My Penn 113 Mods

[seaeagle2]

I should start by blaming AKfish for all this. All I wanted was another reel for halibut fishing.  I've been using 320GTi's which have held up so far, so I contacted him about getting a 320, and told him what I was going to use it for.  He was able to make me see the error of my ways and I got a really nice 113H from him.  Before I bought it, I did some searching, and stumbled onto this website (actually I reminded my self it existed, I used it a few years ago to replace the drags in some old Penn 65's and 285's I had).  I realized there was some really cool stuff I could do to the reels.  After I got my reel from AKfish, I realized they are heavier than a 320 (Duh). So I started looking on ebay for a deal on a 113HL, plus I got a JVariance narrow spool and frame kit. 

the kit comes nicely packaged

I took the 113HL apart, and did the ht100 washer under the gear mod.

The discription on ebay said it needed some tlc, but since I wasn't using the frame it didn't really matter, the inside looked okay. So I used the sides from that reel with the JHariance frame and narrow spool. 
I took the aluminum spool from the 113HL and installed in on the 113H I got from AKfish.


I used Mercury Quicksilver marine grease with teflon (looks like Cal's), on the bearings with one of Alan's bearing packers. I used the quicksilver because I already had a mini gun with a tube in it from working on my outboards. 
I was curious, so I weighed the reels before and after on my digital A/C charging scale from work.  Before: 113H with cast spool 2.12 lb, 113HL 1.82 lb.  After JVariance kit 1.82.  113H with aluminum spool 1.74 lbs.  I used gloves for most of the work except the dog spring, and I put a blob of grease to hold the spring in.  I work on gas furnaces, A/C and fireplaces and standby generators, and having to figure out how take stuff apart and get it back together without a manual in the field is just part of my job, so being able to have the schematic and then be able to pull up the step by step tutorials is awesome.

[Bryan Young]

Good job...so what's next on your reeeeel agenda?

[wallacewt]

lookin sweet seaeagle,but the handles got to go
dont worry about the expense,
give the canary another seed

[redsetta]

Good call, Wallace - was thinkin' the same thing... 

[seaeagle2]

I haven't really seen much on handles, what kind are you suggesting ?

[redsetta]

Here ya go, seaeagle:
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=156.0
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=158.0
All the best, Justin

[wallacewt]

alan,reelspeed,smoothdrag have all got nice handles.