I recently bought three 550's, two of which already had after market aluminum spools. I think they were from J.Hara store on the Big Island, but I cannot say for sure. Anyway, I purchased a 3rd spool to complete the matching set, but when I tried to install, it seemed to be binding no matter what I did. At first I thought it was the bearing cup adjustment on the clicker side of the reel, but I completely removed it and it still was rubbing. Then I took apart one of my other reels and compared the spools and found that the drive notch on the spool shaft that seats into the pinion gear are at different positions. The Tib spool is forced over towards the clicker side of the reel just enough to cause it to bind. Have any of you seen this before? Am I missing something?
(http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg492/mauiwes01/cc473831.jpg)
i see a hammer in your future, a box to return the spool back to tiburon. :-\
All good. I was trying to install the Tib spool in a 550 that has the plastic bearing cup on the handle side. Swapped spools with one of my 550's with the dual adjustment cups...problem solved!
Nice work Wes.