Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Hi guys, let me start out by saying I think this a great forum that's very informative and has great tutorials as well as some helpful tips and accurate answers from a lot of you. I'm glad to be apart of it. Let me go over my situation and get some recommendations from you guys. I am a younger NE angler who was fortunate enough to get an original JM 501 and 500s passed down from my grandfather who passed awhile ago. These have sentimental value and are in great condition so I'm not interested in selling but I would like to fish them again with some simple upgrades. It may be better to cover all this in another thread so I will do that if needed. I plan on fishing these mostly from a kayak for stripers, blues, BSB, tog, etc. (as alan stated the 501 is a great reel for this).  I plan on going with a tiburon frame/spool, power handle, ht-100s and stainless gear sleeve. I know there's a lot more possibilities for upgrades such as all stainless gears(5:1), bridge, dogs/double dogs, carbontex drag etc and a price tag to go with it but it may not be necessary for stripers. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Thanks

Welcome BILL01945, your only limitations on those reels would be your pocket money. Good start though.

Bob

You may not need ALL but definitely recommend some.

Welcome Bill!
There are plenty of tutorials on this reel. From Mild to Wild. As BMitch stated, Its just how deep you want to go.
I think the Tib frame and a ss sleeve and drag upgrades would make it good enough for what you want to use it for. That is a $100 Bill already.

a thorough tear down, grease job and rebuild, replace the drags with greased ht-100's and then consider a handle upgrade.  for this reel, one of penn 24-56 jigmaster power handles would look great!  and welcome!!!!!

welcome and that's a good problem to have and ultimately the essence of an old Penn.

to Hotrod or not to hotrod?
That is the question!