Help, Drag lever wont engage...

FoulHooked · June 12, 2015, 03:18:43 PM

Last week I took a Yankee Capts trip to the Tortugas. While fishing in 220 Feet of water with a two speed Accurate 870, I refreshed my bait and dropped my line back in. When I went to engage the lever, it felt like it was getting stuck then it moved freely but the drag never engaged. Luckily, knowing that the accucast engages the left side of the drag, I used the accucast knob fully engaged to get my line back in before something hit it.

I got home and fully dissasembled and reassembled the reel. I did not see any glaring issues with it until I removed the drag lever. It looks like the hexagonal part of the side plate that holds the tension cam in place while the track move is stripped.

Is this really the problem? If so, how do I fix it?

alantani · June 12, 2015, 04:51:06 PM

i've got one just like that from a customer in mass., and i am looking for another side plate. once it's rounded off, there is likely nothing that you can do. i've thought of building it up using that steel putty, but i do not know how long it would last. i had another side plate around here, somewhere, but i have not been able to find it.

now, you do have an option of going with the new boss side plate. it has a the larger drive shaft, but it's $250 as i recall. a bitter pill to swallow.

Reel 224 · June 12, 2015, 05:40:18 PM

I know nothing about the reel,but have a question for Alan. What causes that to happen in the first place? There must be a heck of a lot of resistance to cause that shaft to round off,either that or there is a problem with using to soft of a mettle for that application. Not trying to answer my own question, I'm just curious.

FoulHooked · June 12, 2015, 06:00:09 PM

Thanks for the reply.

That is a very tough pill to swallow since I just purchased another accurate reel. I will notify them of the issue with hope that they will do the right thing and help.

In my eyes this is a flaw in the reel, When stronger material (SS) has to depend on weaker material (Aluminum) with direct contact and friction, the weaker will eventually give. That hex should be SS.

If I cannot get this fixed for the right cost, I will just sell the accurate reels/rods and no longer support their products.

Thanks,

- Jimmy

foakes · June 12, 2015, 06:05:43 PM

In all fairness to the consumer -- it would cost Accurate nothing to send you another side plate.

These are expensive and well made reels, they wouldn't want that type of bad experience out there causing doubts about their products.

Let us know how you do -- the masses need to know.

Best,

Fred

Robert Janssen · June 12, 2015, 06:43:39 PM

Hmm. Too bad... that sort of thing is no problem for me, but the shipping here will kill ya. Timing is a little off now, but had this happened a couple of months ago i would have been interested in buying one of these broken or ruined reels.

FoulHooked · June 15, 2015, 07:00:52 PM

My question to all of you who have any of the new Accurate reels or have had the opportunity to disassemble one.

Could the newer versions potentially have the same issue?

Is the Steel Tension Cam still rubbing up against aluminum?

FoulHooked · June 17, 2015, 07:37:41 PM

I did not hear back from Accurate so I gave them a call.

They did admit that this was an issue with the older reels that they manufactured 8-10 years ago. (Has it really been that long?)

I asked that since the newer reels are being made the same way with aluminum on steel if they were also prone to the same issues.

They stated that the newer reels would not have this problem because they changed the tension cam.

Alan was correct, $250 for a new side plate that comes with everything on the right side including a new arm and handle. Or they would take my reel on a trade in where it would cost me about $320 to replace the reel with today's model (BX2-500 Boss Extreme). I told them that I prefer the older version because it has the accu-cast which I use often. I was then told that they could add that feature to the reel for me which has me really considering the trade in.

My next question was that since the tension cam is what was modified to prevent this from happening in the future, could I purchase a new tension cam from my 665. The answer was NO because the new one would not fit.

So I cracked open the 665 to see if it had started to show the same signs of wear on the hex and could see minimal wear but it was there.

So I decided that I would modify the cam track in order to make the lift of the tension cam smoother in hopes to relieve the pressure on the hex. Using a smooth sharpening stone, I slowly reduced the slope the help a slower transition of pressure onto the cam.

Original slope:

you can see the edge how abrupt the lift is.

Stone used to grind it down. It took a while with this stone but I was okay with that since I wanted to make sure I did not remove too much.

Reduced

Another tidbit is that these tracks are reversible for the West Coast style fishing. The other side has no slope so you can engage immediately similar to a star drag reel.

I kept taking it down until you could no longer recognize an edge the. After putting the reel back together and testing it, the transition from free-spool is much much smother now, when you engage it, you can no longer feel the pop. It makes a little clicking noise when it comes out of free spool but that is it. Hopefully the 665 will last at least another 10 years with careful maintenance.

I'll check the reel after my next trip to see how it has fared but I would think that anyone with these older reels would want to make this mod before the hex gives out.

foakes · June 17, 2015, 09:12:15 PM

Very nice engineering, FH! --

Good results.

However, I am disappointed to hear that Accurate would not do much for you.

I guess we can't blame them for not wanting to do anything to impact their bottom line in a negative direction --

However, it can take decades to build up a stellar reputation -- but only takes a couple of minutes to lose it forever.

Credibility and accountability are sadly lacking in most management boardrooms today.

When a company does what the consumer does not expect them to do -- the right thing above and beyond -- the rewards for a company can be what no amount of money spent on advertising could ever hope to attain.

I guess I still have a sour taste in my mouth from when Accurate decided to stop supporting us -- by not offering frames, sideplates and spools for Penns, anymore.

If it doesn't pencil out -- or meet their expectations for growth -- it is discontinued.

Just my opinions...

Best,

Fred

Reel 224 · June 17, 2015, 09:42:31 PM

Certainly gives room for thought, but FH has given lots of Accurate owners a solution to preventing a problem down the road. I purchased a Canyon reel for Ruth some months ago with the lever drag system, and Ive been told that they are a lot like the Accurate reels. Ill have to check it out.

FoulHooked · November 04, 2015, 09:55:44 PM

Update -

I went ahead and purchased the new side plate and gearing. It turns out that the $250 was definitely worth it to me since you can clearly see how much more beefy the new gears are compared to the old. There are other small but important upgrades like the rubber gasket on the tension cam (makes it a little harder to set the drag but it stays in place), upgraded two speed switch and new handle.

The other thing that I noticed is that the tension cam track still had that angle and was not smooth like I anticipated seeing it. I went through the same procedure that I did on the 665 and smoothed it out. It slips the drag on very smoothly now, even on extremely high drag settings.

Now I have a lot of leftover parts, some that I can use on my 665 but others that I can't so if anyone is looking for smooth gears for an original 870 two speed, please let me know.