49A Upgrade (Formerly: Building a wide 49)

[xjchad]

UPDATE: I started this project as a way to create my own 49A.  Since my last post on May 24, 2019 I had let it sit.  I was busy with other stuff and discouraged with trying to figure out a way to make my own wide spool.  Since then I recently acquired and REAL 49A!!!    My many thanks goes out to the generous person that made it happen for me (you know who you are).  It's special to me to have a reel that has caught fish on the ledges of Rooikrantz!  Initially I wanted to clean it up and put it on the shelf, but you all know that I love fishing the older gear and I'm not much for shelf queens.  SO, I'm going to go ahead with modifying this reel to fish with me and continue it's legacy of catching trophy fish from shore.  NOTE:  I will not make any modifications that can't be undone to put it back to original.  Any parts that have permanent modifications are from the donor 49 reel that I started with and the original parts will be kept safe until I'm ready to put it back to it's original state.


So hear is my newly acquired Penn 49A from South Africa.  This reel has caught fish from the ledges of Rooikrantz and will continue the tradition from the beaches of California  





Very clean inside!






I will be using the parts that I modified in the above posts, but as most of these projects go, I've found snags and need to continue the modifications to make it work.  If you haven't read from the beginning, check out the previous posts too.

[mo65]

Fantastic lookin' 49A Chad!

[AC49]

Good job Chad ... enjoy a piece of South African Penn history 

Regards
AC49 .. A

[Darin Crofton]

She's a beauty, Chad, congrats buddy!

[Maxed Out]

Looking forward to your fishing adventures with this reel

Btw, that dog looks more like a boomerang

[xjchad]

Thanks guys!

Ted, the dog has a wild shape with the tail on it so that the AR can be turned off 'knuckle-buster' style.

I'm going to make a stainless dog, but I don't think I'll include the tail.  I can't see ever wanting to use that option.

[xjchad]

So previously I had modified a 49 bridge by removing the skinny post and installing a 349 post.  This was to make it stronger and allow me to use a 4/0 stainless gear sleeve.  Once I put the sleeve on the post and installed the bridge in the head plate I had a problem.



Not enough room left for a spacer sleeve 
I then remembered that Sal had removed the insert and bored the hole larger when he did the 349 bridge upgrade.
I'm not about to cut into this reel so I need to come up with another solution.

I think I've got it... Stay tuned...

[Rothmar2]

Nice work Chad, will watch with interest. Going to be some deep thinking required to get to the end result.
Have you seen Mike's 349 bridge mod? It might give you some ideas going forward.


https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=14113.0

[Crow]

Lookin' good , Chad !

[xjchad]

Thanks guys!

Chris, I had not seen that post, thank you!  I do like mounting the dogs to the bridge, so I will probably go that route.  If I can fit two dogs without having to modify the head plate that would be great!

[mhc]

Looking good Chad, I'm keen to see how you tackle this one.

Mike

[Swami805]

I'm sure I have a 49 head plate I'd donate in the name of science Chad, I could run it down there on Monday.

[Alto Mare]

Nice job Chad👍!
Enjoy that reel!

Sal

[gstours]

Very daring of you and enlightening to us all.  Like momsy said idle hands are the devils workshop.
    Have you contacted Lee, (keta) on this forum for some sst dogs, as he made some for his favorite 349.?
The curves on these dogs will be a lot more work than the peezy 113/14 dogs.   
   Good luck with your project and thanks for sharing.   Merry Christmas 🎄 to all.

[xjchad]

Thank you all for the ideas and encouragement!

Sheridan, thanks, but I'm off until Christmas, let's meet for lunch soon after though!

I have found a way to use the larger post and not modify the head plate. I'll post more info after Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!