Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Not spliced much PE braid but done a lot of dacron splices. Sometimes you get a spool that is a true bu@@er to splice because the 'tube' of the braid is full of fine strands that act like a cobweb to stop the mono sliding inside. Nothing you can do but give it up as a bad job and choose another spool, even of the same brand.

Those flaws shown as tight bits are another source of frustration and I've also come across fluffs that are a weak spot and even individual strands that had broken abd been tied together witha simple knot.

It is why a load all my reels slowly by hand - to spot and cut out any dodgy bits.

Some brands are worse than others - never had trouble with Cortland, Gladding and several others that have disappeared from the shelves.

welcome!!!!

Welcome aboard!

Best, Fred

WOW! That is one gorgeous red reel. Hope to see the finished product soon. Any luck finding a reinforced eccentric jack?

Welcome, from Pasco county FL. It may look like it's mostly cali folks here, but we Floridians sure make a lot of noise too!

My Baja with 6 bearings is not smooth when retrieving 12oz and bait. Free spool is fine, and handle turns smoothly without a load. I replaced bearing 55b under the handle as it was rough. I checked the other 5 bearings and they feel smooth. However, retrieving under a load is still not smooth. Question 1: Is bearing 55a, on the schematic, the tiny bearing that fits on the sub shaft? Question 2: which bearing, or bearings, would most likely cause this issue? Thanks in advance for helping me.

Greetings from Crystal River Florida,
Welcome to the clan! Great folks here with lots of knowledge!

Just getting back into salt water fishing, picked up a couple jigmasters, have several Penn spinning reels and looking to get a 2 speed/heavier reef fish setup. Found this sight looking into drag conversions/upgrades and well here I am!! Look forward to learning a lot and hopefully contributing along the way.

:0)

This is so good to see on my favorite forum! My daughter (I've spoken about her a few times on this site) is taking her PHD in Marine Biology at Florida and it is this program (Return em' Right) that is paying for her education and employees her. She is doing a lot of the statistics and research on this device. Very cool to see it come around with people I've associated with on the forum. She is one of my favorite humans to fish with and she uses a conventional reel, of course, because that's what she saw me fish with.