Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Welcome Mark from the SoCal Inland Empire.  Yes, the AT Team had a pretty good Cedros Trip last week as well. - john

Welcome aboard!

Best Regards, Fred

Howdy!!

Hello all, new to the community here. I have spent a good portion of my life knee deep in the rivers and streams of the Appalachian Mountains, most of the last 30 years with fly rod in hand. As my Dr. has forbidden me from wading the mountain streams I am now relegated to shallow water and river banks. Which has made me dig out my old gear from the 70's, Zebco Cardinal 3&4 from 76 and an Ambassadeur 2500C from 1975. I am currently in the process of restoring them to their former glory, looking forward to getting some good advice here.

Howdy! Yeah, I understand! Between Doctor's orders, wife's orders, and plain old age...I'm having to do lots of changes in my fishing habits, too!

Hi Pharris good helpful people here, and welcome from Sunny Western Australia, cheers Don.

Hi.  My destroyed knee has forced me to quit bank fishing for steelhead 23 years ago. Getting old sucks but not nearly as bad as not getting old.

Welcome aboard! This is exactly the right place for your questions.

Welcome Pharris! You've got top notch gear to fish with there! There's plenty of great maintenance and service information on those reels here.   

Welcome! If you wanna go down a rabbit hole with that 2500c, you certainly can. Hedgehog studios will happily take hundreds of dollars from you, but you'll end up with something pretty slick to fish with.

Welcome Pharris from the SoCal Inland Empire. - john

Welcome from Salem va,,,,,

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on August 11, 2026, 10:51:32 AMWelcome! If you wanna go down a rabbit hole with that 2500c, you certainly can. Hedgehog studios will happily take hundreds of dollars from you, but you'll end up with something pretty slick to fish with.

I have started down that hole already, having to pace myself, one can spend a lot of money on these reels.
Does anyone know where the different sizes of ABU brass shims can be purchased? I have several ABU reels and I think that every one of them has at least one missing. I made one out of a tiny washer by filing and sanding it down, that took a while.

There used to be a tiny hobby section tucked away in the corner of our local Ace Hardware. I would buy 3"x7" brass sheet of suitable thickness and either cut shims to size, or stamp them out using a punch. Perhaps a hobby or craft store may offer something similar? 

Welcome aboard!

Best Regards, Fred