The Daiwa owners manual /schematic says to back out an external screw and turn the cover plate counter clockwise to gain access to the centrifugal brakes and spool. Please bear in mind its a LH model . I backed out the screw and put all the force I could on the cover plate but it wont budge. There are no visible fasteners on the plate , only the forementioned screw and clicker button. And nothing visible coming from the cranking side but the thumbar and level wind.
The insides of this reel are impressive. Levelwind has two ball bearings, two more bearings in the spool (which I cant get out ) , A crank handle bearing as well as both an AR bearing and a redundant dog. There is a bearing on the base of the handle/drag washer stack also. the drag washers appear to be a carbon material similar to the aftermarket replacement drag washers. And there is no e clip on the handle stem to launch into outer space. back to business.
Your help is appreciated
It should just twist off........ :-\
Make sure the screw is backed all the way off then just push down on the front of the sideplate. It doesn't rotate on the middle but on the back.
Problem solved. It twisted clockwise just fine when it finally occurred to me that the Daiwa instructions were for a RH reel.