My first real reel mod (Newell YTS)

[enfish]

I've been servicing my own reels for quite a while, but my mods have been limited to upgrading drags and changing out handles. Reading all the great posts on this site has made me want to do something a little more.

One of the reels missing from my arsenal has been the narrow 4/0 for yo-yoing. I've been looking for a Baja Special, but figured out I could probably put together a Yellowtail Special for about half the price. So I've been searching the web for a few months looking for the perfect donor reel, or the perfect parts to go to work on one of my existing 113's. (of course if a Baja popped up at the right price, I'd got hat route) But, alas, a few weeks ago, I picked up a narrowed 113H with the Newell kit for real cheap. The reel looked in cherry condition when it arrived, so I was quite happy. Of course, the first thing I want to do when I get something new is take it apart... this one especially since I wanted to see what was under the hood.

What I found was a very clean reel on the inside. In fact, a little too clean... not a drop of grease anywhere, but no corrosion, just the typical discoloration of the brass parts. It had stock 3:25:1 gears, and a brand new 5-stack drag with green Super Smoothies (those were so 1990's... will have to update those to some greased carbon fiber). After assessing everything, it was time to put it back together, that's when the fun began...

I noticed when I took it apart upon arrival, at lot of the frame screws were not tight. When I put it back together and tightened down the screws, the spool was binding, both in free spool and in gear... argh, now I see why the previous owner dumped this reel for cheap, but I was going to figure this out.

A quick assessment showed that if I backed off the left side bearing cap, the spool would spin forever if I laid the reel left side down or right side down, but would bind when horizontal or when the bearing cap was set so there was side-to-side slop. I also discovered that when turning the handle, it would bind 3 times per handle rotation... ok, the binding matches the gear ratio... it's definitely the spool binding on something. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the spool was just scraping the chrome ring on the left side plate. Time to pull the reel back apart and bust out the Dremel. This turned out to be a fairly easy fix... a few spins with the sanding drum to remove the chrome on the inside of the ring and remove the anodizing on the edge of the spool and it was now freespooling like a champ. The cosmetics on the spool were cleaned up with a black Sharpie and a thin layer of grease, but the meat I took off is hidden by the chrome ring anyway.

Now that the reel was functioning in top form, I was happy.  But, I really wanted this to be a true Yellowtail Special... time to find myself a set of 4:1 gears. It just so happened that Gary (gstours) posted up a set of Pro Gear brass 4:1 gears for sale on this board. I thought the price was fair, so after a quick PM and PayPal transaction, the gears were on their way. Thanks again, Gary!

Not only did the gears arrive in the mail quickly, but Gary threw in a set of HT100's and metal drag washers. Perfect! One less thing I need to buy.

Being that this was my first time doing a mod like this, it never dawned on me that the bigger gear wouldn't fit into the side plate. Ok, deep breath... time to mod the bakelite. Get the Dremel out again and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily this stuff machines. A few circles around the side plate with the Dremel... test fit... a few more circles.. getting closer... oh crud, I'm starting to break through the side plate down towards to bottom... ok, just a small hole that mostly gets covered up by the chrome ring... nothing a little JB Weld can't fix. A piece of tape on the outside, and fill it from the inside, smoothing it out thin. A little touch-up with the Dremel after it cured, and the gear fits.

(you can see my JB Weld job in this photo... not the prettiest on the inside, but can't tell from the outside)



Next, I discover the pinion gear won't engage with the spool shaft. I try it on my other Penn spools and it fits fine, but won't engage in gear with the Newell spool. See how the pinion gear is sitting up in the photo:



Ok now what?

My calipers were at my office, 25 miles away, so measuring these parts was going to be difficult. I'm impatient and wanted this figured out now, so time for plan B. I was able to pry off the stainless ring on the pinion and discovered the gear would engage without the ring... so my problem is the ring is too small diameter, or the spool shaft shoulder (or whatever you call the part of the spool shaft that mates with the pinion when in gear) is too large. Easiest thing to do is to grind off the shoulder to make it a little bit narrower.  Kind of hard to see in the photo, but I just took a tiny bit off the outside edge of the shoulder.



I pressed and peened the ring back on the pinion gear and test fit. Ahh, much better.



Now it was just a matter of putting the reel back together... something I've done too many times to count with my other 113's. The HT100's got lathered up with Cal's and installed. I'm happy with the finished product.



The reel came with a full spool of unknown brand white braid, which I'm guessing is 100 or 130 lb. that got stripped off and the spool was filled with straight 40 lb mono. This is going to be my yo-yo reel for those Coronado Island yellowtail. The drag is buttery smooth and maxes out at 18 lbs when locked all the way down. I happy with that since it's more than I will use with 40 lb mono, and probably par for the course with greased HT100's and 4:1 gears.






It's not the most exciting mod, but it was fun. A bit more work than I expected, but nothing too complicated. Now that I have this one under my belt, I need to decide what to do to it next... do I double-dog it? Bling it out with some Cortez Conversion side plates and Tiburon topless frame? Many possibilities... but maybe I need to fish it first!

[Cor]

Pictures are not showing, only "no entry" signs. 

[enfish]

Fixed, I hope...! :-)

[gstours]

Glad you stuck with it Eric;  Thanks for sharing the pictures and story with us all too! We all learn from these posts I think.  Like I never thaught that the 4-1 gear wouldn,t fit?   What the hec?    I have dremeled on my jigmasters to retrofit my hex drags and they work ok.   Just keep stuff and show us a picture of a fish someday!  Glad you are using my old gears too!
   It seems like the Progear YTS has waay more room inside the first one that I built.   Thats why?   Also I could use a thicker drag stack on mine with the delrin under and over.    Thanks again.   

[thorhammer]

Nice work. Next move, handle grip from Alan, and a SS or Ti blade. I put Alan's 5/0's and blades on all my 113H conversions and 30 International's (except for the two Lou knobs in blue