Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Howdy Folks from Coastal South TX.

I'm Mark and since I retired Ive been spending as many days on the water fishing as I can.  Been salt water fishing for at least 50 years.  I've never gotten rid of any of the reels that I've obtained over the years.

Abu Garcia's, Daiwa's, Penn's and Shimano's.  In bait casting and spinning.  62 and wanting to learn and do something constructive this Winter  when not fishing.  I've decided to start cleaning, refurbishing and repairing my stash of reels. 

Thinking about starting with giving the reels that I currently use a good cleaning and lubricating.  After that, wanting to tackle working on the older parts of the collection.

Would you recommend working on the bait casters first and then progressing to the spinning?  Thinking it would be good to keep those separate in order to build and reinforce the skills as so go from oldest to newest........

Thanks for letting me participate.  Looking forward to learning!

Hi, I avoid working on spinning reels so do not take my advice on them.

Mark, welcome to the best bunch of guys you will ever meet.  Any conventional will be 100 times easier than any spinning reel.  But you are in the right place, anyone here has worked on any reel ever produced and can help you when you run I to a problem.   Bill

Welcome .   Any reel you take apart a few times becomes easy , like tying your shoelaces.

hi Mark, work on any reel you wish, just take digital photos as you go, then refer back to them as you place them back together, if you have any trouble just ask, you have the most helpful people, that you will ever find, right here on this forum, and welcome from sunny western Australia, cheers Don.

Unpopular opinion: baitcasters are more fun to fish with. Spinners, even modern ones, are way easier to work on. Yeah you frequently need to remove the rotor to get access to the frame screws. But don't make me start listing which components require full disassembly on a baitcast/conventional to get at. Spoiler: it's all of them.

Mark, welcome aboard. You'll find some very helpful people and some very lively banter here.

Just remember the golden rule: you almost never need to force anything. If it seems stuck, use the right solvent, soak it longer, or consider the possibility that you might need to disassemble something else to get it out of the way. And if you're not sure, someone here has probably seen it before.

That's the golden rule. The silver rule is: don't be afraid to disassemble it and try again. We all make mistakes. But if you didn't force it you probably didn't break it, and you can try again.

Edit: I wanna be clear. Baitcasters and conventionals aren't difficult. But I think spinners are easier.

Greetings, Mark, from Minnesota.  I give the nod to the thought that working on spinning reels is easier than working on baitcasters, at least generally speaking.

Frank

Welocme Mark from the SoCal Inland Empire! - john

welcome!!!

Howdy!

Welcome! Don't let older open face spinners scare you, they're a piece of cake.. 

Welcome aboard.

One piece of advice I have for you; whatever reel you choose to learn on, first have a look online for a video or two to familiar yourself to the disassembly and reassembly of the reel's make and model. 

There are many videos that can help you get started and should you ever get stuck or have questions there are many more folks here that will help unblock your efforts. 

Good luck with your new hobby. 

Welcome Mark!

Thanks for the welcome and good suggestions folks!

 Welcome you might want to start working on the older reels first to get your feet wet. Less parts normally usually simpler mechanisms to figure out. Also get some decent tools first, good lighting and patience