Penn Formula 15kg

[turboal]

Hi all, got a great deal on 2 Formula 15kg 2-spd reels in ex cond. what can say, i am a sucker for a great deal. anybody hotrod one of these ?
I opened one up it's diff from my 30T reels, but looks simple to work on.
the drag adj knob is pretty neat. comes with an HT-100 drag washer.
Alan, how much over the 30lb's of drag can i get out of it ?

[akfish]

I'd be very careful pushing that reel to 30# of drag. Remember it's made of plastic...

[alantani]

actually, i would not use a drag setting greater than 18#'s.  i would be concerned about the frame breaking at anything past 20#.  alan

[wallacewt]

actually, i would not use a drag setting greater than 18#'s.  i would be concerned about the frame breaking at anything past 20#.  alan

hi all,im not questioning your figures alan but how did you arrive at 18# for this reel.15# for single speed tld25 etc;etc;lets say you get hold of a reel you have never seen before,give it the alan tani treatment,plenty freespool,smooth drag,drops 1 foot/5 secs   now what,how much can i crank it up?is there a way of knowing or do you rely on good old common sense.

[akfish]

I won't speak for Alan, but there are several parts to the reel that will fail at high drag pressures. Plastic reels like the TLD 20 and 15KG frequently have catastrophic frame failures under high drag pressures. Really. I see it in my shop all the time. Also, TLD 25s that are pushed too hard have their gears fried -- as the frame torques, the gears misalign, etc. This is very common in reels I see that people use for Alaskan halibut. The fact is, these reels were not designed to be fished they way they are often fished. Things are OK -- until you hook a big fish and try to push the drag to sundown.

[wallacewt]

I won't speak for Alan, but there are several parts to the reel that will fail at high drag pressures. Plastic reels like the TLD 20 and 15KG frequently have catastrophic frame failures under high drag pressures. Really. I see it in my shop all the time. Also, TLD 25s that are pushed too hard have their gears fried -- as the frame torques, the gears misalign, etc. This is very common in reels I see that people use for Alaskan halibut. The fact is, these reels were not designed to be fished they way they are often fished. Things are OK -- until you hook a big fish and try to push the drag to sundown.

hi akfish,ok i understand lets take the tld25 for eg; we know from exp; over15# your getting past the safety zone.so what about if you dont have the experience how do you arrive at the 15#.is there an answer?or do you go onto a good forum like this and ask.trial and error is risky.cheers

[alantani]

i'm guessing.  the kg 10/15 and gld20/30 are graphite frames along the lines of the shimano tld 20/30.  i would put the same limits on the shimano tld's.  i've never seen a penn graphite reel blow up, but there was mention on another board that i can't remember where someone did.  alan

[turboal]

Hi all, doesn't 15kg convert to 30 lbs ? the reel takes 600yd 30lb mono.
but it only has less than 20 lbs of drag your saying ? the frame looks
beefier than a TLD-25 maybe as strong as a TLD-30. I was going to
load it up with 400 yds 50# flurocarbon line for this weekends
fishing and try it out.   

[wallacewt]

Hi all, doesn't 15kg convert to 30 lbs ? the reel takes 600yd 30lb mono.
but it only has less than 20 lbs of drag your saying ? the frame looks
beefier than a TLD-25 maybe as strong as a TLD-30. I was going to
load it up with 400 yds 50# flurocarbon line for this weekends
fishing and try it out.   

by all means try it,if thats what you want to do,just remember trial and eror is risky.i luv all this stuff.cheers

[Nemo]

Hi all, doesn't 15kg convert to 30 lbs ? the reel takes 600yd 30lb mono.
but it only has less than 20 lbs of drag your saying ? the frame looks
beefier than a TLD-25 maybe as strong as a TLD-30. I was going to
load it up with 400 yds 50# flurocarbon line for this weekends
fishing and try it out.   

With 50 lb line, you probably don't want to exceed 15-17 lbs of drag anyway, so that is within the previously discussed limits.  I don't know that much about the reel, but it appears it was meant to be a 30 lb line class reel, not a reel that puts out 30 lbs of drag.  Let us know how it works out!

[turboal]

The belvilles in this are the same as a 50TW according to penn's
schematics at Scott's and the HT-100 drag washer is the same size
as a 30T. I think we are under estimating how strong Penn built this reel.
the 2-spd seems to have some stronger parts in it.

[Keta]

They do not like to be pushed beyond their design limits.  Do what you want but don't cry when your gears are fried from frame flex and/or your frame is broken.

[alantani]

lee, that's a shimano tld 50 II, right?  graphite reels in general are suspect, but the tld 50 II is supposed to be the worst.  alan

[Keta]

I saw a TLD 50 and a TLD 30 do this on the same trip.

[alantani]

someone had seriously bad karma........