Troubleshooting a 1574 (NS) Pflueger Supreme

[Paul Roberts]

A while back I bought a late 50's to early 60's Pflueger Supreme 1574 narrow spool (NS). It is a beautiful reel, polished down to a mirror-like finish, and it was obviously well-loved; That is, cared for but so well-used it is the first old Supreme that shows much internal wear. I've read that the NS version was a special order item, often for tournament casters. I don't know who owned this reel but... they must have casted it an awful lot. The result is a beautiful reel that screamed like a banshee. I worked at restoring it to tolerable noise levels, isolating all metal to metal contact areas for trouble spots. And I was able to bring it to barely "tolerable". So, I decided to give it another going over. And I learned a couple of things about these old Supremes, which is why I'm posting, beyond just wanting to talk reels —if even to myself. I suppose these posts are notes for myself. It's easy to forget such details.

A few things sent up orange flags:
1). Tightening the face-plate screws fully tight impinge the reel's spinning some. Loosening even one screw a partial turn relieved that. Something was impeding the fit of the face-plate.
2). The main gear post was loose in its sleeve bushing, when I wiggled the handle back and forth. I could actually feel clunky angular movement between the gear teeth! Downright cringeworthy, as my son would say. Like fingernails on a chalkboard to me!
3). A couple of the phosphor bronze bearings/bushings showed surface wear.
4). The steel spool shaft ends (the "pivots") were rounded but I could not tell how much wear this represented.

Here's what I did to address these questions:
1). I found that in this model Supreme there is a "collar" that is part of the main gear post-to-handle face-plate sleeve bushing. This bushing collar was raised up out of the face-plate gear-post bushing! I simply pressed it back down, seating it flush with the face-plate. This solved the face plate fit issue.

2). Further, that bushing collar has an associated threaded inner piece, to take up vertical play in the post/handle. A fine pair of needle-nose pliers fit into a pair of grooves in that inner piece, allowing the "sleeve collar" to firm up that cringeworthy play. Cool. I'm guessing that this play -the loose gear meshing it created- made up a substantial portion of the noise this reel was making.

There were actually a few years, from '48-'51, when Supremes came with a knurled ring directly beneath the handle that allowed for this adjustment without taking the faceplate off and fitting the right tool into the sleeve bushing. A nice feature. I wonder why they abandoned it.

For other reels, without a main gear adjuster, I've resorted to shimming the base of a sloppy gear post with a very thin hand-cut washer, and/or applying a shrink-wrap sleeve bushing onto the post itself. Both have worked wonders -so far.

3). The surface wear in the face-side LW bearing was quite worn, so I replaced the entire inner plate, the bearing itself not replaceable with my level of tools and expertise. I had to polish the donor plate to match the custom polishing of the rest of the reel. The spool shaft ends (pivots) shouldn't be in contact with the bearing surfaces of the spool bushings, so...
4). I checked the spool pivots fit in the bushings and they did not appear to be 'sloppy'. The pivot ends were rounded and I do not know if this represented wear or not. So, I added an oiled felt pad inside the tail-side end cap. The Supremes have a fixed face-plate cap, yet I tried a tiny piece of felt inside, but it unbalanced the spool, pushing it tail-side.

Voila! She now just purrs, slightly turbine-like. I believe the gear post sleeve bushing was the main issue. I took her to an open grass field, with a laser range finder, and made casts to 120ft with 20lb PE braid and a 3/8oz practice plug. Totally fishable.

[Sonnett]

Paul the kunrled adjustment ring seems to make sense but was quickly drpped and I think I know why. When using Supremes of this vintage I have repeatedly found that when cranking the reel my hand would brush against that ring and over time tighten it down to the point that it became difficult to turn the crank. This adjustment was replaced with a smooth ring with a slot that allows the ring to be pinched with a pair of needle nose pliers and screwed in or out taking slop out of the handle. That adjustment has always stayed put in my experiance. If it is any cosulation the only narrow spool Supreme like your I ever owned was rough and noisey.

[Reeltyme]

Paul, on point #2 you mention a "fine pair of needle nose" to fit into the slot. So on that subject but slightly off of yours I have an idea to run by you. I have run across several reels that have a slotted setup of varying sizes that can present quite a quandary to solve. I'm sure we all have run into this from time to time. Do you think that an inexpensive caliper with the points ground down to a screw drive type point would work? It would adjust to almost any diameter needed.

[Paul Roberts]

Hi, Bill. That makes sense. Good idea, but only if solved a problem rather than adding to it.

Hi, Randy. Definitely worth a try. Such tools are made of course; Don't know what they are called. But your idea sounds like it'd be worth a go. Modifying tools is part of this game. My reel-work tool drawer(s) continue to grow. I've thought if I ever wrote a piece on "tools of the trade"... no one would venture into old reel work!

[oc1]

Terrific thread guys.  I've cut a tiny disk out of brass shim stock and dropped it down into the bearing hole to stabilize a worn spindle.  Not really a disk but a square with the corners lobbed off.  I've also forgotten it was there and lost the little sucker when the reel was next serviced.

[Paul Roberts]

Hi, Steve, Yeah, I've opened reels and forgot I'd added "new parts" too. I've realized that if/when I decide to sell a reel I'll have to open it up and inventory, and explain, any creative work done. Not that many would care. I am guessing that not many folks actually plan to use these old direct-drives.