Centering The Spool On A Penn 501

[Ambassadeur 10000]

I just bought a Tiburon frame and spool.  I'm having trouble centering the spool on the reel.  Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

[Bryan Young]

How much off are you?  What kind of problems are you having?

[Ambassadeur 10000]

Its noticeably off.

[Ambassadeur 10000]

Pix. 

[Bryan Young]

Unfortunately, I've never installed one of these narrowing kits, so I'm not absolutely sure.

Are the spool flanges on the right equal to the left?  I've seen some designs of spools where the right side flange has more surface area so that you can thumb the spool instead of the line (it's better, really, in reducing the chances of backlash.

But, from the trouble shooting side, does the left side plate rub against the spool?  Is there a gap between the spool and the right side plate?  Does the pinion gear engage the spool okay?  How about disengage?  Is the spool seated correctly in the right side bearing?  Is the right side bearing seated correctly in the bearing cup?  Hmmm, I cannot think of anything else at 1:00 am.

[Bryan Young]

Oh wait, the Penn has bushings...I gotta think about this one...tomorrow.