Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Spinning Reel Rebuild Tutorials and Questions => Abu Garcia/Garcia/Mitchell => Mitchell => Topic started by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 01:56:08 AM

Title: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 01:56:08 AM
Hi all-

Long time no post, so apologies for being an absentee forumite!
Had to share this. My wife and I went to the Goodwill outlet in Sacramento on Presidents' day. If you've not been, this is the last stop for Goodwill goods before landfill. They sell by the pound, and cheap. Normally, it's around $1.50 a pound, but this was their half-off sale. It was absolute Bedlam, but the first thing I found was a Mitchell 410 in surprisingly redeemable condition!
Given its weight is right around a half pound, this cost a whopping 38 cents or so!

This is what I found:
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: foakes on March 17, 2019, 02:00:47 AM
Looks to be in pretty good and hopeful condition.

If there is anything you need — that you do not have on hand — just let me know.

I have lots of new parts for those.

Good find!

Best,

Fred
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 02:05:09 AM
Thanks, Fred!

The only thing materially wrong with it was the missing bobbin on the spool, but no biggie there as I've got a few spare spools from my grandparents' old 300s, and from various garage sale reels. I've got a small spool that I'll be putting light test on.

Finally got a chance to crack into it this afternoon, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting.

Looks like someone did at least a bit of maintenance on it over the years, but there was definitely a bit of grease salad happening. I did manage to locate a couple of shims stuck in the old grease.
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 02:15:58 AM
It was pretty filthy in parts, and the AR dog was bent a bit so that it wouldn't go into reverse, but that was easy enough to bend back. Also the handle was a little bent, but responded nicely to the bench vise.

Initially it seemed like it had a lazy bail spring, but just cleaning out the moving parts brought it back to one of the crisper bails I've got. It is missing the rubber bail stop that's actually not even present on my other 410 nor on any 300s I've got, but I'm not terribly concerned with that. Fred, if you thing this is something important, let me know; if it's not, I can go without.

I cleaned the old grease out, put in some marine grease and slapped it back together to see where it'd land. Not a full do-it-right job to say the least, but what I could get done this afternoon. This little beast actually feels great, so I'm going to spool it up and christen it in a couple weeks on 2109's inaugural camping trip with my wife and new puppy. 
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: Darin Crofton on March 17, 2019, 03:13:38 AM
Great little score, saved from the dreadful landfill, good job!
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: Ron Jones on March 17, 2019, 04:45:59 AM
Don't know that I've seen one of those. Where does the 410 fall into the herd sizewise? I'm guessing it's similar to a 300 since the bobbin fits.
Ron Jones
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: foakes on March 17, 2019, 04:47:41 AM
Quote from: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 02:15:58 AM
It is missing the rubber bail stop that's actually not even present on my other 410 nor on any 300s I've got, but I'm not terribly concerned with that. Fred, if you thing this is something important, let me know; if it's not, I can go without.

No, it is not that important — it will fish just fine without the bumper.

However, it is nice to have the reel correct.  The 300's do not have bumpers — but the high speed blue 400, 410, 401, & 411 all have a red rubber bumper that is flat on one side to fit properly.

PM me your full mailing address — and I will get a couple in the mail on Monday.  N/C.

This will take care of both of your 410's.

It will be a quieter bail snap — protect it a little better — plus maybe make the line lay a little evener.

Best,

Fred
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: Midway Tommy on March 17, 2019, 05:47:18 AM
Quote from: Ron Jones on March 17, 2019, 04:45:59 AM
Don't know that I've seen one of those. Where does the 410 fall into the herd sizewise? I'm guessing it's similar to a 300 since the bobbin fits.
Ron Jones

They are the same size as the 300 & higher speed 400. Main differences are of course the high speed aspect, it has roller bearings, a couple of variations in the bail & line guides, i.e. tungsten & roller, and a bail bumper.
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 03:34:13 PM
Quote from: foakes on March 17, 2019, 04:47:41 AM
Quote from: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 02:15:58 AM
It is missing the rubber bail stop that's actually not even present on my other 410 nor on any 300s I've got, but I'm not terribly concerned with that. Fred, if you thing this is something important, let me know; if it's not, I can go without.

No, it is not that important — it will fish just fine without the bumper.

However, it is nice to have the reel correct.  The 300's do not have bumpers — but the high speed blue 400, 410, 401, & 411 all have a red rubber bumper that is flat on one side to fit properly.

PM me your full mailing address — and I will get a couple in the mail on Monday.  N/C.

This will take care of both of your 410's.

It will be a quieter bail snap — protect it a little better — plus maybe make the line lay a little evener.

Best,

Fred

Thanks, Fred! I'll take you up on that, but only one is needed, weirdly, the other 410 I have has no bail stop. Might not be the factory bail though, as this poor guy's seen some, ahem, 'unauthorized' abuse. If you'll note the reel foot's been ground down to fit on a smaller reel seat than was intended. FWIW, this dates to '77.
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 03:37:31 PM
Quote from: Ron Jones on March 17, 2019, 04:45:59 AM
Don't know that I've seen one of those. Where does the 410 fall into the herd sizewise? I'm guessing it's similar to a 300 since the bobbin fits.
Ron Jones

Yep, as others have stated, it's virtually identical size-wise to a 300, but substantially smoother feeling, and painted in the cool high-speed blue of the 4xx series.
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: newfuturevintage on March 17, 2019, 04:37:59 PM
Oh, and if you've not been to the bins, it's madness: literal troughs of "other peoples' trash" brought out at about 10 minute intervals for folks to dive through. They're about a foot or two deep, 10' long, 3' wide, and full of minimally sorted junk. It's a miracle anything of value is in them, but my wife and I have come away with some crazy good deals. Mostly to feed her ebay store, but every now and again, I score something like the 410.

(https://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/-97Rvz1w3SnvIyhgbZqG5w/l.jpg)
Title: Re: Mitchell 410 from the Goodwill Bins!
Post by: happyhooker on March 18, 2019, 01:54:00 AM
A winner on the reel.

I applaud your courage in diving into the "bin wars".

Frank