First Dam Quick strip down a 550

[milne]

Hi all,
        I've had this 550 I purchased before our Sea change north..
  My reels are still boxed up, haven't set up the workshop yet, but the 550 wasn't packed away, so Yep, Lets give this a go.
I was quite impressed on how this reel is made, as per many other posts I read about there simplistic, but great design and quality of there build.
I still have to disassemble the handle arrangement, there looks like a pin to drive out, but basically everything is stripped down.
My Question is the main bearing, it very much looks like water has got in, with a fair amount of rust, in fact it doesn't really feel as if there's any grease remaining in the bearing itself. It is a bit rumbly, but not to much sloppy play, Is it better to completely remove the bearing from the shaft ? or a would a soaking overnight and then a re pack of grease be enough ??  Looks like it's a shielded bearing, can you actually re pack these ?

Col

Sorry for the blurry photo..

[Wompus Cat]

Simple. If you want it to work flawlessly and not feel like there is sand in the Spriggenwerks then Replace the Bearing . Short of disassembly of the cage and removal of the Balls and Races then microscopically cleaning and polishing ever caveat of those parts then reassembly most likely it will still have a nick somwhere that will in use in time rotate back to haunt you (see Gritty Sand Grinding Feel) in future .
5 or 6 bux well worth it .You wont regret it .

[Donnyboat]

Hi Col, it is possible that you could drive a pointy rod through the shield, & lever the shield out, then, soak it in acatone  auto transmission oil 50?50 for a few days then cleen it with brake cleener, fluid, relube it & see how it feels, but really if your going to fish with it, then a new bearing would be best, possibly AU$12:00, also you can convert the 550 reel to left hand wind if you want, Fred would put you on the right coarse there, by the way some blokes through them shield over there shoulder, shimano are making reels with know shield now days, good luck, cheers Don.

[foakes]

Hi Col —-

Replace the bearing —- it will never be right if you don't.

These bearings on DQ's are as tough as they come. 

However, any time a 270, 550, 550N, 5000, or 5001 come across the bench, when used in salt water —- it gets a new bearing.

With the smaller reels in the DQ line —- the bearings are easy to restore.  After popping off the shields —- soak in lacquer thinner or lighter fluid for a few hours if you don't have a Ultrasonic cleaner.

Rinse with fresh water.  Allow to dry for maybe 15 minutes.  (Do not use compressed air to spin the bearing when dry.  More microscopic damage will occur to the balls and races —- than in 40 years of fishing.

Drop the bearing in a small jar of synthetic oil for 10 minutes.  Then pack it with grease.

On the new bearing —- just remove the shields and pack it with grease such as Penn Blue, Yamaha Marine, or Cal's purple.

Toss the shields in the trash.

Check if there is anything else you need (cosmetic or functional) for this 550 —- and I would send it to you along with a new bearing.  Bail spring, any pitted parts, boogered screws, actually any part on the reel —- just let me know. 

N/C.

Glad to help —- don't be shy —- got plenty of parts just waiting for folks.

Here is a photo of the high-tech equipment and method necessary to remove the bearing from the worm drive shaft.  Takes about 2 seconds

Best, Fred

[milne]

Hi All,
       Thankyou for the comments, Yes, it's time to throw a new bearing in the old girl !!!!.
   In all honesty, that was one of the most interesting strip downs I have done, just seeing how it was made and put together, after doing countless Penn conventionals, it was very enjoyable.
 Fred, I went down to look amongst my tools, pretty confident I could adapt one of my many pullers to remove that Bearing,, But your method is what I will do, Thankyou for sharing that.
 I still have to remove the handle itself with that split pin type arrangement and a couple of other wee jobs and remove that bearing, then I will put everything in the ultrasonic machine and clean everything up. Once I've done that and inspected all the parts, I will take you up on that offer Fred, on any parts that need replacing, thankyou Sir.
 It did look as though someone was throwing new grease into her every so often to keep fishing it, but that water ingress was very evident throughout some of the parts as I stripped it down..

Col
 

[Gfish]

I save the shields, if not punctured. They make a nice thin steel thrust washer for some applications.