Just picked this reel up, she needs some work, but I figure this is the place to come to find out what she'll need. The reel foot needs alittle file work to smooth out a badly chipped upper edge, and part of the bail mechanism will need some serious de-corrosion work. She should be here in a week, and then a teardown will ensue. Any tips are very welcome.
It's the same as a Zebco, Zebco purchased Langley in '62. They are simple to take apart but be aware that to remove the rotor cup there is a small C clip right behind the pinion gear. It's tough to see & sometimes covered with old grease. Don't lose it when it pops off. Also, Langleys are noted for having their handle knobs freezing up or getting stiff. If it's stiff or frozen soak it in hot, but not too hot, water for a little while, get it to free up by spinning by hand, not a drill, soak it as many times as needed to get it loose, then lube it with some synthetic oil & keep working it. Post it up once you start working on it. I've been into a couple of them in the past. Here's part of my little herd.
Oh wow, that's a beautiful collection! Thank you very much for the tip on the handle. I researched this reel alittle bit when I was hunting her down, and saw your post about that c clip. Is it possible to clean the reel properly without removing the rotor cup? I don't want to risk damaging a part that I can't replace.
I doubt you will break it, but little C clips can be found at hardware stores like Ace, etc. Take it off in a plastic bag or in a tub/bucket so the clip doesn't go flying into outer space. ;D
You are a treasure trove of knowledge, sir! Thank you so much for the advice. I've had small parts going flying before, and the bucket trick is always a good approach. I spent three hours chasing a small screw around a linoleum kitchen floor once (sounds laughable, but it was a critical part with a special thread pitch and I'm lucky it didn't go down the drain).
Because I'm going to be doing alot of night fishing I'll more than likely be pitting my new reels against sail cats and sandbar cats, as well as the odd shark. Think they're good for it, or is this abuse for them?
Does the anti reverse work? It's activated by a small rubber part that breaks off. If not ORCA has a repair article on their site.
I don't have the reel in hand yet, but that is one of the first things that I will check. Thank you very much for that tip. Have you fished these reels, sir?
Mine needs the anti reverse fixed. It’s on my to do list. Reel Schematics has the break down and parts list on line under Zebco list.
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I look forward to seeing how do you the repair, sir.
l suspected Zebco bought out Langley.
What is this reel, Tommy?
Quote from: festus on April 03, 2019, 01:20:26 PM
l suspected Zebco bought out Langley.
What is this reel, Tommy?
Their toy ;D, the 707.
Quote from: George6308 on April 03, 2019, 03:24:47 AM
Does the anti reverse work? It's activated by a small rubber part that breaks off. If not ORCA has a repair article on their site.
For some reason my feeble memory tells me that the two bigger reels, 860 & 870, have a different set up, but it's been awhile so I can't remember for sure. Either way it's a simple repair. We'll see when FFRS get's his reel, and to answer his earlier question, yes, the rotor needs to be removed to do the repair and clean & lube those parts.
I will be sure to take detailed pictures of my strip and clean, when she gets in.
Quote from: Midway Tommy on April 03, 2019, 06:55:38 PM
Quote from: festus on April 03, 2019, 01:20:26 PM
l suspected Zebco bought out Langley.
What is this reel, Tommy?
Their toy ;D, the 707.
I thought so, or maybe a Swiss Whiz. My first spinner was a 707. Terrible reel.
Those Spinators look interesting. Maybe l'll get one. Would prefer the Langley. I have several Langley cousins, l wonder if they know about these.
After trying to take a couple of reels fishing and finding out that they were shot, I took apart the Langley, not expecting much. Boy was I pleasantly surprised at the setup that was in there. Solid gears, one bronze and one of an undetermined but hard metal and what seemed like bronze bearings on the cam, where it touches the reel body. She was gritty and sticky with old grease but once she was all cleaned out and relubed with blue marine grease, she runs like a charm.
When I got the reel she was set up for a left hand user, which I thought was odd because she wasn't marked as a left hand model. The gearbox can be switched from side to side on this model. I switched her back to a right hand dominant setup after cleaning her up. Then I took her out for some fast jig work on a sandbar. Nothing was biting but I still had a blast. Took a buddy out on the shore for his first time saltwater fishing. I set him up with my DAM 270 on his Daiwa surf rod. Amazon was running a sale on these so we picked them up for about $20 apiece. Lots of wind snarls, but that was probably main due to operator error on both our parts.
Here she is sitting pretty on my Daiwa FT 9 foot. Cheapest rod I've ever bought, but has a fast enough action to make heavy jigging fun.
The 870 in action. I'm seriously considering converting her to manual bail. She never snapped shut on me on the cast, but she was having trouble staying locked up once her bail tripped over. I had to stop and untangle a snarl a couple of times because of that.
Also, a couple of goofy southern boys drinking Corona on the beach while pretending to fish.
I have sort of have a thing for Langley and picked up a beater Spinator 870. Out of the package I had an immediate and intense flashback to Penn Spinfisher 700 or 704. They are about the same size, color, weight, feel and sound. Here is the Spinator 870 (middle) flanked by a Spinfisher 700 and a Luxor Crack 300 (the largest spinner I know of).
The Luxor predates the Langley and Penn. Sal had an excellent thread on the Luxor Crack where he critiqued the construction, made some significant modifications and then Mike C. helped put the Luxor and Spinfisher into a historical perspective. Sal also made some comparisons of the Luxor to the Spinfisher 700.
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=23376.0 (https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=23376.0)
Langley introduced the Spinator in 1957. The finish was changed from gloss to crackle paint in 1959. So, My example is from '57 to '59. The color was changed from green to black after Zebco purchased the fishing tackle division of Langly. The purchase included the patents, reel manufacturing machinery and parts inventory.
Before the sale to Zebco, Langley switched back and forth between making aviation parts and fishing tackle (rods, reels and lures) depending on whether or not there was a war going on. During WWII, they were making control panels for B26 bombers. The plane control panels were painted the exact same green color as the Spinators so they had been using that color for over a decade when the Spinator was introduced.
Penn introduced the Spinfisher in 1961, four years after the Spinator. The Spinfisher 700 in the photo above is somewhat later than '61 because the original Spinfisher had a green painted aluminum handle that was very similar to the Spinator handle. There are several photos of the original Spinfisher handle in this thread:
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=6740.30 (https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=6740.30)
Langley could have been taking a jab at Penn by naming the reel Spinator which rhymes with Senator. When the Spinfisher came out, Penn was definitely taking a jab at Langley with it's very similar size, shape and color.
As FlipFlopRepair notes above the Spinator internals are robust with a large bronze main and steel pinion. But, the Spinfisher has an internal bail trip mechanism while the Spinator has an eternal post that trips the bail closed. The Spinator bail can be closed manually while the Spinfisher bail can not. If you ask me, they both make a loud clunk when the bail trips. They both go through a lot of rubber bumpers on the bail.
The Spinator cross-wind black is metal and has little rollers on each end that ride on tracks. Very heavy duty set-up.
The Spinfisher rotor is fairly well balanced. The Spinator rotor is not balanced at all . In fact, opposite the bail line roller the rotor has an enlarged area in the casting that intentionally throws it off balance. Langley calls this "self-centering" as the rotor always stops with the line roller upward so it easily picked up with your finger.
This is all a long-winded way of saying that I think that the Spinfisher is a knock-off of the Spinator and they were equally good reels. However, the Spinfisher went on to become a classic and, perhaps, historically important surf casting reel while the Spinator faded into oblivion.
Acknowledgements and sincere thanks to Alan Borracho and Colby Sorrells for their excellent book on Langley tackle.
-steve
I'm gonna have to dig into mine sometime soon. I live in the Midwest and already have a DAM Quick 550 and 270 super for any big river cat fishing, but don't remember the last time I cleaned and lubed it. Think I might just clean it out and brush some oil all over the inside until I know I'll use it or I go to sell it.
Thanks
Jeff