Max drag before failure on stock 115?

[Dynamo]

Hello, sirs, I'd like to push my 9/0 to the max as so many others have done, but part of me wants to keep the original parts. Reel itself is in very nice condition, very little wear. How much drag do you think a stock 9/0 could take before failing? 115 chrome spool. Drag levels increased by just upgrading the washers. No failure, no spool sleeve slipping, gears breaking or slipping, or any other parts warping or failing, I'm especially concerned about the reel foot.....What do ya fellas think? Thanks!!

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

I've had mine at 35lbs no problem

[Makule]

It's difficult to reply as it's unclear what you mean when you say, "failing", with regard to the drag.  At some point all drags will release:  That's what they're supposed to do.  If you have an exceedingly long, and high speed strike, when the drag is very tight, then the disks might burn and "fail". CF disks will reduce this possibility, but they still do compress and "burn".

I do not know what you mean by, "spool sleeve" and "spool sleeve slipping".

Gears will not slip.  Failure occurs when they break or severely distort a tooth (or several).  This can happen even with the regular brakes.

If you are using the stock frame, it can distort under very high pressure and cause the spool edge to contact the side plate ring.  A severe enough case of this will prevent the reel to be wound under pressure (but the frame can be straightened out later on).  The reel foot is reasonably strong.  It's when there is a great deal of pressure on one side of the spool that causes the distortion.  It's not really a straight-pull force that does it.  Rather, a twisting moment.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

Makule I think he meant the spool slipping on the shaft. I thnk you would be the expert on the whole distortion thing, the amount of pressure you put on fish is crazy! Didn't you have a 9/0 war one time?

[Alto Mare]

I've had mine at 35lbs no problem

Sharker, how are you getting 35lbs.? If I pull line straight out, I will also get 35lbs., but if you bend the rod while testing, you will get less.
Here is something interesting:

With a straight pull and the star tight all the way, I was only able to get 30lbs. with the 7+1 and 35lbs. with the 5+1. Washers size does have something to do with it, Dawn's washers were a little smaller in size.

[SoCalAngler]

Alto,

When I set/test my drags with a scale, if I do a strait pull, which is line comming strait off the reel and not run through the guides yet I get a number, lets say 10lbs. Now if I leave the drag set there and run the line through the guides and retest that 10 pounds of drag always increases. The amount of increase will vary do to things like dry or wet line, length of rod and if running spectra or mono lines. This is true for all my reels and I do put a bend in the rod, some fully loaded up at the max bend for the line rating for the rod, when I run the line through the guides and retest.

Sorry Dynamo I have not fished a 9/0 Pen.

[Dynamo]

It's difficult to reply as it's unclear what you mean when you say, "failing", with regard to the drag.Makule I think he meant the spool slipping on the shaft.

Hello folks, I meant failure of any kind, not drag disk failure, reel foot bending, spool shaft slipping or bending, gears failing. Thanks for all the replies, folks, keep 'em coming!

[Alto Mare]

Bluefin Tuna 0ver 1000lbs. were landed in the past with the 9/0 and that was before any upgrades. You should be able to handle anything in the water, using a 9/0.
Yes, it is a little heavy, but weight doesn't bother guys from the right side of the coast as much as the left.
We're getting stainless steel gears with a 3.25:1 ratio soon, installing 7+1 or 9+1 washers will make that reel nice and smooth, or you could go with the hex cut gears, they're also very smooth using less washers. A nice power handle would also be nice.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

I have a 5 stack with cf under the gear, stock ht-100. It's a straight pull, locked down as tight as I could get it. My max fishing range for the reel with no frame would be around 30

[Dynamo]

Thanks for the replies guys! So you think the reel could handle 40? I'm likely not going use all of the drag pressure, but it'll be nice to have and get a feel of large drag pressure. I have no doubt the 9/0 can handle huge fish. I recall a 1960s caught land based tiger In the keys, weighed over 1000. I have no idea how they pulled that off. I've seen the pics, reel was spooled up with 50 class Dacron. It could probably handle over 99 percent of anything I'll run into, but I'm always overkill.

[Alto Mare]

My custom 114H ( 6/0) with hex cut gears holds over 50lbs. The 9/0 has a beefier pinion gear.

[Dynamo]

Mr Tani said in another post about how 10 percent more drag is added by friction on the guides. I'm confused. Sal, do you use rods with extra slick guides or something ? And the more the rod is exerted the more friction on the guides, meaning more pressure on the fish, right? Wow, I'm surprised your 6/0s reel foot is still intact!

[Alto Mare]

Not fished at 50#, tested holding 50# on an unlimited rod. I don't believe anyone can hold on to those numbers.
Reel doesn't stress much at high settings if it's functioning smoothly, this is the main reason we're pushing them. A stock 6/0 is not as smooth as my custom 6/0 at its high settings.

[Dynamo]

Still, 50 is a lot for a stock 6 to hold. Yes, 50 is a lot, but I find ways to cheat when using high drag, (aka employing railing and tucking my legs around the railing posts for support. Beach fishing I use long butts, up to 24 inches, they dig in the sand and act as a rod holder. Boat fishing high drag numbers is easy, tighten drag and leave rod in holder. Maybe not sporting but if you wanna fish those numbers and not swim with the fishies a little guy like me does what he has to do! (ps I've never met a fish which actually could have or did pull 50, but other people use that technique and it works like a charm and very well with smaller fish.)) sounds sneaky do traditional iGFA anglers but higher drag wears fish out quicker, equals to better releases. usually on smaller fish I like to get a fight out of them and hold the rod, no harness. I don't like being middle ground, but that's just me, and I'm weird.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

Ive seen a guy get dragged to the rail by a t-rex, the fish was popping off burst at strike. Id take a jacked up 6/0w or 9/0 with frame any day of the week for beach fishin