South Bend 960--Biggest Reel of That Series

[festus]

A few days ago Mo65 messaged me some pics of his South Bend Classic 930.  I told him about a big classic 960 going cheap on ebay.  I sent him the link, so he saw it also and said I'd better jump on it, so he talked me into it.  It was in pretty good shape, cranked  smoothly and was definitely fishable out of the box, but needed checked out anyway.


I assume this was the original grease from some 40 years ago, but it hadn't set up like most reels I've serviced from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.


I like this removable bail trip ramp that isn't part of the body. 

This reel has a hoss of a ball bearing, biggest one I've seen in a spinning reel.
I didn't disassemble the anti-reverse assembly, it was fairly clean but I tidied it up a little with WD-40 and a wipedown, also left the bail assembly as it was.


Everything fell in line putting it back together.  The schematic is a little different than this actual layout.  Two c-clips secure the oscillation lever, and there is no left handed thread screw going into the drive gear.


These reels weigh 17.5 oz without line.  Gear ratio 3.5:1, hold 250 yds of 20 lb. mono. Comparable, but much lighter than the Shakespeare 2091A, D-A-M Quick Super 270/550/550N, or Penn Greenie 704.

FedEx also delivered two rods today from Cabela's, a 9' MH Whuppin Stick and an Eagle Claw heavy action 10 footer. It was time to start buying some rods, got plenty of reels already, but not enough, of course

[Midway Tommy]

Looks pretty darn nice, Chester!

[philaroman]

are all the 900 series sizes steel-on-steel worm?

how do the Whuppin'Sticks compare to Ugly's & yellow EC glass?
guessing the blanks are decent glass, but how do the components look?

thanks, for any info.

[festus]

are all the 900 series sizes steel-on-steel worm?

how do the Whuppin'Sticks compare to Ugly's & yellow EC glass?
guessing the blanks are decent glass, but how do the components look?

thanks, for any info.

Yes, I imagine all 900 series are steel-on-steel worm since Mike's is the smallest, and mine is the largest.

The Whuppin Sticks are pretty much the same as an Ugly Stik other than the color.  But most Uglies this size have the foam handle, this Whuppin has cork.  The Whuppin is about 10 bucks cheaper, but I can't tell a dime's worth of difference.

This big Eagle Claw is practically an oversize version of the little Eagle Claw Featherlight yellow ones.  I have one Featherlight in the garage I've had for at least 35 years, never really had any problems with it.  I fish mostly from the bank, sometimes around rip-rap below dams and steam plants, so I'd be reluctant to use something expensive there.  The old Ugly Catfish 7 and 8 footers have served me well, along with a 12' Offshore Angler I bought at Bass Pro for about 30 bucks probably 10 years ago.

[mo65]

   That reel looks great Chester. The grease looks just like what was in mine...it was still soft too. Did it have oiled felt drags?

[Gfish]

That's one tough lookin reel festus. I especially like the anti-reverse pawl stickin into the pinion gear. That's supposed to be the best way to do it.

[festus]

   That reel looks great Chester. The grease looks just like what was in mine...it was still soft too. Did it have oiled felt drags?

Sure did, and they were clean. Whoever had the reel had backed off the drags before storage.

[philaroman]

my amateur research suggests these were oldest/best Ohmori OEM
(their last worm; both, standard & pop-off spools...  depending on size)
prob. same reels as (in order of likelihood):
Diamond(?) Proline http://www5c.biglobe.ne.jp/~take300/ohmori101.htm
Compac Atlas II
Shakes President II
might be a re-branded Pflueger in the mix, as well

Tom, how much did I get right?

[festus]

my amateur research suggests these were oldest/best Ohmori OEM
(their last worm; both, standard & pop-off spools...  depending on size)
prob. same reels as (in order of likelihood):
Diamond(?) Proline http://www5c.biglobe.ne.jp/~take300/ohmori101.htm
Compac Atlas II
Shakes President II
might be a re-branded Pflueger in the mix, as well

Tom, how much did I get right?

Similar, but the side plate screw would interfere with the oscillation lever.

[Midway Tommy]

I clearly have limited knowledge about Japanese reel manufacturing but It looks like you're pretty much on target, Phil. It appears Omori made all of those reels, including quite a few others. It is a tangled web they weaved. Shakespeare bought Southern Tackle in '72 & Southern Tackle was the US distributor for some of the Diamond series' including the Spin Masters & others. The Spin Masters look very similar to some of the SB/Gladding lines.

The Pro Line was never distributed in the US so there's not a lot of information out there on them. Clearly the oscillation arm looks the same as the SB/Gladdings, as seen below. By the looks of the A/R & gearing the Pro Line was as close as they could get to the ABU Cardinal line short of the rear fulcrum drag mechanism, therefore the single sideplate screw. Omori  went out of the reel manufacturing business in the late 1980s.   

[festus]

If someone could translate this it would help.

[foakes]

Here you go, Chester —

Just needs re-orientation 👍👍👍😁

Best,

Fred

[festus]

I clearly have limited knowledge about Japanese reel manufacturing but It looks like you're pretty much on target, Phil. It appears Omori made all of those reels, including quite a few others. It is a tangled web they weaved. Shakespeare bought Southern Tackle in '72 & Southern Tackle was the US distributor for some of the Diamond series' including the Spin Masters & others. The Spin Masters look very similar to some of the SB/Gladding lines.

The Pro Line was never distributed in the US so there's not a lot of information out there on them. Clearly the oscillation arm looks the same as the SB/Gladdings, as seen below. By the looks of the A/R & gearing the Pro Line was as close as they could get to the ABU Cardinal line short of the rear fulcrum drag mechanism, therefore the single sideplate screw. Omori  went out of the reel manufacturing business in the late 1980s.   

No doubt the 800 series of SB/Gladding and the Spinmaster Diamonds are the same reels.

[Midway Tommy]

If someone could translate this it would help.

Chester, my Japanese is very good.  It says, as can best be translated: 

"2 Worm gear reels
The smoothness of worm gears might stand out .
If they had made these gears ......"

No doubt the 800 series of SB/Gladding and the Spinmaster Diamonds are the same reels.

Not quite exactly the same, but very similar. Leg bends are different, as are the bail arms & bail trip.  

[mo65]

Here you go, Chester —

Just needs re-orientation 👍👍👍😁

Best,

Fred

   OK Fred...thanks for making me spew coffee on the keyboard...good one!