ABU/Zebco Cardinal 3 Tutorial

[Midway Tommy]

You'll never get yelled at for activating an old thread, that's what they're here for, to help people through their restoration or service processes.

From your description it sounds like your bail has been bent or twisted out of alignment, but it's hard to tell without photos.

Assuming the bail is bent or twisted as described you can manually realign it by removing the wire from the bail arm and bail plate and checking to make sure that they both turn freely with good spring on their bail screws. Once you know they are not hanging up on anything you can start to adjust the formation of the bail by slightly bending it into alignment so that it lines up perfectly with the bail arm and bail plate in their closed position. Once you get to that point you can reattach the the bail and see if it closes properly. If the bail isn't aligned perfectly it will cause a bind and the bail will hang up while closing. You may have to take it loose multiple times to adjust/tweak it to get line up perfectly.

This can all be done with the rotor attached to the body but I have found that it is much easier and quicker to have the rotor loose and separate from the body. Then you don't have to maneuver around body constrictions. You might want to go back to the early part of the tutorial where the rotor hasn't yet been attached to the body and review some of those steps.

Hope that helps and good luck.

[jgp12000]

Tom,
I always reuse the same e-clips when I service my Cardinals and just was curious if you Happen to know the sizes for the Zebco Cardinal 3 & 4 for the spindle,connecting link,& AR button.I saw a HF set that may include them?

https://www.harborfreight.com/300-piece-e-clip-assortment-67653.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169520316&campaignid=12169520316&utm_content=120871697270&adsetid=120871697270&product=67653&store=706&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2KH1h-C-ggMVoyzUAR1GLA5KEAQYAiABEgL8iPD_BwE

[Midway Tommy]

James, no I don't know the size. A few years ago I bought 100 each of about 10 different sizes from McMaster Carr so I would have just about everything covered for all the different vintage reels I work on. If I need one I just grab the one closest to the size I need.

[nortryder]

Hey Tom,
I did like you suggested. Went back over everything and checked out the bail components for alignment. The spring on the bail plate was knackered and I replaced it. It was actually quite a bugger to get positioned correctly. It took about a half dozen tries to get it seated so it didn't bind up when I tightened the screw. Finally got it and now it works as it should. My pal Donny would be happy. To bad he's not around.
Thanks again.