Reel Repair by Alan Tani

a guy just sent me an email asking.  i never used them, so i embarrassingly never kept track. 

QuoteDear Mr. Tani,
I purchased a couple of modified Penn 114H - 6/0 reels. I was
surprised to find what appears to be a custom drag washer system. The
main gear has a pressed in housing with a serrated shape that the
washers mate perfectly into. I have searched the internet looking for
this drag system without any luck. I would sure appreciate your help
in identifying this system and more importantly where I can purchase
backup replacement carbon fiber washers. Please take a look at the
attached photo. Thank you in advance for your help.

Fred

A lot of custom parts in that reel, motive fab Star, stainless ar dog, stainless gears and gear sleeve. Wouldn't be surprised if this was done by a member and there's a thread about it somewhere.

yeah, saw that.  the hard part about this?  bryan would have known..... 

Pretty sure that the star and insert were made by member Three se7ens (Adam).  Check out post #17 for a photo. 

https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,15385.0.html

Haven't seen much from Adam for awhile.  He may have moved on to other endeavors.  You can try to contact him via PM on this site. His website does not list reel parts any more, but there is still an email link if you dig around: http://motivefab.com/

Those style of insert kits had a reputation for being able to hit fairly high drag settings, but there were also problems reported with the drag washer ears shearing off.  In order to get more washers in the stack, they have to be thinner, but that limits the thickness and therefore the structural integrity of the resin impregnated core. Plus since both sides of eared  drag washers are friction surfaces, the shear load is doubled for the same clamping load.    And on top of that, the average circumference of the drag surface determines how much braking work is done per revolution, so these style insert kits that decrease the diameter of the drag washers also lose some of the gains from going to eared/double sided.

I don't know if Adam addressed the shearing  issue in later versions of the insert kit.  There are members here that have some, so maybe they can pipe in on their real world experiences.

If it was my reel and I was looking for a backup drag, I would go with the original Penn kit and not use the insert.  Bryan may have had a drag kit with more washers for the stock setup without the insert as well. Whoever took over Bryan's drag kit business  might still have kits.

-J

Alan you can get them made at https://pcxcomposite.com/. The guy made them but the washers were glued together with cheap glue to make them thick enough. I have a gear and extra washers.but all of them have the same problem. I am getting ready to have some washers made for Alan Chews jigmaster gears. His washers are to soft and don't last a fishing trip without damage.

the guy that sent the email to me should be following this.  i'll let him follow up if he wishes. 

They do small runs on washers.

I think I still have some of Adam's kits that I got from Keith. I'm out of inserts but I think I have a bunch of the carbons still

 The same exact reel posted at the start of this thread, is listed for sale right now on ebay.

Hmmmmm, velly intelesting.

Quote from: Maxed Out on April 13, 2026, 03:19:36 AMThe same exact reel posted at the start of this thread, is listed for sale right now on ebay.

You're a sleuth Ted, do you mean the reel with one of Sals knobs?
and scribed "G. Lynch" on the stand.

Yea,
Adam just disappeared.
I fixed a few of these for members, but I'm all out of parts.

Don't a bunch of the new Peen reels use this type of drag washer? Do they suffer the same problems?

Quote from: Cortez_Conversions on April 13, 2026, 03:34:56 PMDon't a bunch of the new Peen reels use this type of drag washer? Do they suffer the same problems?

Penn is still using this style of eared washers.  I see them in the schematic for the Fathom II star drag reel. I can't recall seeing these in the star drags of other big brands.

Penn can order up carbon fiber sheets with stronger cores, so it is possible that they don't have this problem.  I seem to remember some lever drag reels using ears in the drag washer to keep it from slipping as well.  It seems that eared drag washers can work fine as long as the design can accommodate the extra thickness required.

On a side note,  I didn't see a super premium, machined bar stock star drag reel at the Penn site.  Their highest end saltwater star drag reel appears to be the Fathom line. I wonder if Penn has abandoned the super premium star drag niche.

-J

On a side note, the bridge plate and A/R pawl look different than the ones I've seen on a 114H.