TLD15 Handle tight....

[triumphrick]

Soooooo....I have been very familiar with the pinion bearing in the right side plate getting crushed and causing issues.

Mainly, when the drag control lever and the pre-tension dial are set to max, the handle will get tight and be hard to turn...

This issue popped up today on a reel I had serviced. Immediately replaced the side plate bearing, buttoned it up and tested it. The problem persisted..

From there, I started checking many things. I've had issues with the spacers at the click gear as well as problems with the cross pin not seating into the left end plate.

All of that checked good. Well, it was the same problem that would happen with a bad pinion gear, so I tried the small spool bearings. Nope...

Finally replaced the main spool bearing at the left end of the spool. There was no indication that bearing was bad. The bearing covers were off, it showed no signs of grinding when put under pressure.......but replacing it corrected the problem.

[Bryan Young]

This bearing also gets a lot of pressure from spring washers being compressed to the inner race of the bearing.  This is another great benefit of installing a spool bearing sleeve.  The inner races on the left side spool bearing in supported by the sleeve.

[Robert Janssen]

This bearing also gets a lot of pressure from spring washers being compressed to the inner race of the bearing. 

Yes. In this type of reel the pressure is divided equally between the left spool bearing and the right side plate bearing.

... This is another great benefit of installing a spool bearing sleeve.  The inner races on the left side spool bearing in supported by the sleeve.

No. This is a common misunderstanding. A spool bearing sleeve in this type of reel does nothing at at all to alleviate pressure brought about by actuation of the drag components. Nothing. No.

A spool bearing sleeve in this type of reel DOES alleviate pressure brought about by the drag seperating spring when in freespool, which is why those sleeves are often referred to as freespool sleeves.

A spool bearing sleeve in another type of reel, for instance one with a live shaft and dual drag washers on the left side, can very well alleviate drag pressure.

But in a TLD and all their mechanical clones, no.

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