Shimano TLD 5 rebuilt with Charter Special main gear

[braz13]

First of all many many thanks to everyone on this forum for the brilliant work.

I had picked up an old TLD 5 a while back to use as a spare real, unfortunately it had very tired gears, I was close to stripping it for spares when I realised that the Charter Special main gear is very similar, turns out the only difference is the shaft diameter.

TLD 5 shaft 7.31mm diameter
Charter shaft 7.93mm diameter

I decided on hand reaming the TLD 5 right hand side plate bearing, easiest option for me as I have limited machine shop access at the moment.
5/16" adjustable hand reamer acquired, I started reaming the bearing opening out the diameter until a perfect fit was attained, using a little oil to help with cutting.




The reel was rebuilt using a new Charter Special main gear (TLD0008) and a new pinion gear (TLD0029), added new bearings throughout, I also added a new carbon fibre drag and a TLD 15 longer handle (TLD0206).



I now have a perfectly serviceable TLD 5 that will last for many years to come, great for a reel that was almost sent to the scrap heap.

[Bryan Young]

Wow.  I presume that the pinion gear in the TLD5 was larger.

[redsetta]

Great work braz.
I have a much-loved 5 which will get this treatment when the time comes.
Cheers!

[Bryan Young]

Interesting...Maybe now there's no tolerances between the gears...perfect fit, like a glove.