Been servicing a few old penn 50s for a buddy of mine and i got one that i cant seem to get the freespool to engage, seems like it is binding up some how and i can't seem to figure out why. Any help would be greatly appreciated. For the record it is probably the oldest version of the 50 international.
cleaning out the bearings
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=13.0
and sleeving the spool shaft might help.
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=138.0
Hi David
I would assume that these have the old asbestos seperate drag washer which sometimes fall off the drag plate and will not allow the mainshaft to float correctly, I have had this problem with the very old models only, so when the drag cover plate is installed you should be able to move the drag plate in and out, if it jams then the fibre washer is out of alignment , either epoxy glue the asbestos drag fibre washer to the drag metal plate or put mainshaft into spool and assemble drag washers holding down the drag plate, fitting cover plate & see how that works?
let me know or send an image of the drag washers to identify them, cheers swordfishsteve