Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Here's my latest refurbished Penn classic, a beautiful greenie 704 Spinfisher, all shined up and ready for the SOA trip! 



I'd always wanted to acquire a big green Spinfisher, but somehow never did. Well, thanks to fleaBay, I finally got one! (Well, uh, two actually... due to a severe attack of Pennicitis, I couldn't resist...ahem. )

Anyway, after disassembly and cleaning, I must say I am impressed with the elegant simplicity of the design and the relative ease of maintenance compared to my other favorite oldie, the more complicated Mitchell Garcia 402. The 704 lacks the Mitchell's two part "Planamatic" up-and-down spool oscillation, but that's not a concern. Also, the reel is somewhat on the heavier side, but I actually like that solid old-school heft. 

Even though the box rates it for 20 lb test, I may fill it with 25 or 30... Ande pink, of course! Gonna get me a fat WSB... woohoo!

~A~

Nice Aiala, you go ahead and fill it with 25-30lbs, it will do just fine. Those reels are beasts.
I also have one of those, a good friend here sent me one new in the box about two years ago


I would recommend a newer drag knob and of course an Acetal washer for under the spool, as I'm showing.
The 3 carbon fiber washers will do just fine, if you didn't open it yet the first washer in the spool is a teflon washer, you want to replace it with a carbon fiber washer.
If you're looking for some more drag, you could install 5 carbon fiber washers, 3 octagon metal washers and 3 keyed metal washers.
I believe the thickness of the carbon fiber washers is .45mm. This reel is similar to the 750ss, the octagon washer is a little larger and it won't fit in the 750ss, but the octagon washer from the 750ss will fit just fine.
Again the 3 stack will do just fine.

Sal

Quote from: Alto Mare on March 13, 2015, 11:37:00 PM
This reel is similar to the 750ss, the octagon washer is a little larger and it won't fit in the 750ss, but the octagon washer from the 750ss will fit just fine.

Uh, Sal... color me confused??   

Although I do have a newer drag knob like the one you pictured, I am a stickler for keeping the original look, and I love that gleaming white, so... 

I'll put in the 3 CF washers, of course... (pretty sure size 6-60 is correct.)

As for the Acetal washer, I can't find it anywhere and don't know the right dimensions and frankly the whole Delrin business is driving me insane... I WISH some enterprising soul here would punch out a few thousand of the most commonly used sizes and offer them for sale... I promise to buy a whole crapload of the blasted things. 

~A~

P.S. Do you ever fish that gorgeous 704, or is it just destined to stay looking flawless forever? 

Nice reel, That is one of my favorites.I have many of them Great surf reels very easy to fix& maintain.

Quote from: Aiala on March 14, 2015, 02:43:43 PM

Quote from: Alto Mare on March 13, 2015, 11:37:00 PM
This reel is similar to the 750ss, the octagon washer is a little larger and it won't fit in the 750ss, but the octagon washer from the 750ss will fit just fine.

Uh, Sal... color me confused??   

Although I do have a newer drag knob like the one you pictured, I am a stickler for keeping the original look, and I love that gleaming white, so... 

I'll put in the 3 CF washers, of course... (pretty sure size 6-60 is correct.)

As for the Acetal washer, I can't find it anywhere and don't know the right dimensions and frankly the whole Delrin business is driving me insane... I WISH some enterprising soul here would punch out a few thousand of the most commonly used sizes and offer them for sale... I promise to buy a whole crapload of the blasted things. 

~A~

P.S. Do you ever fish that gorgeous 704, or is it just destined to stay looking flawless forever? 

Sorry Aiala, i'll do my best, but I already know its not good enough .
If you are going with the 3 carbon fiber stack configuration as the original, all is good from there.
If you are going with the 5 carbon fiber washers upgrade, you will need 3 Octagon washers to make it work.
Placing 5 carbon washers in the stack and 5 keyed washers would only generate 5lb of drag. The octagon washers have the same functions as the eared washers.
Stick with the stack as you have it now and you will do just fine.

For some reason, the octagon washer in the older 704 is larger than the Octagon washer in the 750ss, If you're like me and keep moving things around it would be a pain when you run into those and realize they won't fit in the 750ss.

The 6-60 is correct!

Yes you're right about having someone cutting the Acetal and offer them to everyone, I'm actually surprised no one has done it yet. Cutting my own work, but cutting many gets old quickly.
I gave a bunch of dimensions to Dave (Jerulometer), but he just doesn't have the time.
I know that he did cut a bunch and sent them to Bryan, but I haven't seen those circulate here, unless he's giving them out quietly .

No, my 704 will not be fished.
You're right about the white knobs, they do make the reel. Unfortunately, they will crack at times when under stress.
Good idea about fishing it with the new knob and keeping the older white knob in the box, that's what I would do.


Here are some pics, they will explain it  better than I can

As mentioned above, on the left, you could only replace the 3 washers with carbon fiber washers and be done with it.
on the right you would replace the washers with the 5 stack configuration, as I'm showing.
The carbon fiber washers are .45mm in thickness, the metal washers are .50mm and those are the ones from Bryan.

On another note, if you also have the 700, you could upgrade it as well by swapping that same spool.
Or if you wanted to use the 700 spool you could still do it
You would need to cut two groves in the spool for the eared washers, as I'm showing at the upper right

you could squeeze as many as 6 in that spool

Sal

I prefer conventional reels, but always liked those.  Very nice.