Jigmaster upgrade

[Caseymcv]

What do I need to do to my Jigmaster 500 to make it and H ? I want the the higher gear ratio.
Casey

[PacRat]

Just swap in a high speed gear set. Which Jigmaster are you working on?

[Bill B]

The Jigmaster 500 and the Jigmaster 505 are completely different animals.  To make the 500 a high speed will require new side plates, spool, and gears.  Much easier to find a 505 or the narrow 506 then to modify the the 500 or the 501.  Bill

[Swami805]

You can change the gear set. I think pro challenger on here makes them. If you can find a set accurate and Newell made them at one time too

[Caseymcv]

I

The Jigmaster 500 and the Jigmaster 505 are completely different animals.  To make the 500 a high speed will require new side plates, spool, and gears.  Much easier to find a 505 or the narrow 506 then to modify the the 500 or the 501.  Bill

I thought it might be easy to switch out gears but if I need side plates then I might as well get a used HS,
Thanks

[Swami805]

Pro challenger has a really nice set, drops right in. They also have a package, gears, DD bridge, gear sleeve everything   Be cheaper to buy a 505/506 though. Depends on how deep you want to get into

[Squidder Bidder]

Pro challenger has a really nice set, drops right in. They also have a package, gears, DD bridge, gear sleeve everything   Be cheaper to buy a 505/506 though. Depends on how deep you want to get into

The Ship of Theseus problem applied to reel modifications. Where to start? Where to stop?

[Swami805]

Ship of Theseus problem. Yes first thing to pop up in my head too

[jurelometer]

To clarify:

The high speed version of the jigmaster has a slightly larger center distance between the main gear and pinion.  To turn a standard jigmaster into a high speed jigmaster, you have to replace the gears, bridge, sideplate, spool, and probably a few other parts.

You can also buy aftermarket gear sets for the standard jigmaster that have a higher gear ratio.  This does not require additional  parts.

There are some folk here that have swapped gear sets between a standard and high speed jigmaster ( don't remember which way) and were satisfied with the result, but others among us consider this a less optimal solution, as the teeth are not meshing at the designed depth.

If all you want is a high speed jigmaster, the easiest and most economical path is to buy one, and liberate your standard jigmaster.

But ther are tradeoffs in going to the high speed model. In addition to the extra leverage from the higher gear ratio, Penn used smaller gear teeth for the high speed version in order to squeeze in the higher speed gear set.  This means that the gears will shred more easily than the standard jigmaster.

-J

[Gfish]

I bought the Pro Challenger package the Swami mentioned in Post#5. It works great. It now resides in a Cortez Classic plate(s) and Tiburon frame, 501 size. A very strong and fast reel, the red one.the blue one is a Cortez Classic JM 500 kit reel with only 4;1 gears. Hmmm, the one in back looks like my Squidder 146 with Newell bars, rod clamp and spool.
Upgrading is FUN. If your don't have alota $, eBay sometimes has used parts.