I just picked up 2 penn 550 ss in fairly good condition. I dhave already done some minor servicing on them. I was thinking of redoing the drags with custom octagonal drag to increase the drag without locking the spool down. My question is will I strip the gears (looked like machined aluminum) if I used to0 heavy a drag, i,e. exceeding 15 lbs. They came paired with custom wrapped calstar 196-6s in good condition. I think both the seller and I got a fair deal out of it. I paid $140 for 2 reels and 2 rods.
I believe you did very good. As for the gears, unfortunately those will fail when pushed past their limits. Brass gears will be stronger, but are not easy to find. The good thing about increasing drag numbers, is that if you were pushing that reel at 12lbs max, you could do it now with more smoothness and less effort. you and the gears will both appreciate smoothness ;).
We do not have a kit for these yet, I will shoot Bryan an email and see if he could get it done for us. You could use the 3 octagon carbon fiber washers with keyed metal, that will also make them smoother, but the 5 drag kit from Bryan would be best.
I have one too. Haven't cleaned/oiled it in decades. Is there a tutorial on how to clean/oil it?