Something not adding up..

[Noahg727]

What are the most common reasons reels lose their freespool after you reassemble them. Everything else works fine but I can’t for the life of me figure out why it’s not aligning. I took it apart and reassembled it countless times trying to find my mistake and I’m yet to figure it out. It’s a mak 80w. Iv looked at Alan’s 50 rebuild for help and the posted schematics, what am I missing!

Noah

[SoCalAngler]

Check the belleville washer/spring washer configuration. The misconfiguration of these washers in most lever drag reels after service is the main reason for loosing freespool. This means going deep into the reel again with most the parts coming off so it is often the last place people look.

It's hard to tell by looking at the schematic but to me it looks like the belleville's, part numbers 609 goes like this ()() and 609-1 on the other side of the spool's main shaft is the same ()(). That's where I'd start.

Edit. Here is a link to the 80W schematic. http://schematics.mikesreelrepair.com/albums/okuma/MK80W2.pdf

[Bryan Young]

It could be many things, so let’s break it down where I would start to look.

Did you set the drag before testing out the free spool?  I think you need to preload the drag system so the the metal drag washers are floating properly.

Is the floating drag washer between the metal drag plates seated in the spool properly?

E-clip is the e-clip that holds the Belleville spring washers seated properly?  Sometimes it poops off ever so slightly that it contacts the bearings.

Drag washers - did you really-grease them and while off the drag grease so the washers looks like they are shiny. It’s possible that they are contacting the drag plates.

Is the pinion gear seated well into the pinion bearing?

That’s all I can think about at the moment.

Drag assembly with the bearing - is the spring seated properly and not binding with the drag washer?

[SoCalAngler]

Good call Bryan, I never thought about too much grease on the drag washer because in those reels they came greased from the factory with Cal's on them so there should never be a reason to add more. But, if more was added that could cause the drag plate to stick to the carbon fiber washer.

[Noahg727]

Well guys the issue is finally resolved. Turns out I hadn’t tightened the drag cam correctly 🤦‍♂️. It was either not right enough or too tight. I hadn’t realize on the maks, yah need to tighten it a lil bit to get it to free. Well, at least I now know how to take the thing apart and reassemble it without schematics 😂😂.

Thanks for all your help though.

Noah

[bhale1]

glad you got it resolved!!!!
Brett

[alantani]

ok, so your lever drag reel will not go back into free.  you push the lever forward and throw the lever into gear.  then you push the lever back to the free position and it's still slightly in gear.  can you ever fiddle with the reel and get it back into free? there are two problems that pop up commonly, and two ways to fix it.

one, there is corrosion along the spool shaft where the pressure plate bearing sits.  in this case, you throw the lever forward, pressing the stainless steel drag pressure against the drag washer.  the reel is in gear.  when you push the lever back to free, the seized up drag pressure plate stays into contact with the drag washer and you get no freespool.  if you shimmy the spool right to left, you should be able to free up the pressure plate and suddenly you have freespool again.  in this case, the spool shaft has to be cleaned up and usually the bearings replaced.  

two, the cam is damaged, or the "hex" base that is part of the side plate that the cam rides on is damaged, or both.  in this case, when the reel is in gear and you push the lever back to free, the cam doesn't fully return and the reel stays in gear.  the drag is considerably less, but you still do not have freespool.  you might be able to work the lever back and forth a little and get the cam to drop back into free.  here, either the cam, or the side plate, or both, have to be replaced.