I bought a set of Penn reels off ebay that included a Penn Mag 10, which is what I was really after. It also came with one of the newer Penn 9 reels, which was made in China, but seems like ok quality except for the plastic pins being broken - maybe due to a rough disassembly in the past? Has anyone had the internal pins break on older sideplates? I think the oldest ones were bakelite. I also noticed that most of the internal parts are a silver or copper color - not brass bronze. Does that indicate a higher likelihood of corroding?
Anyway, both reels appeared to be in excellent, very lightly used condition, but the Penn 9 lever was stuck in free spool. I took it apart and found that the pin that is cast into the reel body that the eccentric jack slides on was almost totally broken off, just hanging on by a sliver of plastic. I also found that one of the two pins that the clicker circle spring sits on was broken off.
I am new to fishing reels, so maybe someone with more experience can give me an opinion on whether this repair will last. I drilled out the pins and cut brass rod to fit into the new holes. I installed the pins with epoxy. Unfortunately, I busted through the sideplate on one side, so I filled that with epoxy as well. I used a file to smooth the epoxy on the outside of the case and in doing so, I removed some of the letters from "9 Level Wind". I decided to finish the job and just remove all the letters to make it cleaner. Now there is a bit of dissimilar color where the epoxy shows, but it shines up pretty nice.
Probably shouldn't have bothered with all this work to save a reel that would go for ten or twenty bucks at a garage sale, but I like keeping old stuff going. I greased the bearings and drag washers and then spooled it up as a backup reel in case I get a bad birds nest surf casting my Penn 10.
Now I can say it was "Assembled in USA from international components".
(https://i.postimg.cc/N25LQqx7/IMG-3023.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/N25LQqx7)
(https://i.postimg.cc/qgRNsydh/IMG-3025.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/qgRNsydh)
(https://i.postimg.cc/zbDVPRbQ/IMG-3029.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/zbDVPRbQ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/Vr7dyLXk/IMG-3026.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Vr7dyLXk)
(https://i.postimg.cc/nsGXk1z7/IMG-3031.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/nsGXk1z7)
(https://i.postimg.cc/R3B3KYM4/IMG-3032.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/R3B3KYM4)
Here are some better pictures of where the plastic pins were.
I love it. I often spend way too much time/effort on stuff that, to others, might not be worth it. But there's a great feeling that comes from resurrecting stuff that would have ended in the landfill, but can now be used again, good as new or better! :d
Yessir, I do like some modern innovations, but I lament the modern over consumption and disposable culture.