Welcome Mike Ackal, LA Reel Repair, St. Martinville, LA!

[alantani]

Hi Alan,

My name is Mike Ackal. I own and operate a rod and reel repair shop in south Louisiana, LA Reel Repair. I am also an Airframe and Powerplant technician for a large helicopter leasing company (I stay pretty busy). I have read and enjoyed many of your posts pertaining to reel rebuilds and upgrades and just became a member of your alantani.com site.  The reason I am writing you, besides the formal introduction, is in response to your article about the Penn 3 series reel rebuild.  You said that you damaged the bearing in the bridge assembly when you removed it by hammering it out with a socket.  I not long ago rebuilt a Penn 330 GTi, which is very similar (as you know, sorry) and needed to remove the worn bearing in the bridge assembly.  I used a technique that I have used for removing bearings in everything from lawn mower wheels to universal joints.  I do not own a hydraulic press, but hopefully I will get one someday.  In the meantime, I use a C-clamp (6 to 8 inch preferably) with a socket placed over the bearing opening on the egress (inner) side of the bridge bearing housing large enough to allow the bearing to enter the socket, and a smaller socket that fits in the opening on the outside of the bridge bearing housing in contact with the bearing. Place your C-clamp around the two sockets, turn the crank, and press the bearing out. It comes out easily, with no damage to your bearing or bridge. Just be sure and stake it back in carefully. I like a 1/16" pin punch for that.
    That's all for now, just a small way of thanking you for all of your helpful tips and tricks. I have a few others I will try and share now and then as I think of them.  I also have a decent inventory of hard to find parts for older Penn, Ambassadeur, Bantam, Diawa, some Lew's, some Shakespeare.  If you need anything that you cannot find anywhere else, give me a shout, I may have it. If you would like to contact me by phone, my number is 337-380-0989 and I'm normally home after 3:00 PM PST on weekdays. I have learned a lot from your site and I still have much to learn about this business, so I look forward to having another fellow workbench seat warmer for a friend. Thank you for all you do for and contribute to our hobby and livelihood.

Sincerely,
Mike Ackal
LA Reel Repair
St. Martinville, LA