I dont recall having a fishing reel in my arsenal doing this but I have never owned a Penn squall drag or a Penn Fathom star drag who has the same mechanism of the free floating spindle on the spool shaft.
anyway, the question is if its normal the spool keeps turning a bit after the freelspool lever is engaged?
I will put a short video where you can see that after I put the reel on free spool and turn the spool with my handle to move the lever back again to engage and move the pinion to conect with the spool, well you will hear a sound of how the square conection of the pinion slip 2-3-4 times until engage to a full conection with the spool, once the pinion and spool gets a full conection the drag gets pretty sturdy and solid.
this might be a normal system but I havent noticed before on any other reel
pics of the part of the pinion which connects to the hole of the spool, I took the spool shaft out for more clear view of the hole
Alex, I just checked my Penn Baja with live spindle and free floating spool and spool stops as soon as lever is flipped over.
Quote from: MACflyer on September 26, 2025, 06:54:12 PMAlex, I just checked my Penn Baja with live spindle and free floating spool and spool stops as soon as lever is flipped over.
I have a Baja Special too but the conection system between pinion and spool is different than this squall/fathom.
Didn't know that as I'm still using mostly 20th century equipment I can't wear out haha. I'm sure someone with some 21st century reels and experience will be along soon. If it is a problem, it doesn't sound like it should be too hard to fix. Good luck!
Alex - haven't torn one of these apart but the spool engagement slot looks a little worn. Maybe a little too much grease? - john
Quote from: Brewcrafter on Today at 12:56:30 AMAlex - haven't torn one of these apart but the spool engagement slot looks a little worn. Maybe a little too much grease? - john
I looked at them with a magnifying glass and its not worn, it has some diagonal cuts on each edge of the slot to help the pinion end to slide in while the spool is rotating and engage the spool.
Sounds like it's not gonna engage well with the spool spinning, but why would someone even do that? Isn't that harmful to the parts?
Quote from: Gfish on Today at 01:30:40 AMSounds like it's not gonna engage well with the spool spinning, but why would someone even do that? Isn't that harmful to the parts?
Live baiting in freespool is pretty common. Let the fish run for a bit, and then drop it into gear. Lever drags are good for this. It is pretty brutal on star drags, especially with species like tuna, that will pick up the bait on the run. One trick is to start with a lighter drag setting and then turn the drag up once the reel is in gear.
-J