Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I don't remember how I happened upon my Shakespeare 2200. I don't remember finding it at a flea market or a junk shop, so I'll say that wasn't it. That leaves an online estate sale or a late night eBay impulse buy, and I'm leaning toward estate sale. In any case, the reel initially was as you'd expect -- every movement was slow due to dried grease. I eagerly took it apart, and all of the non-painted parts went into the ultrasonic for a spell. I took them out, rinsed them, and set them neatly on a towel to dry, including the coveted little spacer that ensures a proper fit between the main gear and the oscillating slider. My 10 y/o son walked in to the shop and I encouraged him, as always, to watch and maybe help turn a few screws as the job progressed. As 10 year olds sometimes do, he picked up my big floor magnet and decided to test the magnetism of the parts drying on the towel. As 10 year-olds also sometimes do, he exhibited messy coordination and sent all of said parts, none of which were ferrous, in many directions. I am guilty of not keeping a clean shop. My 20' x 25' workshop is equal parts tackle storage, lawncare storage, small engine repair, outboard repair, Toyota repair, electronics repair, bike repair, and usually at least 3 of those things are going on at once. Plus I am just not a terribly organized person. Fortunately I had recently straightened up, and with a little work I was able to find everything -- except for the little spacer makes a snug fit between the main gear and oscillating slider (see part #49 here).
First I decided the reel would be relegated to wall hanger status, but that didn't sit right. It was super smooth aside from the knock at the bottom of the oscillation caused by the missing spacer. This would be a killer panfish reel. Plus I needed the rush of taking an old reel that had been cast aside, and making it good again. So I dug around for that missing part, fully ready to shell out more than I'd paid for the reel for this little metal ring, to no avail. I dug through the box of miscellaneous spacers I keep stashed, and while some things matched the inner diameter of the missing ring, they were all too thick to work. I also went so far as to completely deep-clean and reorganize the workshop, sifting through every dustpan of detritus (my shop is an old pole barn with no insulation and poor sealing so the concrete floor always has some dirt on it), no luck.

Then one day I was contemplating an upcoming Toyota project when I saw a piece of brake line with a fitting on one end that I'd saved one day. Honestly I don't know why the heck I saved it. It was actually a piece of the clutch line that had broken off when I had to replace the master cylinder years ago. I tried to unscrew the fitting from the MC, but a section of the line spun with it and it cracked near the first bend. I don't know why, but I decided that broken piece of brake line was worth saving, and I put it on the 'brake parts' shelf. I put the caliper on it, and the outside diameter was a PERFECT match for the missing Shakespeare part. Unfortunately, the inside diameter was too small. I checked around for more brake line, nothing. I thought about going to a parts store to see if they had brake line with a thinner wall, but meh...
Fast forward a couple evenings, I was in the shop working, and decided to try something. I took a section of the brake line and carefully locked it into a vice, just tightly enough that it didn't deform. Next I got a drill bit that matched the ID of the original part. I have a drill press, but I had no way of locking in the brake line. I figured my best bet would be to cut it into small sections and try to drill each individually, and maybe I could get lucky on one?
First attempt -- NAILED IT. Couldn't believe it, but using a regular old DeWalt 20V drill and a cobalt bit, i drilled a 1" section dead-center on the first try. A quick fit-check on the main gear, everything good.
Next step: Had to cut a piece the right height. This took about 3 tries before I got a piece that was sized correctly after final finishing (had to use a fine, flat file to make sure the edges were all flat). The final result:  Part looks good and reel performs perfectly! Since then I've caught probably over a dozen fish on the reel, ranging from small bluegill to largemouth to 2lb or so. The reel handles it all quite well, and it's honestly somewhere between my Penn 716Z and my Mitchell 308 in smoothness (smoother than the Mitchell).

Fast forward a year or so. Same son has a major thing for old metal Daiwas, to the extent that I have to keep an eye on him at flea markets and junk shops or he'll blow all his savings. He recently wanted a project, and we found a Daiwa GS-10X for cheap with a broken bail wire. I bought it, bought the replacement bail wire on eBay (NOS, not used) and we got that reel cleaned up and put together. Unfortunately something was awry -- if we tightened the bottom bail screw all the way, the bail was locked. A couple turns off and the bail worked perfectly, but of course you can't fish that way (and risk losing the screw). I tried tweaking the bail wire but it honestly fit perfectly. I thought about filing that end of the bail arm down a little, so the screw wouldn't index off of it, but I hated to soil a NOS part that way. We needed a spacer to fill the tiny gap between that screw and the raised post the bail sat on. I suspect the reel came with the wrong screw, but boy wanted to fish now. I dug around looking for a spacer and...found some of the discards from the brake line experiment. Guess what? Perfect fit! Screw goes down good and snug and bail arm has clearance to work. Still going to order the correct screw and hope that fixes the issue. But in any case...

Just this once, hoarding paid off. Two reels fixed by an old broken piece of brake line.

If you have a Shakespeare 2200 and need that spacer, let me know!

    I`m glad I am not the only one who saves everything , just have to remember what and where you put things .. 

  Do you notice these Daiwa reel , the Silver series ,GS ,BG , D1300 ,1600 use almost same bail spring .When I start use Daiwa reel I broke bail spring once /month until I learn to close the bail by hand .At one time I order 20 springs and last till today . Some can also fix Shimano reel with a little bending

Persistence. I love your story, and I have had the same type of thing happen to me once in awhile; unfortunately, most of the stuff I save for "next time" never sees the next time come around.

Frank

Way to go!!