Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I got this Penn 160 reel that I just can't seem to get rid of   so I decided to use it myself. I recently cleaned it and lubed it and changed the drag washers with drag washer sheet from eBay. I find that the drag is either too loose like free spoil or to tight with no happy medium. Any advice?

Thanks!

Hi castamile --

Not knowing exactly where your comfort level is (I think you know what you are doing pretty well, though) --

We will start out at the basics -- mainly for folks who may not be as experienced as you.

I always look at the simplist things first -- then eliminate as I go to more obscure or rare reasons why something may not function properly --

Don't jump around -- just focus on the most common and likely causes first.

If it were mine, I would break it down -- remove, clean and reorder the drag stack -- particularly paying attention to see if the eared metal #2 washer is nested properly at the top of the gear stack.  If out of the ear notches -- this would cause your issue.  These slip out easily when reassembling.

Making sure you start with an under gear washer -- gear, Cal's greased CF, keyed metal, greasd CF, eared washer, Cal's greased CF, keyed washer, spring washer, spacer.

There are a half dozen other more or less likely possibilities.  But try this, post some pics for us, and let us know your progress.

These are very nice old reels, and I agree, hard for me to get rid of these old soldiers too.  They do catch a lot of fish.

Best,

Fred

And make sure the 8-60 tension spring is not flat.

Not sure of the washer sheet material but if it is CF try a wet drag system with some Cal's Grease.