Leveline 350 rebuild

[Lingwendil]

Sourcing one of these has been on my list for a while, thanks mostly in part to my watching some videos from a lovely Youtuber's channel- "Fish your way"-



Great channel, the guy clearly enjoys himself, and gives a lot of use to the older reels. His channel is what got me interested in vintage reels


So, I kept my eye out for a nice old Leveline 350, among others. Did some research, and finally picked one up. It's in fairly good shape, and will hopefully clean up well. It came with a 112 power handle installed, and a heavy chromed spool. I plan to swap the spool out for aluminum or plastic. As it came in the freespool lever was very tough to operate, and had no "snap" to it, you had to shove it either way. The level bar worked well, and seemed to not have any issues. The handle wobbled a little bit...


Here's the link to the album just in case pictures disappear-
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1lRuOiiyb-tH8Pack7kIgzhsKSK5JjVJI



Shares a lot of the same parts as similarly sized Penn reels, such as the 209 and 210 (and Mag 10, and 9, etc) and most of the internals use the same 155 gear and bridge assembly. Schematic available here- https://www.mysticparts.com/Assets/images/pennparts/schematics/350m.pdf (*Edit: Mo fixed the link to the schematic to the new site)

Here it is as it came. Doesn't look too bad.













The bushing for the clicker side of the levelling bar is unique to the 350 reel. Don't lose it!








Some very thick, tar-like grease in everything... This is the clicker end of the level bar.


This is the handle side of the bar.




Gear sleeve is partially rounded off, and the handle bolt was barely tight.








The spring for one of the oil ports was partially out of the back of the bolt! That's a first.


The eccentric was very gunked up, and the screw did not want to come out!






Looks mostly like standard Penn so far in here- Just lots of dense, waxy grease...


Here you can see the eccentric drive for the levelling bar ratchet drive. Pretty interesting way to do it!






The drag stack had seen much better days, and basically fell apart as I removed everything, and one drag was missing entirely. The fiber washer was deeply grooved.




Some actual verdigris on the bridge, but the post for the gear sleeve looks good.



So, I took all the small bits and threw them in a jar of PB Blaster to soak. The larger parts were washed with hot soapy water, and given a vinegar bath to clean up mild corrosion. Ordered a reel clamp and drags from Alan who also threw in a gear sleeve, and a member is sending me a gear sleeve and a couple other small parts as well. I may also have a plastic spool on the way. Hopefully I can start on the reassembly soon, maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Continued soon!

[mo65]

   Love that 112H handle on the 350...perfect pairing. With a new gear sleeve and fresh drags you'll be rockin' and rollin'. If you happen to lose any of the levelwind springs(they just love to fly) you can fashion new ones from a cigarette lighter spring. Good luck on your project!

[foakes]

Good job!

Thanks for sharing.

It is evident to see the robustness of the levelwind mechanism parts.

Best, Fred

[Brandon G]

Nice! I am about to pick one up that has some corrosion on the frame posts but other than that LOOKS to be in decent condition. Comes with a box that is nearly mint, just a tiny bit of wear.

Yours is definitely cleaner on the chrome though.

If you end up needing any parts, and mine turns out to be not as good as I am hoping, I can send you anything ya need off of it.

The drag washers falling apart.... same thing happened to my 109LH when I tried lifting them out of the gear. Luckily they have the same as the 209s.

[Lingwendil]

Thanks to member cmdrzog, a beautiful care package came in today, a bunch of useful parts, and a nice new aluminum spool!!! I am incredibly humbled by the generosity of this community. I'll definitely be able to use these in this rebuild!

I'm off to the pier with my son, but will likely work on the reel tonight after he's in bed.

[Brandon G]

Thanks to member cmdrzog, a beautiful care package came in today, a bunch of useful parts, and a nice new aluminum spool!!! I am incredibly humbled by the generosity of this community. I'll definitely be able to use these in this rebuild!

I'm off to the pier with my son, but will likely work on the reel tonight after he's in bed.

Good luck!

Here is what I was able to grab today, there is more, but these fit the thread.
At the shop, there were 5-6 109s in GREAT shape, like nearly MINT. They were running $25 and below, just mentioning those because of your signature. If you needed any, I could probably get one for you and send it over to you... act as the middle man. haha

Quick question about your leveline bushing... Was is a B word to get off? Mine wont budge on either of them. I'll probably loosen the other side first and retry, but just curious.

[Swami805]

I have one somewhere and the levelline bar isn't working. Might be a good project for tonight. Thanks for the inspiration?  Idle hands are the devils workshop

[Lingwendil]

Quick question about your leveline bushing... Was is a B word to get off? Mine wont budge on either of them. I'll probably loosen the other side first and retry, but just curious.

Yeah, it was pretty darn tight! It came off but it was tough.

[Lingwendil]

Alright, lets continue this. As always, add oil to all threads as you install bushings, screws, etc.

I got all the parts out of the bath and wiped them dry, cleaning out any left behind gunk as I went. Other than the gear teeth there was very little mess to go over.




I got a some extra parts so I grabbed the gear sleeve with the least vertical play for a nice fit.


I also used the steel drag washers from the parts set, along with the nice clean steel main gear that was already in the reel. New HT-100 drag washers from Alan!




Simple on this side plate.


Bushings just barely threaded in for now.


I went ahead and started installing the reel stand, posts, etc now.






















Proper orientation of the levelling bar ratchet system. Make sure that the teeth of the gera face the correct way- it's pretty self explanatory. Make sure the large spring is on the larger ratchet arm. The smaller spring is the same size as the one that drives the anti-reverse dog.








Goes together much less fussy than a 209 type levelwind assembly!









Finished reel.


To be perfectly honest- I don't like this handle at all! The lack of counterweight makes it feel kind of gross  


Thankfully, I have an extra jiggy sized handle from Xjchad, that fits and feels much better.







There you go! It's a very smooth, rather handsome reel now! Freespool lever engages nicely, very nice spool spin, and nice loud clicker. My only current complaint is that I can't back the drag off as much as I would like. I think I need to file down the spacer bushing a smidge to get a bit more range now that the drag stack is a bit thicker than the originals.

I'll be picking up a roll of Trilene Big Game 25# Solar Collector tonight and spooling it up hopefully. It's currently sitting on a 10' Ol' Whiskers catfish rod and I hope to test it out soon.

[Donnyboat]

Great tare down & tutorial, nice clear pics, that should help many fisho` in the future, thanks for taking me along,cheers Don.

[xjchad]

Turned out beautiful Anthony!  Great work!!

[Gfish]

I like mine. Good lightweight trollin reel. Like to improve the drag system, though. A skipjack had me thumbing the spool while it was in gear once, just to get 'em in.