Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Right now, you are just to the point of proving that thin braid does not have to slip once you are at exactly two wraps on the spool. I do this test (not to the point of breakage) on every spool fill.

 I think what is happening in your test is that the tighter you pull the line, the tighter the arbor knot cinches down.  BUT... things are going to change as you put more line on the spool.  Eventually,  the tension from pulling on the line  does not make it all the way to the arbor knot.  Plus compression from above is going to flatten out the braid on the bottom, making it more like a bushing of low friction plastic.  Probably plus some other stuff that I haven't even thought of.

I am confused a bit.  Are you asserting that line slippage doesn't happen or are you trying to ferret out when and why it happens? Or something else?

-J

I have other reels that I prefer using in the field, my 712 sits as a trophy in memory of that first biggun'. It's fun to use vintage reels too, all depends on your preference. Tight lines! 

   There is a method to my madness , I want you to try to duplicate my little test ,pull two wraps off the bolt .

3-60! Can i substitute 3-66 bridge?

   Why is the braid loose ?  Again can you pull the two wrap off the bolt   "Slip "

nope.  not normal.  does your bridge plate say 3-60 or 3-66?  i'm guessing that a new bridge plate is in order.   

the braid is usually loose, also. 

I was doing a total disassembly and clean up on a Penn Senator 2/0. Reel was working fine with respectable freespool and drag. Note picture showing the bridge and shaft separation. Is this normal? Can i still bottom fish this reel or need a bridge replacement?? Note the washer on bridge plate that fits the shaft. This model has stainless steel main gear indicating i think an older model

Let me try again , with a simple test.   Tie YOUR arbor knot on a bolt , make two additional wraps  and see if you can pull the line around the arbor "slip "
Like this .  I can not get it to slip.

Yay!  Real tests!

Quote from: Bill B on Today at 01:41:09 AMThat's an expensive test.  Not sure what it takes to make it slip, however the common denominator is loss of drag at about 10lbs on a conventional reel.  Bill

I think that you also need a more full spool with lots of winding load, at least toward the top. Layer after layer, wraps digging in and binding to each other.  If the very first wraps are not under tension (they might relax a bit as additional layers are added, or maybe creep over time can relieve some tesion), the new load won't reach them, and now it occasionally takes less tension to spin this "puck" of spectra than to unwind the line.
 
Enough folk have had this happen at higher drag settings that the SoCal saltwater shops started taping and then flex wrapping arbors, and didn't have problems after that.  I went to a well respected SoCal shop , and they 100% flat out refused to do a spool fill for me unless they taped the arbor. Zero interest in how "some customer" might prefer to do it.  They also kindly and patiently explained to me some (wrong) stuff about how reels work. 

Flex wrapping the arbor isn't necessarily the only method that works, it is just the one that has been most widely adopted, at least out here on the West Coast.

-J