cavalla 20 question

[huxpat]

I have a pair of Cavalla 20's and 30's which have in general performed flawlessly since I've had them, but lately one of the 20's has started skipping every now and then while winding in high gear. Maybe every 8 to 12 turns it randomly skips a little. It won't do it in low gear. The slip feels minor when just reeling in a lure, but with 15 pounds of drag it's a little violent. I took it apart to look at the gears and see if anything was obviously wrong, pulled the low and high speed drive gears off, checked the push button gear change mechanism was activating okay, greased it, and still does the same. Wondering if it's somehow slipping between high and low every now and then? The pinions looked fine. Haven't opened up the drag plate yet. Anyone have ideas? Have both apart now and everything seems exactly the same in each one. Mild defect in the pinion gear? Dunno. Switching pinions between reels to see what happens. No difference with switched pinions.

[JGB]

Your Cavalla 20 probably has a damaged shift spring. This happens a lot when one tries to remove the handle nut and pull it out. To properly remove the handle nut you first must remove the gears from the inside and slide out the shift pin. If you pull on the nut you can stretch out the spring making it too long to allow proper return of the shift pin in high gear. The skipping is the shift pin jumping out of the high speed gear. To fix it replace the spring or try to reform it too the proper length. The proper length is 13mm.
For clarity the spring is the one that threads onto the bottom of the shift button. It must also be fully threaded on to the button shaft and the shift pin guide or the length will be too long.

While you have the shift pin out check it for burrs. If it is worn a little just turn it to use the unworn sides.

I did this to one of my Cavalla 20's also. Live and learn,

Jim N.

[huxpat]

Jim, Much thanks! Totally makes sense. Will get to work on it. Question - the handle nut should still begin to loosen with the shift pin in place, though shouldn't it? I just don't want to try to pull it out without removing the gears and shift pin.  I was messing around when I had the reel all together seeing if I could loosen the handle nut and it won't budge an iota no matter how much torque I put on it. Everything else on the reel has come apart fine, no corrosion. Anything I'm missing there, it's not a reverse thread or anything is it?

[huxpat]

Never could get the handle nut off, frozen beyond all belief. I kind've feel like this might have been a demo model or return that someone screwed around with before I bought it "new". But I found the problem, it wasn't the spring, it was the shift pin. I should've looked at it closer earlier, like you said, look for burrs. One end was crushed a little in the corner, making a burr that stuck out just far enough the pin wasn't seating properly in the high speed gear. Filed it off, put it back together, and no more problems. Not sure how I could've done that to the shift pin, since I've only engaged low speed once or twice since I've had it, and wasn't winding when I did. But live and learn, a new bit of knowledge. 

[JGB]

Glad you found it.

The handle nut is left handed. To loosen a very tight nut try the following. Place a wrench on the nut so it lays about 1"-2" from the handle knob. Grab both the wrench and the handle/knob in your hand and squeeze. It is amazing how much controlled pressure you can generate this way (way more than trying to use the wrench alone). It is a very controllable  method that prevents wild accidents if the nut or wrench suddenly breaks free.

Jim N.

[redsetta]

It is amazing how much controlled pressure you can generate this way (way more than trying to use the wrench alone)...

x2 - great advice Jim.
I do the same thing meself.
Cheers, Justin