Penn 930 question

Catch This · March 16, 2014, 02:47:41 PM

Question on the Penn 930. A friend of mine just gave me just gave me his Penn 930 for servicing. It is a second generation (solid vs 2 bar reel seat) Penn 930. I know for certain, this reel is in excess of 20 years old. Upon, opening the reel, there was no evidence of any grease or oil ever having been in this reel. This is the first reel I have opened with no evidence of any grease. Is this normal for a 930? The plan was to clean it, replace the drag washers and lube it. But now it is sitting disassembled while I seek the answer to this question. Do these reels not take grease like the rest of Penns?

Keta · March 16, 2014, 03:08:13 PM

Bearings get grease or oil and if you are installing HT-100 CF washers they should be greased with drag grease.

Catch This · March 16, 2014, 03:11:46 PM

No grease on the gears?

Keta · March 16, 2014, 03:26:28 PM

A little but don't over do it. If you are in cold country use Cal's lite, the purple stuff.

Catch This · March 16, 2014, 03:34:41 PM

Roger that, I am East Coast - Chesapeake Bay. I typically use Penn grease on the gears, Cals on the drags, and TS321 on the bearings.
Thnx

Prefessa · March 18, 2014, 01:04:54 AM

Don't ask why , there was a time when penn reels arrived from the factory bone dry with no grease on the gears no nothing . The instruction was to use the oil ports and lube to take advantage of penns " one shot lubrication" system. This was especially the case back in the day drag washers were made of asbestos and worked best bone dry.

Of course a bit of spray or sea water and the drags turned into chattering messes and the salt glued the fiber and brass metal washers together.

Things got better when HT 100 arrived and got really great when Newell Sea Guard came on the scene and we started using wet systems.

You can't kill a penn levelmatic 930. Clean lubricate and throw in a wet drag/ HT 100 and the reel will be good as new.

Taily · March 18, 2014, 10:48:12 AM

Quote from: Catch This on March 16, 2014, 02:47:41 PM
Question on the Penn 930. A friend of mine just gave me just gave me his Penn 930 for servicing. It is a second generation (solid vs 2 bar reel seat) Penn 930. I know for certain, this reel is in excess of 20 years old. Upon, opening the reel, there was no evidence of any grease or oil ever having been in this reel. This is the first reel I have opened with no evidence of any grease. Is this normal for a 930? The plan was to clean it, replace the drag washers and lube it. But now it is sitting disassembled while I seek the answer to this question. Do these reels not take grease like the rest of Penns?

Hi there Catch This. If you have a look at the 910/20/30/40 Levelmatic service thread I put up here a few years back you can see what you need to do with your reel to bring it up to spec. In answer to your questions the reels were primarily designed for fresh water use with the odd bit of salt/brackish water exposure here and there. Greasing the internals of reels was never contemplated from new with these reels as the anodising and materials used were deemed to be adequate, whereas now we know that design/manufacturing philosophy wasn't quite up to the mark for use in a salty environment without a bit of "help".

So No, they were never sold new with grease in anywhere else except the bearings, gear sleeve and levelwind mechanism. There was never any splashed around inside to inhibit corrosion and the leather drag washers they came with were installed dry (for the most part but they did eventually see a bit of grease through normal lubrication after use). Yes, they do really benefit from a light greasing to all things internal - just make sure you use a very light grease or even a small amount of heavy oil on the levelwind mechanism - 'tis covered in the tutorial I wrote. That reel I disassembled and put back together for the tutorial is almost (if not) 30 years old already and still looks the same as it did when I took the pics. You might guess I have always greased the innards of my reels.

Dave.

Prefessa · March 18, 2014, 10:10:57 PM

You cant kill those reels...I knew Pinhookers that pulled 100's of pounds of Weakfish with them. They ate levelwind pawls for breakfast....they used to be 35 cents each and bought them by the dozen...use to keep one it the tackle box at all times! went thew 2-3 a season. Made lighter brake blocks from plastic tubing. They had great pulling power! caught a load of fish on mine.