Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I bought this DQ 330 locally for less than $15 & sent it to Fred for his Once-Over.  Internal grease so hard I could barely move the handle.





Fred shipped it back this week, and MAN o'man, what a RESTORE Job Fred did!!!  STUNNING is my only word.











Fred!  You are A TRUE Level 5 Craftsman, you took a junk pile & turned it into a REEL Beauty!!!!

I have a cousin's husband in upper Minnesota who wants me to get there some summer & fish for BIG... FAT...

Smallmouth bass & lake trout.  This DQ 330 will be a perfect fit.

THANKS Fred!!!  You did REEL GOOD WORK!!!!!

Wayne

Beautamous !!!

The DQ 330 is the mid-sized spinning reel in the 7 reel lineup —- 110, 220, 221, 330, 331, 440, 550.

These 330's can generally be bought dirt cheap used, and just a little restoration will turn them into a lifetime reel to be used and handed forward to someone else when we no longer are around.

They are an all round reel that will handle  most Ńorth American species ranging from trout, bass, stripers, cats, pike, muskie, walleye, lakers, mackinaws, steelhead, salmon, and others.

Fresh or salt.

As usual with D-A-M, over the top engineering, including a worm-drive gear train, and many features using top quality materials.

These are serious reels for serious anglers —- they are not the toss-away Tupperware reels we see coming over from Asia.

Best, Fred

Back in the day mine caught many Coho salmon and sea run steel head trout along with their smaller cousins; dolly varden and cut throat.

Sounds like it had the "original grease/oil", Wayne. I got what's prolly an early 50's M.G.300(actually it's a pre-Garcia; "Mitchell", with no 300 marked on it) and the original looking grease(that'ed be older than me!)is almost like glue.

What's the best solvent, anyone?

Problem with Mitchells is dulling or losing the paint with most solvents and cleaning agents.

For the insides (but not plastic components) I would use lacquer thinner on the gears, spool shaft, etc..

For any caked on grease inside the casing, I would use lacquer thinner, a wooden popsicle stick, and Q-tips.

Outer casing would be Dawn dish soap and a gentle cloth rub.

Things like the bail, crank, etc. —- should be cleaned then polished with "0000" steel wool, then finished off with Nevr-Dull and a microfiber cloth.

Any plastics like maybe a drag knob or a crank knob would be fine in the Dawn.

Afterwards give the reel a light spray of WD40, and wipe and buff dry with a microfiber cloth.

On Mitchells, never use Simple Green or Purple Degreaser.

Trust me on this.

You may find other things that work well —- this is just what I do.

Best, Fred