Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Hello Folks ! I have been using my VISX16 for quite some time with no issues but yesterday I noticed that there is salt snagged into the foot even that I always spray the reel with deionised water after every single fishing trip. So when I tried to unscrew them they wouldn't come of , I thought that they possibly used blue locktight so I just used my hairdryer but even then I could only get out one of them and I was kinda surprised because I noticed that they put Red locktight in there ! There was a lot of salt trapped underneath the head of the screw too. Anyway from trying too hard I have damaged the heads of the screws but didn't strip them , I have already ordered new ones but I need to somehow remove them without stripping them. My thought is that I have to tear down the whole reel , get the frame out and use wd40 on the screws + a heatgun but before trying anything else I would like to hear your more experienced opinions.


Thank you in advance!

Hi Leon,

These screws use a patch, however we had a few reels over the years have the screws back out and caused the foot to rip off the frame.  Because of this, I know of at least a few dealers apply red loctite on their own prior to selling reels as extra-cautionary.  We do not use red loctite at the factory.  If it is indeed red, you will need to pull the frame off of reel and torch the stand screws. 

tony

Quote from: Penn on May 05, 2026, 10:05:44 AMHi Leon,

These screws use a patch, however we had a few reels over the years have the screws back out and caused the foot to rip off the frame.  Because of this, I know of at least a few dealers apply red loctite on their own prior to selling reels as extra-cautionary.  We do not use red loctite at the factory.  If it is indeed red, you will need to pull the frame off of reel and torch the stand screws. 

tony

Quote from: Penn on May 05, 2026, 10:05:44 AMThese screws use a patch

What is a patch and what does it do?  Just curious.

"Nylon patch screws are specialized fasteners with a patch of fused nylon powder applied to the threads, acting as a reusable, vibration-resistant locking mechanism. They prevent loosening by creating a wedge effect, offering a dry-to-the-touch,, non-adhesive alternative to chemical threadlockers. These are ideal for applications requiring adjustment and reusability, such as in electronics or machinery."

We use a patch versus a loctite, because we also grease the screws prior to installing to prevent seizing in the frame in the future.  With a patch baked on, we can easily apply grease to the threads prior to installing.  It also speeds up Assembly time as we do not need to loctite every screw.

tony

Our friends at Mystic Parts Picture, you can see the patch.

https://www.mysticparts.com/PennParts/Parts/63-30T.aspx

Thank you Tony , you are always very helpful ! That patch on my screw was red , not blue as the picture shows though that's why I still think it's red loctite in combination with how extremely hard was to at least remove one of them... I will try with the heatgun when parts will arrive probably in 1 month+ due to being in Greece , until then I will have to fish with the reel as it is , I hope I will be able to pull this off without stripping anything.

Threadlocker - I hate it with a passion. Another viable option to stop the stand screws backing out is to use Grower washers or serrated ones - this will imply the use of slightly longer stand screws.