My first Build, a 113H.

[mley1]

Before I decided to build a reel I read all I could read on here about the parts and the process. I had lubed and greased my 113H before, but building a reel I had never even thought about until I came here. I wanted first class parts. So, I got a new generation Tiburon frame from Randy. I wanted the side plates too. So, I got a set of Cortez Conversion side plates from Randy. They came with the hardware and bearings to fit. When I got the frame and the side plates in I couldn't wait to put the gears and insides of my 113H inside the new frame and plates. I figured it should be easy, RIGHT? A couple things had me wondering if I would get it together or not. The first was the getting the jack on the eccentric. The Cortez plate has that stump that fits in the slot of the jack, and I had a heck of a time getting it onto the eccentric correctly. My big ole fingers, and numb fingertips didn't help much with the yoke and springs either. Somehow, miraculously, it just snapped in place somehow. I put the pinion gear in place. I left the old gear on the old sleeve, and slid it into place. I got the screws all in, and it seemed to operate ok. So, I went to the left side plate. Seemed like a piece of cake. I got the clicker on. The clicker spring was a bugger. There was nothing to support the end by the clicker like there is on the regular Penn side plate, and the spring was bent wrong. When it was screwed on all the way the spring was below the clicker. So, I had to bend it upward. Once I fit it around the clicker I thought I was good. So, I put the reel together. Everything seemed to work right, until I tried the clicker. It was weak and wouldn't stay on. So, I had a look at the old clicker spring. I tried to match the new spring to how the old spring fit the old clicker. I had to bend the spring a bit, but it worked. My clicker was now staying on, and was very loud, just like I like it. So, at this point I had the old 113H guts in the new frame and plates. It would've been a great reel if I had stopped there. I wanted more. I wanted better.

So, I ordered new 4 to 1 Pro Challenger gears. I got the double dog plate and stainless sleeve for it too. A new stainless yoke. A new stainless jack. Some new belleville washers, because the old drag system only had one for some reason. I also ordered some thinner and smoothed metal drag washers for the 113H, along with some carbontex drag washers from smoothdrag. I wasn't sure what that might get me to on the drag, but I wanted to see before I shelled out more cash for the drag upgrades recommended on here. All my parts came in two days ago. Today was my first day off. So, I figured I'd put this black beauty together.

Getting the old brass parts off didn't seem too bad, until I tried to get the jack off. That thing was being a bugger again. I finally got it off, and had a bare plate except for the eccentric. I took all the new parts out of their packages. I did some test fitting of the pinion and the yoke. They seemed fine. The jack humps seemed smooth enough. I greased them up, and this time it seemed like they went in pretty easily. For whatever reason it was like they just fit, and wanted to be there. I greased up the pinion with Cals. I also used Cals to grease the main gear. I put together the drag stack like I've seen on here with the alternating carbontex, keyed metal, carbontex, eared metal washers. I topped off the stack with one keyed washer, and then the two bellevilles. Once installed and screwed down I added the spacer, a small delrin washer, and the drag star. Then the handle and handle nut.

I put the finished right sideplate on the reel, and something didn't seem right. When I tried to put it into free spool it wouldn't free spool. And, the gears were slipping. Everything appeared to be put together properly. But, it just wasn't working. So, I unscrewed the right plate again. Only this time when I took it off the spool came out with it. The tolerance between the pinion and the spool shaft was a bit tight. It needed some smoothing out. The tight tolerance was causing the pinion to stick a bit, and the yoke couldn't fully put it into freespool, or put it into gear. Thus, the gears were slipping. So, I worked a bit smoothing and fitting the two parts together. I wanted a good fit, with no slop. So, I had to be careful. All I did was dry both parts off a bit, and gently take polish the shaft, and inside of the pinion, just a little bit. It worked. I put them back together, and all is well. The freespool isn't great. I didn't expect it to be since the bearings got a dose of oil, and the shaft had a bit of grease on it. The eccentric worked well, taking it in and out of gear. And, the gears were no longer slipping. I was ecstatic. So, I put the reel on my rod. I haven't put line on her yet. So, I'm not sure what the drag will be like. However, preliminary testing with my hands, it seems smooth. The star moves fairly easy. Just from what I'm feeling I may leave the drag as is. It feels good so far. I'll know for sure once I put some line on her.

Doing this build I realized something that I initially never really thought about. The ONLY parts on the built reel that are from the donor reel is the eccentric and lever with lever nut, the spacer for the drag stack, the drag star, the handle and handle nut, and the spool. EVERYTHING else is brand new and updated/upgraded. So, I may just see if I can scrounge up parts to put the old donor reel together, and end up with TWO reels rather than one.

Here are some pics of my build process.
I took this pic the day I got the frame and plates in.


This pic is right before I opened up the new gears and parts. I had taken the donor reel gears and parts out of the new plates at this point.


This is all the donor reel parts that were left over.


And, this is my new built by me reel on her rod. I can't wait to put line on her, and see what she can do.






I would say to any novice, or anyone new to working on reels, if you're going to attempt a reel build the 113H is a good one to start with. There's not very many parts. They go together fairly simply. Parts can be had everywhere. Also, the new parts like the Tiburon frame, the Cortez plates, and the Pro Challenger gears have all been tested by guys that know what their doing. They're the BEST at what they do. So, you can feel comfortable in knowing that when you buy those parts, they're going to go together and work like they're intended. And, if they don't, the guy's that built the parts will be there to help you figure out what may be wrong. For a novice, this 113H is a good one to start with. I enjoyed working on this reel. I think I'm going to enjoy fishing with it even more since I built it!!

[RiverAngler]

Great job, way to go! It's not that hard, and once you do it, it just gets easier.

That reel looks great!

Ralph

[Alto Mare]

You did very good for your first time Marty, your next one will be much easier.
Eventually at some point, you'll be able to assemble these even in the dark. Hey that just gave me an idea to take a couple to bed .

Siriously, they do get easier as you move along.
As for custom parts, we already have the eccentric lever, all that is left is the eccentric and I'm sure it will happen as well.
Keeping the same design of the reel, no matter how many new custom parts are made, it is and it will always be a Penn.

Enjoy that beauty.

Sal

[mo65]

   Nice build Marty!

[sdlehr]

Looks great, Marty! Next time you rebuild it, use the Cal's grease on the drag and get yourself some Penn or Yamaha Marine Lube for the rest. It'll hold up better and longer in salt water.... but what you've done should work well for quite awhile, depending on how often it gets dunked in salt water.

Sid

[handi2]

Amazing job Marty. You should be very proud.

Now that you have the bug your need to find another project.

PM me your address and I will send you another Penn reel to rebuild. Don't worry I have plenty, or actually, too many.

Keith

[Shark Hunter]

Fine work and Reel Marty.

[mley1]

Looks great, Marty! Next time you rebuild it, use the Cal's grease on the drag and get yourself some Penn or Yamaha Marine Lube for the rest. It'll hold up better and longer in salt water.... but what you've done should work well for quite awhile, depending on how often it gets dunked in salt water.

Sid

Sid, I forgot to mention that I did use Cals on the drag disc's. I love the stuff, and need to buy another tub of it. I have upgraded all the Abu's I use with Carbontex drag disc's greased with Cals. On this Penn I also used Cals on the gears. I have a tube of generic blue marine grease I got from Walmart(yes, I'm a Walmart shopper, lol). I used the blue marine grease everywhere else. I used that brush to brush grease all on the inside of the plates, in all the crevices. I also used it on the yoke and jack. I Penn bearing oil I got from my local Cabela's on the bearings. I tend to over lubricate. So, generally, my freespool times aren't reel good. I also greased up the screws, and the mount on the bottom. She should be well protected for a while.

There's two more things I want to do on this Penn 113H build. I want to put one of Alans handles on it, and I want to put in a Motive drag insert. That should really top it off. The only other thing that I think would really make it pop is a red spool. The thread wrapping on most of my rods have red in it, and a red spool would look awesome. It's ready to fish as is though, and should be a great reel to fish with. I'm gonna put some 80lb braid on it with a 40 or 60lb top shot of 150yrds or so. Or, I could really put her to the test and throw on some 100lb braid, with 80lb top shot.

Maybe I can hook up to another one of these:


Or, another one of these:

[mley1]

Thanks for all the compliments guys. I appreciate that very much. Sometimes with a new project I get a bit nervous about messing things up. I'm glad I took the plunge. You guy's are an inspiration to me, and I appreciate all of your advice and lessons you've given here on AT. Thanks again for the compliments!

[dogtagger]

Marty, beautiful reel, and great post. I got a kick out of your comment about how much of the original reel you have left in there! I just finished servicing two Penn 115s and added one of Alan's stainless gear sleeve kits and handle arm to a reel already modified with a frame, handle and stainless gears. I've had these reels for 15+ years and modified them a little at a time as parts came available or as were needed. Hopefully I'll get another 15 years of service out of these before I need any more upgrades

[Cortez_Conversions]

Great post!
Congrats on a beautiful reel.

[Donnyboat]

Marty thanks for the report, this all helps us new commers, I met Wallace Brown for the first time, just before Xmas, a real gentle man, & his wife is nice lady to, Wallace gave me a 113H, insisted that I take it, so I called it a Xmas present from a stranger, your report will help me in the future, happy new year, donnyboat.

[thorhammer]

Nice build!!!!! Don't get nervous about getting stuck. I've done over a hundred and had a Cortez Squidder kit fight me for two hours yesterday, because of a bent eccentric spring, back apart about ten times. Then did a CC Jiggy kit in 20 mins. So you never know. That's the fun.


Cheers!

John

[Bill B]

Cool beans Marty.....great to see it went together and ready to catch some fish.  One thing I have learned is people learn the most when small things go wrong and they figure out the problem.  Kind of like learning in "layers".....as each "new" problem is encountered and overcome another "knowledge tool" is added to the box......Bill

[mley1]

Cool beans Marty.....great to see it went together and ready to catch some fish.  One thing I have learned is people learn the most when small things go wrong and they figure out the problem.  Kind of like learning in "layers".....as each "new" problem is encountered and overcome another "knowledge tool" is added to the box......Bill

I can see what you mean. I really learned a lot from this build. I had to take it apart and put it back together again several times before I felt comfortable that I had it right. I also did some experimenting with the drag stack a bit. I'm learning more about how these Penn's work. I really like them a lot. They are excellent reels. They're tough, and last.