Penn 555gs

[Brother Leon]

 Bought a used but very very new Penn 555GS.  Upon hooking up to a 6ft blacktip the anti reverse failed, the handle started to spin backwards when pressure was applied to the rod.  But it would then catch and preform fine only to slip again a few more times.  Any ideas on what I need to look for/replace before I tear it down?

[Bill B]

Leon there is no anti reverse bearing on these reels, on anti reverse dog, I would check to ensure the dog was not installed backwards, meaning there is full engagement is the dog to the main gear ratchet. You should check to ensure the main ratchet is not upside down also.  If installed backwards what you are describing will occur, also make sure you have a full strength dog spring......let us know what you find....Bill

[Brother Leon]

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out in the near future.  I'm cleaning a buddies old 209 right now. Gotta work mon-thurs (12hr days) then hopefully heading 4+ days to the beach.  I did find a snippet of info saying the spacer bars were off on some 555's and the flex of the graphite frame make it slip?

[thorhammer]

No issues on mine but they are double dogged with coil spring FYI

[otownjoe]

I had the same issue with mine right out of the box.the problem is the threaded post that holds the dog in place is not long enough. This post is embedded into the graphite frame and there may have been a little bit of play in mine if I remember correctly. I did the repair 15-20 years ago . When you tighter down the screw that holds the dog it creates binding that causes intermittent failure. I remedied the problem by grinding the dog and making it thinner so the washer contacts the post and not the dog. I have used this reel many times since the repair with zero failures. I mostly fish it with locked down drag bottom fishing for snapper.Hope this helps. Joe

[Brother Leon]

I will check it out, thanks joe.  I've never had issues with either of my 545's and the 535 I've had for 10years.  And they have seen some abuse from fish surf/offshore.