I decided to splurge a little before the de minimis is removed at the end of the month and grabbed a RCS 35mm handle, high grip knob, and a hex shaft adapter to run a newer style handle on these dinosaurs. The hex shaft is about half an inch longer than the hex shaft on the OEM handle, so I couldn't run the nylon bushing. Instead, I sourced a couple of 4x6x0.25mm washers from my parts bin and a dab of blue thread lock on the screw, and now she's a singin'. The reel lost half an ounce of weight and with this new handle, it feels a lot better than it did with a pivot handle. Who knew the slop generated from that thing could detract that much from it?
(https://i.imgur.com/nJ8KkEJ.jpeg)
That looks great Bob. Where do you source your parts? Rick
Hex shaft adapter
https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/2432
Handle
https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/5418
Knob
https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/4748
Yeah it's a bit much for a $100 reel, but they're my favorite spinners next to the ABU Cardinals and to me it's worth it for something I plan on taking to the grave or passing along to the kids.
One of my all time favorite reels. I had done something similar on an ss1300 but the hex is so much shorter on the 700 that I never messed with the handle arm I just swapped to a cork knob.
I actually did a video of the handle install on this one. The shims I used were the spares that came with the knob.