TLD 5

[cold waters]

so I found and bought two TLD 5's years after they stopped making the reel (why they stopped is beyond me).  well those reels caught hundreds if not 1000 striped bass over the years but they also did some serious duty bait fishing in 250-350 of water.  needless to say they both began to have issues.  I tossed them in a box and have forgotten about them for 15+years. 

I believe the frames are fine, they need new drags (any recommendations? both upgraded and possibility for an original) for sure.  one handle is about to come off the arm and the other did come off.  I still have the handle but I dont think it is fixable (maybe I am wrong.)

I would love to keep these original, can I get new cranks for these?  or should / could I replace just the handle itself and use the original grips.

now that I am thinking about it I think the plastic(?) retainer that goes around the bolt to hold the crank handle in place is either missing on one or broken.

as I am typing this these reels are still in that box in the basement and havent been looked at in years.  but I stumbled across this site for another purpose and it got me thinking.

thanks again this site is a wealth of knowledge

[Bryan Young]

As for drags, I'd contact SmoothDrag.com.  They have an excellent upgrade for about $10 each plus shipping.

Alan has a handle http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=7325.0 that will work great with these.  You will need to drill out the old handle and these will bolt right on.  And, if you want a nice SS arm, see http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=155.0.

[day0ne]

I would love to keep these original, can I get new cranks for these?  or should / could I replace just the handle itself and use the original grips.

now that I am thinking about it I think the plastic(?) retainer that goes around the bolt to hold the crank handle in place is either missing on one or broken.

.

thanks again this site is a wealth of knowledge

The complete handles from the TLD 15 are the same and are readily available

[alantani]

the charter special arm works as well.  these are great little reels to hotrod.  just make sure the main and pinion gear are in good shape before you start spending money. 

[SoCalAngler]

Like stated the TLD 15 handle will fit. With that said I replaced my TLD 15 handle with the Torium handle about 7 or so years ago. I like the feel of the Torium handle grip much better.

Edit: I also did the drag at that time with the smoothdrag one....IMO its well worth the money.

[cold waters]

thanks for all the replies... this is likely a fall project... I would love to have my tld 5's back in service