Langley Spinflo 820GC

[Midway Tommy]

OK, thanks for making me service a reel that's been sitting in a tote for 15 years.    I opened it up & took it apart so I figured I as long as I had it that far I might as well clean it up completely. 

The 822 doesn't have that dawg fly spring like the 850. The A/R works by centrifugal force and the activator stud at the bottom of the front side of the body. If you post a photo of the front of the body you can see activator bump out. You will need to make a tab/flap and install it in the front groove in the side of the brass dawg. If you have a magnifying glass or jewelers loop you will be able to see where it goes. That's where I used a piece of inner tube. It has to be sized such that it doesn't bind and passes the activator easily when cranking forward but catches the activator and throws the dawg out when reeled in reverse. Some guys, like Paul Roberts, removed that tab because they didn't like not having the option to back reel, but on most of those old Langleys and Zebcos the tab has disintegrated long ago.       

Thanks again, John!    Once I started on that 822 I figured that I might as well service all the Langley made spinning reels I had stored away that had never been serviced or restored while the process was fresh in my mind. I had a little mishap while working on my mother's house on Columbus Day. A step ladder tipped over, I hit the concrete hard and broke three ribs so I was laid up for awhile and told no driving for six weeks so I serviced all these reels, sixteen to be exact. All of them but one have that dawg & tab anti-reverse mechanism, and all of them required a new tab/flap.

Here's a photo of them all together after they had been serviced.

Top row from the left: Spinette DeLuxe 850, Spinlite Deluxe 850 For Field Testing, Spinlite Special 852B, Spinlite Deluxe 850B, Spinlite Deluxe 850, Abercrombie and Fitch 150-Three
Middle Row from the left: Spinflo 820, Spinflo 822G, Spinflo 822H, Spinflo 822H, Spinflo 822GB, Spinflo 822GC
Bottom row from the left: Imperial Model 711, Spinlite R810, Spin Deluxe 830, Abercrombie and Fitch Yellowstone

One of the reels is a really interesting and unique sleeper and I'll do an in depth reassembly discussion/tutorial on it in a day or so. Here's the link to that discussion & tutorial: https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,37805.0.html All the rest of the reels were basically the same design and similar to your 820GC, although some had a nylon main gear and metal pinion gear. The reels without the main shaft extension support at the rear of the body are early models. That rear main shaft support came a little later in 1956.   

 

[Brewcrafter]

Bummer about the ribs, I will take that as a cautionary tale for when I am hanging lights later today.  Hope you are fully mended soon.
That lineup is impressive, it is amazing that for such a relatively short run timewise that they produced so many uniquely different models. - john

[Gfish]

Wow!, nice guys. Innertube rubber is good stuff to have around.

[Midway Tommy]

50 years doing construction and I've always hated step ladders and alwaysthought they were dangerous! I tried to avoid them as much as I could, but I clearly didn't this time. 

Langley made quite a few models and multiple versions of each model. The Imperial was Langley made. They also made a similar reel in black called the Spin Chief and one in red called Penguin. There are a couple of Langley models I don't have but since Zebco bought out Langley in 1962 I have those with the Zebco name plate.

These are all Langley bred Zebcos except the one on the top right (plastic 707). 

[Gfish]

I had a Zebco 707 as a young teenager. Real crap.
Tommy, I don't even trust myself in the shower anymore, but my only fall so-far was stepping out onto the wet ceramic tiles. No broken bones, just painful bruises.

[Paul Roberts]

Well done. Fun ride. Thanks for taking us along.
Tom helped me, too, fathom the AR on an 830 (200/6) a while back. So great having folks like Tom, Fred, and others, to share old reels with. Tom, sorry to hear about your fall. Ladders scare me too. And, yeah, 'tis the season; I was up on one yesterday hanging a large wreath my wife had made. Which reminds me, I have some gutters to clear of late-fallen oak leaves.  

Love seeing all the Langley (and progeny) spinners lined up. Such unique and wonderful reels.

On projects like this I almost more enjoy the thought of "tell me what you have seen and been through" and "why did they build it this way?" more than just making parts work again.

Lots of stories to be uncovered when we pick up an old reel.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I wish i could convince everyone to take judo, even if only for long enough to learn how to take a fall without injury. Many of our default instincts when headed groundward are the literal worst.

You never hear of old judo practitioners getting hurt falling in the shower. It just doesn't seem to happen. Less likely to fall, and far less likely to sustain injury.

[Midway Tommy]

I wish i could convince everyone to take judo, even if only for long enough to learn how to take a fall without injury. Many of our default instincts when headed groundward are the literal worst.

You never hear of old judo practitioners getting hurt falling in the shower. It just doesn't seem to happen. Less likely to fall, and far less likely to sustain injury.

I wonder how well that works when you are in your mid 70s, and/or have a few tools & materials in your hands?

[JasonGotaProblem]

If you had learned before your 70's, surprisingly well.

Really, best case is don't fall. When that's not an option, second best is relax, exhale, keep your head off the ground, and don't reach for the ground (broken arms), and when possible we try to literally slap the ground to distribute the load.

The natural response is to stiffen up, take a deep breath, and try to reach down and stop oneself. Those are the worst things to do. If you can train yourself out of just one of those, your odds of injury go down a lot.

But i digress. Cool reels though.