star will fit the old sleeve so I'd try that, if it is tight then your old sleeve might be cross threaded.

Ron

[garking84]

Sorry I meant to say 98-505at  gear sleeve and 10-505 star drag, i went with the fine thread i heard it was better. And the old gear sleeve was 98-60 with star drag 10-60, i believe both are different threads. But both of them seem to have the same problem. I'm forgetting it only does this when i install the handle with lock nut and screw if i remove the handle its nice and smooth.. I thought it might be the power handle but no luck IV tried different handles 24-66 and i believe 24-155 neither seem to work

[Ron Jones]

Are you saying if you back the drag off as far as you can the star binds with the handle, or is it difficult to turn throughout the entire drag range. I don't see how it could be the latter if you have a brand new sleeve and star.

Ron

[garking84]

Just like you said, it does both when I tighten the star its hard to turn the wheel and when I back it up all the way it binds with the handle and makes it even harder to turn the wheel my fingers actually hurt. I have to hold the handle knob with my left hand for leverage and turn the star drag wheel with my right hand. Also on my other reels when the star is backed up all the way they don't bind with the handles and when I pull the line out of the spool it comes out very smooth. on my 500 I puul the line with the star backed up all the way and its hard to pull the line, it comes of the spool but I got to pull hard

[Ron Jones]

I'm certain something is off in your drag stack but I think I'd have to be their to figure it out. I'm certain their is a guru around that will help.
Ron

[garking84]

ok if you think its the drag stack,ill check that out tomorrow.... i believe the drag stack order is fiber,metal,fiber,eared metal,fiber,and the last metal. is this correct?

[otghoyt]

Your drag stack is correct, as stated.  I am not the 500 guru by any means but I did have this problem, same as yours.  Did you find the answer or have somebody fix it for you?

[garking84]

Wothoyt, no i never did fix it couldn't figure what the problem was. Its funny because i have other jigmasters and they work perfectly fine. What was the problem with yours?

[Surfrat]

garking84, what kind of drag washers do they looked like on your jigmaster? Ht-100 or smoothie or carbontex drag? Check the other gears. Can you post some pictures of the gears taken apart? It is possible there are some parts worned or mis-matched from other jigmasters. I have a franken Surfmaster that had a similar issue when the star was turned.  The issue was resolved by switching the metal washers from another surfmaster. It appears one of the metal washer was from another penn reel but not from a surfmaster.  It was thicker.