Penn 1st gen Fathom 40nld2 jerky/stuttering drag

[TexasEngineer]

Hello All

I originally thought my 1st question on these forums was going to be around tricking out my drag on my Penn 50TW but with some reading and a pointer in an email from Alan I messed with the Bellevilles and got that just where I want it (thanks for that!).

Now I have another question. I went on an awesome wahoo and tuna trip and finally got to use my 1st gen Fath40nld2. It's about 5 years old but brand new as I had never used it.  Before the trip I tested the drag and it was smooth up to about 25lbs when I was testing it before the trip. I was using it for chunking. I hooked and landed about a 40# YFT on it. I noticed the drag was jerky and stuttered when the fish made a run. In my mind I tossed it up to the 80# braid digging in after reeling in loose lines quite a few times during that process before the hook up. Well, I got it home and cleaned up. I pulled off about 150 yards of line and reeled back on under pressure and when I hooked to my drag scale to check the drag and it was very jerky still. Maybe worse than before. It still has excellent free spool and a good progression. And no noticeable jerkiness under light drag. But getting to north of 5lbs it starts and is really bad by 20lbs. I plan to break it down. I plan to look at the drag washer and plate and clean and regrease those but wanted to check in and see if there was anything else I needed to look for while I had it open?  It seems like from what I'm reading the drags/plate can become damaged very easily adjusting the preset when not in freespool?  I don't think I did that but 3am after catching a lot of fish I wouldn't swear to it.

Also, as further information I left it in a holder on the rail when changing spots. We got to the new spot and i grabbed my spinner to toss swim baits and forgot about that rod. Later I saw it leaning up against a bulkhead. I grabbed it and started chunking. There were a lot of fish coming over the rail and mates spraying down the decks liberally (as they should). The drag was at strike but I'm kind of worried it got hit with a full pressure spray of saltwater.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[alantani]

with any luck, a thick coat of cal's grease on the drag washer will take care of the problem.  apply the grease liberally to the drag washer, then wipe off the excess with a clean rag.  if this does not fix the problem, then it is possible that there is corrosion between the carbon fiber drag washer and the metal backing plate.  you could try to peel the drag washer off, clean it up and then use epoxy to glue it back on.  24 hours later, apply the grease and see if it still works.  hopefully, you will not need to pull the drag off or replace it.  new ones are $70. 

[TexasEngineer]

Thanks Alan. I will do that.

[alantani]

yeah, i'm hoping that a coat of drag grease will do the trick!!!

[TexasEngineer]

That did it. Smooth up to 30lbs. Inside looked good overall but the drag was dry dry dry. But I did something wrong reassembling and have lost free spool and it makes noise at freespool and at sunset when reeling. I should have checked before I started pulling drag but was over eager. I'll break it apart again tomorrow when I have more natural light and I'll take the iPad out to see the schematics better. Thanks again for your help and patience!

[alantani]

any washer out of order will screw up freespool.  gotta be careful!!!

[TexasEngineer]

any washer out of order will screw up freespool.  gotta be careful!!!

Truer words were never said.  I was trying to be but this bearing and the drag disengage spring fell out when I turned the reel over a bit. The difference from the schematic is there seems to be a very thin shim washer on that bearing that I don't see here so I didn't know which way it went. Hopefully that is the issue. I need to take it further apart anyway and check it all the way out. That lube and grease is old. I was just worried water got in and wanted to check it out pdq before any significant corrosion occurred.

I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again!

[TexasEngineer]

I got up early and broke it down again. Fiddled with the location of that washer and ended up putting it on 55l on the drag side vs 55a and everything works great. Basically mirrored 8 from the left side. Great freespool with my sunset up to 33#. Drag is very smooth. I do loose a tiny bit of freespool when I have the preset dialed all the way up so I can get 40# at sunset but I'm never going that high. I'm still not really sure where it really goes but it work.

[alantani]

if it works, then that's where it goes.   

[Gfish]

That has happened to me many times. Turn the reel the wrong way during disassembly and parts fall out leaving me with guess work.

[Bill B]

Another area that trips me up is the thrust bearing on the leftside of the spool. The bearing is sandwiched between to cupped washers.  The cupped sides must face the bearing.  Bill

[skneip49]

Goofy one here. My 40NLD2 was hard to turn with the drag lever engaged. I soaked it in fresh water for about an hour and that allowed me to turn the handle easily, adjust the drag and pull on the line to check drag pressure. Decided I should take it apart and check for trapped water, lube things up, etc. The drag washer was stuck on the side of the spool, and I soaked it in oil then carefully pried it off and found a hard, brittle black coating on the spool. What does the spool look like, isn't it supposed to be smooth? This looks like it was glued on. Going to order a new drag washer and wondering about what to do with the spool, clean it off?

Oops, my bad. That "little error just cost me nearly eighty bucks! If I had looked more closely I would have seen the retaining ring that holds the "drag assembly" in place. What I did was to delaminated the fiber part from the metal part. Don't do that!

[Bill B]

That drag looks torn up.  If so replace it.  If soaked with oil, wipe off all you can and see how it acts.   If in doubt replace it.  The main reason this website exists is the tutorials on servicing reels.  Here is a link to the 1st Gen Fathoms.  Bill

https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,11570.0.html