Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Quote from: oc1 on February 17, 2026, 05:52:34 AMWhat would make the slipping slick side of the drag washer all of a sudden become the side that grips the metal washer? 

That's gonna keep me up at night.

Shot in the dark: the grease wears off. Now the other side is more slick. I dunno.

Me neither.

Quote from: oc1 on February 17, 2026, 05:52:34 AMThis all seems to make perfect sense.  But, when the drag is disassembled you never find one side of the drag washer more worn or more slick than the other side.  They wear equally on both sides.  So, the side of the drag washer that is slipping must somehow change back and forth.  What would make this happen?  What would make the slipping slick side of the drag washer all of a sudden become the side that grips the metal washer better?  I suspect that both sides of the drag washer must have been slipping all along.

Interesting...


Both sides cannot slide at the same time as the higher CoF side will not release due to...the higher C0F. Two sticky sides, the stickier side will hold. The holding side will also have an an increased advantage now  due to the static CoF being higher than the kinetic C0F for a material pair.

One possible cause for switching: debris buildup on the slipping side increasing the CoF. Another is drag grease being displaced on the slipping side.  There are probably others.

This part is just my speculation: For the reasons mentioned earlier, I am skeptical that it normally goes back and forth continuously during a run, but once the drag stops, the non-slipping side might now have the lower static CoF and become the slipping side.  But it is pretty tough to see what is going on with a live drag, so you never know.

-J

Maybe the gripping gets hot.

Quote from: oc1 on February 17, 2026, 08:51:04 AMMaybe the gripping gets hot.

CF composite does act a bit as an insulator, so I guess it is possible that one side gets a bit hotter than the other. But heat is supposed to decrease the CoF of dry carbon fiber drag washers, according to the Penn marketing material for their CF material.  And then if the drag is lubed, the grease viscosity will decrease with heat, further lowering the CoF. Thermal expansion is going to affect both sides more or less evenly. 

Tribology is so complicated.  I think the exact cause(s) will remain a mystery. But since the CoFs on both sides will typically be very close, it only takes a small change to swap sliding surfaces. The higher COF side will hold, even if the difference is quite small.

-J

So earlier in this thread we talked about braid vs mono for ratnests. Today I created my new personal best (worst) ratnest of all time. A cast with a lot of momentum saw the lure catch a low hanging branch of the tree I was under. And i don't know why but my brain froze. It took me a good second or two to realize what was happening and stop the spinning spool. I tell ya, some of those loops were 3' long and rolled over themselves. It was a good 40' of line involved. I don't know how it was possible.

It took about 10 minutes. And I almost gave up. But I defeated it. I picked it clean and didn't have to cut any line.

Good work solving that one, Jason!

Haa every mans night mare, keep that brain rolling man, cheers Don.

I've posted this in the old reels in action thread, https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,40892.0.html, but I also want to post it here to complete the story of this Surfmaster 150's revival. My first fish caught on it was a nice carp.

For now it is mounted on an 8 ft MH Eagle Claw Cat Claw rod, which is a cheap fiberglass catfish rod. I can cast it pretty well without much backlashing, but I'm not casting very far yet, and I need to keep my thumb on the line or the side of the spool for the whole cast to prevent backlashes. I will probably try it on a surf rod next and try to see if I can cast a bit farther. I'm also wondering if I should put grease in the bushings instead of ReelX. I will always be casting 2 oz or more with this reel.

Thumbing the line on evenly as I reel the line back in is becoming second nature already.

Awesome reel and nice carp, congrats.

Just wanted to say you did a reely(lol) nice job on your Surfmaster. Was actually going to start a thread around the same time you did, but didn't wanna rain on your parade. Probably should've hung in here just a little longer lol! Got frustrated, and decided to sacrifice my 150 inner ring and cut it, to free up the quick release plate. Had tried everything! Should've just forced it off like you did. Dremel wheel broke and hit me in my nose and face. Was being careful too!  Looks like you got a little help on the way too. Time to start parts shopping again lol.

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on February 05, 2026, 04:25:44 PMIf you find a penn-made aluminum spool for one of these buy a lottery ticket that day.

There's some size 100 width spools in aluminum out there. But you'd need a 30-49 base and those are still out there but getting hard to come by.

https://www.prochallenger.com/product/pc-29l-100-aluminum-spool-for-penn-reels/56?cs=true&cst=custom

If you wanna continue down the rabbit hole Get yourself a steel gear sleeve (the absolute weakest point on these reels) and a carbon drag kit. You might still be able to find some 5 stack kits, these take the penn 60 sized drags. Aluminum Frame bars are also available and very well warranted for these. Newell made some too.

Oh well, I thought I hit the lottery, till I saw a small dent in the lip of this aluminum spool! Would this happen to be a OEM penn spool?

I have a Penn 29L-150 spool if anyone is looking. Carry on.

Quote from: ExcessiveAngler on Today at 02:34:07 AMOh well, I thought I hit the lottery, till I saw a small dent in the lip of this aluminum spool! Would this happen to be a OEM penn spool?

I'm not an expert, but it looks like a Penn aluminum spool to me. The Newell ones don't have the angular "shoulders."