Penn 16VSX spool rubbing under load

[flymost]

With the help of this site, I started working on my own reels.  Decided to take it slow, so I took my 2 16VSX and my 50VSW and just took the left side plate off and pulled the spools off, inspected, and assembled.  I was impressed that there was no corrosion, salt buildup, etc and some of the reels were 2 years old...  Well, on our first trip out since i worked on the reels I noticed something wrong with one of the 16's.  The spool would rub on the front of the frame under a load.  I was able to inspect and disassemble / reassemble the reel today, and could not find anything that looked wrong.  At first I thought that I had done something wrong, but now am thinking that maybe there is a bearing out?  The two bearings in the sideplates look and feel new, I didn't disassemble the spool yet, but everything in there feels tight and smooth too.  I am thinking that I did something wrong, but just can't put my finger on it, anyone have any ideas?  The pics are not the best, but the rubbing is right at the front cross bar, and you can barely see the spool moving foreward when you tighten the drag.

[kamuwela]

is the centerd in the frame? i cant see in the pic but do you have the three shims on the pinion shaft along with the bellevilles?

[flymost]

I just went and reread the VSX16 thread and found the reference to 3 shims and "X".  Still could not figure out what the X was, but I did notice that I have only 2 shims.  Can't believe that I would have lost one, but it would make sense.  Now off to buy a replacement, do I need to get them from Penn, or do you have a better parts supplier?

Also, sorry about the pics, I'll have to experiment to get better pics.

[Nuvole]

For the shims, mine have two pair of two. Check all the shaft bearings and see if they are wear out.

[flymost]

Well, I went through the reel again, (and another one I have that works great).  Only difference that I found was that the bad one had an extra shim (identical to three next to the bellville washers #8A, but in between the spool bearing #20 and the inner drive plate #117A).  I removed this extra shim and the spool is much better, but still rubs the frame once you get to 25lbs of drag   One other thing that I did notice is that neither of my reels has the shim (labeled X in the 16vsx tutorial) that is next to the three shims #8A.  I thought it quite odd that neither reel had it, but thought that maybe it was removed in later models.  All bearings are good, and I actually swapped the right and left side plate bearings to see if that made any difference, but the spool still rubs the frame at higher loads.  Anyone have any ideas what I need to look at next?

[Nuvole]

Have you screw the side plate nice and tight?
Try push the spool around and see if there's much free space.

Other than the four bearings #26 & #20 or loosely tighten side plate, there's nothing else I can see causing the "rub".
Since you have two similar reel, why not switch over the whole spool compartment(from #18 to #44) of both reel to eliminate the possible cause.   

[Bryan Young]

Brought over from the general forum, maybe someone here can help me out???

I recently tore down, cleaned up, lubed, and put back together my two 16VSX's.  I then went fishing and noticed that on one of them the spool would rub on the front right side of the frame under anything over about 15lbs of drag.  Brought them home, tore both apart again, and couldn't find anything unusual about the bad one.  Swapped the left and right side bearings just to try something.  Now I can get up to 20-25 lbs of drag out of it before it starts rubbing?  I don't really have any ideas at this point, but figured that someone here must have an idea about what I have done wrong.  I went through both the 16 and the 50 tutorials about a hundred times and still can't find anything.

Any ideas?

[mizmo67]

Note about shims - Penn throws these into reels whenever they need to on the assembly line, if they find something is a little loose.
Often, they don't even include them on the schematics.
We try to find out the shim numbers if possible and include them. Some reels may not need a shim, others may need 1 or 2, etc.
Some have shims in odd places that we don't even know about, since our test reel didn't have one.

Spool rubbing under load...on a smaller conventional reel with posts, the first thought is the posts/framework are off kilter, but with an international like this one, the frame is entirely one piece. We've never heard of this problem on a 16VSX

Next thought is the spool shaft. A bent shaft can cause a rub. But in this case, that's a spool sleeve with the long pinion going through it. Check the spool sleeve for  wear. I'm not sure how you'd check the pinion gear for the kind of wobble you'd find if it's bent. A straight shaft you could roll on a table top and see it, but the pinion has the gear on one end. I can't even imagine how it could be bent.

We're at a loss on this one.

[flymost]

I don't think that it is a bent shaft or pinion as the "rubbing" is consistant around the entire spool.  I will swap spools and see what that does, and then the side plates and see if I can narrow it down that way.

[Alto Mare]

Consistant rubbing will usually require shims, But, I'm not too familiar with your reel.

[flymost]

Well, good news, I swapped both side plates from both reels and no more rubbing on either reel!  Now hopefully I can say that after a few big fish.  I did start to take pics this time, so I'll post them just for the practice.  I did notice that the drag washers were in the (()) config instead of ()() so I left them there.  Thanks again everyone and I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[alantani]

i would have guessed a bad bearing. 

[Nuvole]

i would have guessed a bad bearing. 

x2

Both pair bearings #26 & #20 must have wear out. Hence when you change over the spool, things work out... but not for long ;-\