Penn 115l 9/0 SS Upgrades - What I learned

[gregquiz]

I just recently upgraded 5 Penn 9/0's, and in doing so learned quite a bit, so I figured I would pass along that information via this site.  I'll try to go into as much detail as possible, so that those that decide to go down this path will hopefully not suffer some of the frustrations that I went through.

All 5 reels were 115l models, made in USA.  The upgrades that I did were as follows:  SS Gear Sleeves (I think I got them from FISH in Largo FL- I installed them about 10 years ago), SS Dogs (Keta), SS Gears (PRO Challenger), Drag Insert (Three Se7ens), SS Yokes (Dawn @ SmoothDrag), and finally an Aluminum Frame from Cortez Conversions.  At this point you maybe asking why no handle upgrade, well these won't be using handles.  I have them mated to Precision Electric High Torque Motors - more on this later.

Installation of the frame, gear sleeve, and dog are very straightforward and simple.

Where things get interesting are when the SS Yoke is installed.  What I figured out (with some much needed help from Daron aka Shark Hunter), is that the SS Yoke doesn't want to slide on the OEM brass Eccentric Jack.  When you assemble the right side plate, the reel won't go into free spool.  Solution - Sand & Polish.  I started on the "ears" of the eccentric jack with medium emery cloth, then fine emery cloth, finishing with 600 grit sand paper trying to make the surface as smooth as possible.  I did the same with the SS Yoke.  I found it easier to put the sand paper on a block of wood, and work the yoke back and forth.  I also wrapped the sand paper around a metal rod, and polished the area of the yoke that slides on the jack at an angle, trying to make a ramp in an effort to make it slide easier.  Once i did this, the reels go in and out of freespool with no binding.  This should go without saying, but be sure to grease the parts as well before re-assembling.  I can't tell you how many times I assembled the right side plate only to find it still wouldn't go into freespool - talk about frustrating.

This leads us to the gears and the drag insert.  I have to say that the both the gears from Pro Challenger, and the drag insert are works of art.  The problem that I encountered is the drag insert doesn't fit inside the SS Main gear.  Blasphemy you say.  I did 5 reels, and all 5 inserts wouldn't fit in the SS gears.  They fit inside the stock gears nicely, however they won't go in the SS gears.  After careful consideration, I got out the dremel with a grinding bit, and starting taking material off the drag insert little by little.  This was a time consuming process.  You have to be especially careful with the ears, I used sand paper - not the dremel, when working on them.  Eventually the insert will go in with a little convincing.

I would say that it took about 1.5 hours per reel to get everything installed in a working manner.  I definitely took my time with the insert, not wanting to remove too much material. 

I use these reels for grouper and snapper in water deeper than 175', with 100 Momoi Diamond main line.  I haven't measured the drag, but I would guess that with these upgrades I'm using pretty close to 30# of drag.  I don't feel comfortable pushing the reels much past that, I think that eventually something is going to break, and it's likely going to be an OEM part that gives.

On the first trip out after the upgrades, we had one reel that detonated on a very large grouper.  At least we thought it was the reel.  What I found out the next day was the dowel pin on the drive shaft that runs from the gear sleeve to the Precision motor had sheared off.  When I called Dave at Precision, he told me that they had recently changed the dowel pin from an 18-8 SS to 316 SS, in order to prevent this from happening.  I think that the old dowel pins would rust to the point where they became weak enough to break if you put a lot of pressure on them.  I have since switched out the old dowel pins to the new ones.  The dowel pin that broke was over 10 years old, and looked pretty cruddy.  Dave also has longer screws to attach the bracket to the reel frame.  If you're not familiar with Precisions, I would highly recommend them, they are absolute workhorses.

I hope this helps and best of luck to those who want to upgrade their reel to a pretty bullet proof reel for those deep water monsters.

GQ

[Shark Hunter]

Great Work GQ.
Custom parts need a little tuning and are well worth the effort.
Those 9/0's you have are some powerful reels in a small package, compared to the bigger Senators.
Sal tested the insert when they first came out and got 70lbs on a straight pull.

[Tightlines667]

Good work on the reels!

& thanks for sharing your experience.  Others may find this helpful.  I am currently fishing all fully hot-rodded 'AT-special Senators' (2-14/0s,3-12/0s, 2-9/0s, 2-6/0s..1 HLW, 1 Narrow, 1-4/0, 2-JM500, and a Newell).  I found that using a brass wheel on my benchtop grinder, and a hand file was the quickest way of polishing/fitting the inserts, and other SS parts.  So far I have caught 120lbs of bottomfish, 6 Wahoo over 20lbs, 3 Tuna over 150lbs, 4 Dolphinfish, and 4 Skipjack Tuna, and I fought 2 150-250lb Blue Marlin on these rigs.  I noticed the drags are silky smooth at drag settings in the 22-35lb range, and heat buildup has not been a major concern.  The downside to the increased drag range, is that the ramp up is much steeper, and I need to pay close attention to where the star is physically located when set.  Minor adjustments or bumping the star during a fight, can have a huge impact on what the drag is set at.  I put surgical tubing on a single spoke of the stars on my large reels, and use nail polish to mark where the star should be located for my desired drag setting.  I also have had some trouble with the star backing off easily on one of the 12/0s with a SS sleeve.  I messed around with the spring washer config, and improved it slightly, but I still need to pay attention to it.  Overall, I think they are great upgrades, but be aware that increase g the drag range of star drags, results in a much steeper drag curve.  I favor a more linear curve, with precise adjustment available when catching large Pelagics.  I will likely upgrade to 130 class lever drags in the future.

Don't mean to threadjack here. 

Good work on the 9/0s.  These are my favorite size reel for standup, since they are lightweight, and sized right to handle the rod/reel one handed on a drop or move.

John

[Three se7ens]

Good work, those reels sound perfectly suited for what you are doing with them. 

The fitment issue with my inserts in the Pro Challenger gears has been well documented here.  The bore on the gears is a few thousandths smaller than the Penn brass gears, which is what I fit my inserts to.  You did exactly what I recommend though, by sanding/filing the insert to fit into the gear. 

The dowel pin on the drive shaft is likely intended to be soft, so that it will shear before anything else gets damaged.  That would explain their use of low strength materials for the pin.  18-8 stainless is basically 304, which is prone to corrosion from salt and chlorine.  316 stainless is far more resistant to salt and chlorine corrosion, but both are very similar in strength.  Considering all of that, Id buy some extra pins to keep on your boat with you when using the reels.  With your additions, the reels are capable of fishing well over what they were originally designed for.  You could potentially be running this setup near, at, or above the design load of the dowel pin.  By keeping spares on the boat, you wont be down a reel if you push one a little too hard and you shear another pin. 

John, if your ramp-up is very steep, you are probably using these past where the spring washer is bottoming out, so the star is acting directly on the stack.  You can alleviate this by changing to stiffer springs and/or more travel before the springs bottom out. 

[Swami805]

I've got a beater 9/0 I've been accumulating parts for. Thanks for posting, I'm sure it will save me some heartache down the road.

[King rigger]

      What a beast! This evening (if im motivated ) going to put the silver Cortez frame and ' Cal-greased'  five-stack of Carbontex' in. Will Be very happy with 30-35# of drag.Its an 89 or 90 model 115L,with aluminum spool,Dont want to 'torque it out' will be using a 50/80 mono or straight 60 mono setup.If I get spanked will do what you did and make it a monster!   Have a great weekend,theres cold ones to be bought!