Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Thanks to this board -I finally got one of the Mitchell 300s I have cleaned up and useable. Especially helpful for me with the way my brain works were the following threads:

 1) REVISED Tutorial: Garcia Mitchell 3-0-0 Spinning Reel Service by Treidm

This was an invaluable step by step guide for a tyro. And then when I had followed all those steps and my reel felt worse than ever - the following post stopped me from losing my sanity and gave me encouragement to keep tinkering until the reel got to a useable state. Thanks!

2) Shimming A Mitchell Spinning Reel
Started by Gfish, December 21, 2022, 01:28:11 AM

Not sure of the service history of the reel - all screws show evidence of wear and seems to have some replacement parts already. No serial number and newer style components on older boomerang AR style. Cleaned with combination of mineral spirits, alcohol and dawn.

Had no trouble with the bail spring or putting everything back together --except for the trip lever spring and screw (which I removed in an excess of cleaning zeal) -that was extremely fiddly for some reason. Once put together the first time the reel had a lot of gear noise which was worse reeling forward than backward and lessened considerably when turned upside down. Pre-existing shims shown below. Anyway, with your guys posts to guide me -kept futzing around with shims (ended up adding one head to housing shim and changing one baffle plate shim to different thickness) and the baffle plate and got it acceptable. Slightly noisy but evenly so and spinning freely.

Good for you! 👍 Experience is always the best learning process. The biggest challenge is mentally retaining the tips & tricks for the next encounter.  😁

Just curious what the foot # is,looks like a version 6? Great work,they are a little noisy anyway,but once the shims are dialed in they work great !

Way to stick with it.  A 300 w/o a serial number is not unheard of.

Frank

Quote from: Midway Tommy on December 10, 2025, 08:19:14 PMGood for you! 👍 Experience is always the best learning process. The biggest challenge is mentally retaining the tips & tricks for the next encounter.  😁

At least by the 4th time through with this one I could remember where most of the parts go!

Quote from: happyhooker on December 10, 2025, 09:42:22 PMWay to stick with it.  A 300 w/o a serial number is not unheard of.

Frank

Hey guys==that is what I was trying to show foot and body pics. Really need to figure out a better camera/phone and lighting situation--since the photographer is unlikely to get more talented, lol. Anyway, I never would have semi-figured it out without the collective wisdom, examples and encouragement from this amazing site. 

300 foot numbers are hard to read without a magnifying glass for myself.

Alright!
Once you get used to disassembly/assembly, playing with the shims becomes easier. Usually one addition or subtraction of a shim means something else might need adjusted.

Quote from: jgp12000 on December 11, 2025, 07:00:23 AM300 foot numbers are hard to read without a magnifying glass for myself.

I took another look with Dad's trusty AGFA LUPE and couldn't find any numbers anywhere. It seems like kind of a Frankenstein reel - with an older style AR but newer baffle plate and trip lever with slot instead of post. But thanks for motivating me to add the lupe to my array of tools-it will be helpful to these old eyes- downside is boogered screws look really bad at 8x, lol.

Quote from: Gfish on December 11, 2025, 03:36:45 PMAlright!
Once you get used to disassembly/assembly, playing with the shims becomes easier. Usually one addition or subtraction of a shim means something else might need adjusted.

A truth now learned through experience! Getting the baffle plate to trip the bail without rubbing or missing the lever altogether was raising my bp there for a while. But your advice (an others on this board) helped me not get too frustrated. And at the end of the day it is a fishing reel not a swiss watch so I am listening to a countryman of Monsieur Mitchell on this one for now and not letting "the perfect be the enemy of the good."

Trying to remember; I think there are some 300 models that have the serial number on a place other than the bottom of the foot (?)  Also trying to remember; did we decide once in the past that, in addition to the plant forgetting (?) serial numbers on some reels, that replacement reel bodies intentionally left the factory with no numbers?

Frank

Quote from: happyhooker on December 11, 2025, 08:55:31 PMTrying to remember; I think there are some 300 models that have the serial number on a place other than the bottom of the foot (?)  Also trying to remember; did we decide once in the past that, in addition to the plant forgetting (?) serial numbers on some reels, that replacement reel bodies intentionally left the factory with no numbers?

Frank

I scanned all over the body too with the lupe and didn't see any numbers -so I like your answer.

It looks to be what Wallace considered a 6th Version, 1958/9 - 1967/8.

From his Archives:
"Sixth Version:
SN 1889513 was the earliest 6th Version I've found.
1958 – SN 1889513 to 2225412
1959 – SN 2282964 to 2959786
1960 – SN 3067452 to 3579119
1961 – SN 3616448 to 4218719
1962 – SN 4267369 to 4870499
1963 – SN 4918411 to 5494100
1964 – SN 5546867 to 5953668
1965 – SN 5996632 to 6579351
1966 – SN 6656941 to 7276825
1967 – SN 7282575 to 7895887
NOTE: Between SN 1883288 and SN 1889513 marks the beginning of matching Serial Numbers on boxes. It's also when
they moved the serial number stamp forever back to the reel's foot. The 6th version main determining factor was that "Garcia" is now engraved on the cover plate as shown below along with the same "Mitchell 3-0-0" as on the 5th version. The 6th version was produced from 1958/59 to 1967/68 and will have serial numbers starting in the 1880000 range up to serial number range 7900000. On very early 6th versions and for a very short period of time; Garcia continued to place their yellow & black stickers as you can see. On both the 5th and 6th versions starting in the 1880000 serial number range; serial numbers were moved back to the foot where they remained through 1988/89. The one shown below with serial number 1912233 dates this reel a very early 6th version from 1958/59 which was the first year these were produced. Other changes occurred in the 2200000 serial number range when they moved the Made in France on the front of the housing to the rear. Many other changes were concurrently made to both the 5th and 6th versions such as trip levers, anti-reverse levers, handles, drag adjustment knobs and baffle plates to name a few. More information on these changes will be given out as time permits. It's important to note that you will find other distributor's have their name and or logo engraved on this version including Arca, Albatros and Balzer. Pictures are being taken and will be added as time permits."

When I enlarge the foot photo there almost appears to be a digit (like a 9 or maybe an upside down 6) a little left of center.