Vintage Penn Jigmaster 500 mechanical issues

[O Sail Can You Sea]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and in need of some dire help.

Recently I found a vintage penn jigmaster 500 at a garage sale and thought it was a beauty. The handle was tough to turn but I thought that a good grease and clean would put it in working order. I finished and felt good after looking at my basic reel maintenance work. Personally, I like to give a "fresh" reel a good couple turns before putting it away waiting to use it on my next fishing outing. However, when I put it into free spool then back the pinion gear doesn't fully set on the spool. It requires a fast crank before the spool starts spinning again. My other jigmaster doesn't have this problem and I am going crazy trying to figure out what's causing it and how to fix it 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Alto Mare]

It's normal.

[Keta]

It's normal.

X2.  It is not as noticable with line on the spool or in the water.  Friction is causing the spool to spin before the pinion gear engages the spool.

[Shark Hunter]

X3,
Its the nature of the beast.

[DaBigOno]

It's normal.

X2.  It is not as noticable with line on the spool or in the water.  Friction is causing the spool to spin before the pinion gear engages the spool.

X3,
Its the nature of the beast.

I agree that this is pretty normal because all of my Jigmasters seem to do it, but I wonder why.   

I wonder if it's possible to remedy...

[Alto Mare]

I agree that this is pretty normal because all of my Jigmasters seem to do it, but I wonder why.   

I wonder if it's possible to remedy...

There is no remedy, but can be helped a little
If you take a closer look at the pinion you will notice that the cutout by the reinforcing ring is square.
On larger pinion that area is tapered on both sides, making it easier to engage on the spool shaft.
The reason you don't see it on smaller pinion is that there just
isn't enough meat there.
With that said, I usually take a file to all my pinions, I remove the ring and soften top inner edge of the by the notch. I don't get carried away, just knock off the sharp edge and it seams to help a little.
Cleaning the spool shaft is also helpful.
I might have pics, but photobucket is down.

Sal

[DaBigOno]

There is no remedy, but can be helped a little
If you take a closer look at the pinion you will notice that the cutout by the reinforcing ring is square.
On larger pinion that area is tapered on both sides, making it easier to engage on the spool shaft.
The reason you don't see it on smaller pinion is that there just
isn't enough meat there.
With that said, I usually take a file to all my pinions, I remove the ring and soften top inner edge of the by the notch. I don't get carried away, just knock off the sharp edge and it seams to help a little.
Cleaning the spool shaft is also helpful.
I might have pics, but photobucket is down.

Sal

Thanks Sal, I'm gonna have to try it!

Al

[O Sail Can You Sea]

Thanks for the info! I was starting to get real frustrated. It only bothered me because in a more descriptive manner, the pinion gear would rest atop the spool and not engage unless I really forced it. So all I have to do is adjust the sharpness of the pinion?

[Alto Mare]

Thanks for the info! I was starting to get real frustrated. It only bothered me because in a more descriptive manner, the pinion gear would rest atop the spool and not engage unless I really forced it. So all I have to do is adjust the sharpness of the pinion?

That one is just my suggestion and it is done to make it engage a little faster, not by much, but it does help a little.

Try testing the pinion by hand on the spool shaft with very little force.

If it gets hung up at the top, or it doesn't slide smoothly on the shaft, you will need to clean the spool shaft and the inner side of the pinion until you're happy with it.
At first, a toothbrush and simple green does a good job removing dried up grease, follow with with some fine steel wool, I like add a drop of oil on the part as I'm doing it.

At times you will need to use a file to remove a burr or two from the top of the pinion or the top of the spool shaft.
You might not see it by eye, try to feel for it, I use a magnifying glass.

I will also rub the bottom of the gears,  pinion and main by hand. I use wet/dry 1200 grit sitting on a flat surface, at that same time I soften the edge on the pinion as mentioned above.
Here is a pic or two:


Be careful with the top of the pinion, it just takes a couple of pulls with the file.
I have a press and replacing the ring on top takes a second, you will have to tap it in, be careful there as well, or simply do everything mentioned above and let that one go for now.

This might sound complicated, it should only take 5 minutes to complete...time well spent fine tuning.

Sal

[FatTuna]

Do you guys feel that the yolk and jack could also be a factor? I feel like viscous grease and cold temps could gum stuff up in there.

I've experienced this on many of my reels as well. I started to replace the yolk and jack on all my reels. They are cheap parts and it's better than having to do a rebuild twice. I find it can help reduce gear noise as a worn yolk allows some movement in the pinon. I also started putting a less liberal amount of grease on the yolk/jack and it seems to have improved the issue a bit. Not totally gone but it seems a bit better.

[PacRat]

What Sal is saying is very good advice. I like to smooth up the spool lug and pinion notch. Go slow and don't remove too much metal. Remember it's a lot easier to take more off than it is to put some back on. With that said...

Every time you put the reel into free-spool then cast or turn the crank your spool lug and pinion notch are no longer aligned until you put it back into gear and turn the crank. Once the notch and lug line up again the springs and yoke push the pinion notch back over the spool lug and you're back in gear again. Sometime just by random chance the lug and notch just happen to align and it will engage without the need to turn the crank but most the time you need to set it in motion before the spool and pinion can engage.

Your pinion notch has the opportunity to engage on the spool lug twice per rotation or each 180 degrees of revolution of the pinion gear. If your Jigmaster is a 5:1 this alignment will happen 10 times per crank of the handle or every 36 degrees of arc. If it takes more turn of the handle than that; there is something else wrong, likely in the yoke, jack or eccentric. If this is the case you need to confirm that everything is assembled correctly and propery lubed. Also check for burrs, bent parts, damaged or fatigued springs, etc.

I hope this helps
-Mike

[Gfish]

It's normal.

X2.  It is not as noticable with line on the spool or in the water.  Friction is causing the spool to spin before the pinion gear engages the spool.
Mix-Up!, this is posted by Keta above, not me. Gfish.