New member - first post.
I'm servicing a Penn Slammer 6500 DX that was dunked in about 30' of water in Tampa Bay for around one hour before being retrieved. It's been completely disassembled, cleaned and lubricated but the drive gears aren't meshing properly and are gently grinding. All bearings are moving freely. I'm at a loss. Open to questions or suggestions. Thanks in advance!
30' in Tampa Bay? You found a deep spot.
Did you put the shims back exactly as they were? If the reel is anything other than very new, you may have to move one/some from back side of main gear to the handle side.
Others may have more useful info. I haven't been in one of those yet.
mystic parts doesn't have a schematic listed for the 6500 DX, so i took a look at this.
https://www.mysticparts.com/Assets/images/pennparts/schematics/slaiv6500.pdf
jason is right. the gears have to be shimmed perfectly. the other possibility is that sand got inside and the handle was turned. if sand gets into the gears and you crank, it will damage the gears and it will feel rough. those are the two possibilities.
either way, this might not be easy to figure out. :-\
Jason, you're right I was off on the depth. Guess it was only about 10-12'. My son was fishing off the Skyway Fish Pier and a pelican caught his line and pulled rod and reel into the drink. He was lucky to get it back.
Thank you to you and Alan for responding. I'll order some additional shims and play around with it. I don't think sand got into the reel because it's IPX6 sealed and I've looked at the gears under a jewelers loupe and they look perfect.
I'm gonna ask a potentially obvious question on the chance it may help. Forgive me if this was the first thing you checked.
Are you sure the bearings are super duper ultra mega clean? Grit in a bearing feels like grinding gears.
It's a good question, Jason. All the bearings on this reel are sealed as well. I soaked all of them in fresh water for several days then tested them on a dowel. They all spin freely.
Did ypu lube the bearings after? Could help.
Hi Todd. I oiled all the bearing packs.