Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Just bought a nice looking 631-4.6. This reel will replace my Penn 114H. Newell has a brass gear sleeve, 10 teeth, in good condition, and original looking drag washers in good condition. I can't imagine needing much more than 20lbs of smooth drag where I fish. Trying to decide if there's any need to upgrade the drag washers, gear sleeve, and plastic handle. Appreciate the help before I start spending $ unnecessarily.

If it has the old smoothie drag washers I'd upgrade to carbon fiber, much better performance. Gear sleeve should be fine. Put a half spool of braid at least on the spool, don't use all mono or the spool could split. Don't love that handle, somewhat brittle if you drop it or really lean on it, not a huge problem but worth the upgrade
I have a 631-3 that I've used a few times. Always wanted the 4.2 version

Quote from: Swami805 on August 19, 2026, 10:48:15 PMIf it has the old smoothie drag washers I'd upgrade to carbon fiber, much better performance. Gear sleeve should be fine. Put a half spool of braid at least on the spool, don't use all mono or the spool could split. Don't love that handle, somewhat brittle if you drop it or really lean on it, not a huge problem but worth the upgrade
I have a 631-3 that I've used a few times. Always wanted the 4.2 version

Thanks Sheridan for the info. I'll get the drag washers now and look for a better handle later. Didn't see anything on eBay for a handle I liked. Any recommendations?

Yeah..stock smoothies can get wonky and the graphite handles flex under heavy load. These might work as a replacement. I have the ones for smaller Newells and they are of good quality:

https://www.prochallenger.com/product/custom-aluminum-handle-for-newell-600-style/107?cs=true&cst=custom

The pro challenger handles arms are nice. He has a few different knobs too
Cortez conversions makes a good one too, he has acrylic knobs in different colors as well