Pro Gear 545 new to me

[steelfish]

This is the PG 545 I got from Bryan Young few days ago.

as most of you already know this are small tanks of the size of a penn 501 but 113h guts, that merely makes it a great small reel but considering all the SS bits and upgrades for the 113h puts the small PG545 above and beyond.

the reel came already with an alantani small knob, SS sleeve and SS yoke those things are a big plus in my books.




SS sleeve with 113h drag stack, those looks to be flat grounded SS washers that made the drag pretty smooth, really smooth at 20# on that stock configuration



but I recently got some thin metal washers from the 7+1 BY kits for the 113h and cut/filed some to make them smaller to fit into the Keta (Lee) octagon insert, I had that insert on my T4n1 113hXN reel with that octagon insert and 5+1 configuration and it was good but I just for the Science I wanted to check If I could fit another drag washer on that thin insert     
well, check the next pictures

my changes to the reel were, Delrin washer under the main gear, 6 octagon custom cut drag washers on the Keta Insert and SS dog





the insert sits pretty flat on the stock PG main gear


the last drag washer sits just on the edge of the insert but once the last metal washer and the pressure washers are on top of the drag stack that last drag washer have no space to move for it





once all that was installed and the reel was ready, I proceeded to check the drag       

I dont think the last drag washer could move from the insert because even with all the star  backed out I had 4-5# drag, from that point, the drag have a lot of room from moving the star, moving it with just the thumb I could reach 15# and 18# drag, then using the whole hand to tighten the drag I would get 20-22# with not much effort, then used a bit of force to tighten it a bit more, I reached 28# drag and I think it still have room to get more drag but I didnt wanted to trash the stock gears or to brake the mono line and hurt myself (it happened before) so, I stopped there.





I dont plan to use this reel for fishing with 28# drag, heck I might move this drag setup to my 113hXN reel with 3.25:1 metal gears later, but for now I will leave it on the PG545 and use 12-18# drag when needed, If I catch an angry homeguard YT that needed more drag I know I have some more to use but I really dont think the stock Brass gear will handle that amount of drag.

so, Bryan or any one else that know this small tanks, on 28# drag what might fail on this reel? the spool shaft or stock brass gears or both?

[JasonGotaProblem]

I'm sure you considered shortening the drag spacer sleeve to extend your range. Personally I want all my reels to be capable of zero drag with the star backed out. But that's just me.

[Maxed Out]

 The gears in your 545 are not stock Penn gears. Those gears are 4/1 and we're custom made by Pro Gear. In my opinion they are the smoothest gears ever made. I'm certain they are not brass, but a bronze alloy, which is actually stronger than many grades of steel, but could still be the weak link if pushed beyond the intended max drag. At the time when these reels were made, there was no aftermarket drag stacks or inserts to push beyond a 5 stack of ht-100. I think you'll be fine fishing it up into the low 20's. The 113h spool shaft is up to the task. Hope you catch some big fish on that beast of a reel. They've been documented killing tuna up to 100# with crappy stock drags. Go getum Alex !!

[steelfish]

I'm sure you considered shortening the drag spacer sleeve to extend your range. Personally I want all my reels to be capable of zero drag with the star backed out. But that's just me.

well maybe 4-5# drag with the star backed out its kinda high, more like 2-3# but definitely not zero drag, I like it that way because it give me pace of mind keeping the last drag washer from moving out from the octagon insert since its not round, if the corners of the octagon drag washer move and got out from the insert I wont have much drag or any drag.

[steelfish]

The gears in your 545 are not stock Penn gears. Those gears are 4/1 and we're custom made by Pro Gear. In my opinion they are the smoothest gears ever made. I'm certain they are not brass, but a bronze alloy, which is actually stronger than many grades of steel

cool, thats what I wanted to hear and I agree, they're pretty smooth same with my 454 YTS PG.
nice to know they are already strong enough for the task

They've been documented killing tuna up to 100# with crappy stock drags. Go getum Alex !!

woa!! no tunas over here in Sea of Cortez but some nice sized groupers and from time to time good size YT and king mackerels

thanks Ted for the info.

[Gfish]

Wow, a serious Tank.
I've sanded drag sleeves down to get less pressure on the washers during storage, but I don't like that I can't get them evenly squared-up doing it by hand.

[steelfish]

Wow, a serious Tank.
I've sanded drag sleeves down to get less pressure on the washers during storage, but I don't like that I can't get them evenly squared-up doing it by hand.

hey compadre Gregg, Im sure I can change the cupped pressure washers from their current configuration "()" and put them "((" or "))" or maybe just install one washer and not two washers to get less pressure on the drag stack with the star all backed out and have Zero drag but 2-3# during storage cant be that bad.

maybe, just maybe, after using the reel on the real world the drag washers will settled a bit more on the octagon insert and compress some more, I will see.