...It's putting out too much drag. It won't go into free spool and it's been slowly increasing drag. When I took it apart yesterday 7lbs on the side plate read 20lbs on the scale. What do you mean by "slowly increasing"? Like, from one week to the next, or while pulling line off the spool, or between one take-apart and the next? I thought maybe it was something to do with the springs or washers and it's not, as far as I can tell. Mmno, shouldn't be... My next thought was the cam was slipping and out of place, Not really, since it is a screw and not a cam per sé. BUT iirc, even though the cam is symmetrical and has a two-start thread, you can accidentally reinstall the drag lever / male thread on the wrong thread, ie start 180 degrees off of where it should be, which obviously puts things out of whack. I can't even figure out how to adjust it. You can't. Then I took the spacer out between the thrust bearings and didn't have any drag. No, that spacer is crucial. Gotta be there. Seems like that spacer is a little thick though. Mmmayybe, could be... but that would mean that the drag was never right, which you would likely have noticed before.
You are a clever guy; you'll figure it out. If it is changing between one take-apart and the next, see the part about the screw thread. He's keeping a low profile...d'uh.
Haha, love it. Yup, he was deep, deeep undercover...
There is a guy that runs a small shop in the NE part of the state's that is a wizard with these, just Can't seem to remember his name at the moment.
Chris Martell, aka Tunatoys on some of the forums. .