Bringing a 6500SS back to life.

[troutman561]

I finally remembered to get to work on this 6500SS. This was one of the first "offshore reels" my dad and I both got back when I was 9 (1995), shortly before we got our first offshore boat, a Mako 231. For as anal as my dad was with lots of things, reel maintenance was not one of them. I was also not a DIY'r on stuff until the last few years. This reel has never been opened up since it was manufactured. The rotor was lose, there was some odd gear noise, antireverse was not engaging, and the drag was not engaging. This reel has caught countless bottom fish, dolphin, wahoo, sailfish, etc. It met its ultimate demise when my uncle borrowed it for gator hunting many years ago. It has since sat until I got my hands on it. Thanks to the tutorials on this site, I had my road map and went to town. I expected to find multiple broken parts when I got inside, but instead found the rotor nut was loose, and one of the screws for the crosswind block was loose. This would explain a couple of the issues. The worst part of the whole thing was cleaning the ancient, dirty grease from everything. After I cleaned everything up, it was in dang good shape other than the antireverse switch at the back missing. The gear teeth and pinion looked solid as well. I also cleaned the drag and eventho I know what to expect from the tutorial, I am surprised 1: that they used CF drag washers back then, and 2 that they are that tiny. Anyhow here are some pics. Nothing you have not seen before but I'm excited to have this thing back in action. I even have the original Penn Slammer rod it came with when new, that was the icing on the cake.

[troutman561]

More. No pics of the clean internals but you know what those look like. I did nothing other than clean the drag to get it to work again. I think it was so gunked up with crap that last time it was cranked down, it stayed down. For some reason the drag knob would not even engage it until it was disassembled and cleaned.

[thorhammer]

Great work on a great old warrier!!!!

[Swami805]

A family hierlom back from the bone yard,nice!

[mo65]

   Great job bringin' that one back.

[troutman561]

Thanks guys. It's a real testament to the quality of the time given that I didn't have to replace one part to get it back in shape.

[Alto Mare]

Thabks guys. It's a real testament to the quality of the time given that I didn't have to replace one part to get it back in shape.

Yep! well said and I'm not surprised. The 650/6500 is a well balanced reel, I always enjoy using it.

Good job on the cleaning, it is now ready to go for another 25 years and many more after that.

Sal

[troutman561]

I did forget to mention one thing that was interesting. Of the 3 bearings in the reel, 2 were Chinese made and 1 was made is Thailand. The Thai one was on the left side of the gear (standard handle side) and the Chinese equivalent was on the right. Also, pinion bearing was Chinese as well. This didnt seem to affect function of couse but it was interesting that there were bearings of different origins.

[handi2]

A reel that old has been worked on many times. As long as the bearings aren't rusted and spin easily your good to go. I did see rust on the pinion bearing or was that old grease??

Keith

[troutman561]

It was old grease. As far as I know this reel has never been worked on before unless my dad did secret reel services. He takes good care of his stuff but I could never get him to get our reels serviced regularly.