Tutorial and Detailed Look at The 302

Started by Gfish, September 02, 2019, 06:55:24 PM

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Gfish

#15
Rotor/Bail system, continued.

Cleaned all moving parts with wire brush and penetrating oil, and cleaned black aluminium rotor with p. oil, rag and Q-tip.
Marine grease mixed with oil for bail arm, trip lever piviot area and bail release pin. Oil on the line roller. Plain marine grease painted on all inner rotor surfaces.

Reassembly: pretty much the reverse of assembly, starting with the line roller lock nut assembly. Next, on the rotor, slide the pin in from the outside and through the pin spring. Place the trip lever back in with the extended part fitting into the notch in the pin, line it up and screw in. Note that in the picture, the pin spring is behind where the trip lever contacts the pin.
Fun part now: install bail spring into the rotor. CLEAN GREASE OFFA FINGERS. To install bail arm, first use your finger inside the rotor to hold the pin in, so it doesn't push on the bail arm. Push on a certain part of the bail trip lever mechanism to do this, you'll find it...Put bail arm onto spring, center it. Are you still holding the pin in!?, now twist the bail arm slowly, keeping it centered and with some pressure, twist it up and around that square shaped rotor projection( bail bumper rests against this when it's back together and bail is closed), you got it? Are the spring ends still in their respective holes? Good. Now quick, put the bail screw in, torque it! Hurry-up!

Only took me 3 tries!
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#16
IMO, the bail system on this reel is pretty flimsy compared to all the other 302 systems. The wire is thin, and the line roller only has 3 parts. The locknut for the roller is small and attaches to a pretty thin threaded bail end-piece. There is no real support for  for the bail wire on the opposite side, it just fits loosely in a hole in the rotor with a cover screw to keep it from popping out.
And no, the roller on my 56yr. old reel isn't gonna roll, even with the nut locked in a pretty loose position. Best to snug it up so the bail doesn't wiggle around when actuated, that could tweak something.
That's probably why Mitchell came up with the PUM. A bail-less manual pick-up. The PUM looks like a tough unit in the schematic's picture.  These are offered in the '63 schematic as an extra part to order. Probably check out da bay and see about gettin one.

Next, the gear box, AR and ball bearing.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#17
The Gear Box, Anti-Reverse System and The Ball Bearing

1st) Unscrew the non-gear side plate which has a red plastic Lube Access Port (for the main & pinion gears). This side-plate has shorter, flat-top screws and the opposite(gear side)plate uses tapered-head screws, probably to better align the gears. 2nd) remove the skinny screw at bottom of the shaft(sometimes called the"reel axel") which attaches to the "axel guide". This unit seems to provide strength and stability to the shaft, by kinda stabilizing it against side to side movement at the bottom. 3rd) push the 2-"C" clips off of the axel shaft, located on top and on the bottom of the oscillation unit(called the "pivot slide")and pull the shaft out.

In the second picture you may be able to see, bottom C-clip is all the way off and the top one is 1/2 way off.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#18
Continued...

4th) Remove the gear side-plate and pull the main gear out.
5th) If you haven't already done it, remove the chrome rotor bushing and the copper shim from the top of the ball bearing. 6th) Pull the key from the pinion shaft and hold-on to it! Push the pinion down into the gear box and out, then reinstall the key with a dab of grease. 7th) unscrew the 2 set screws on either side of the gear box "neck" and push the ball bearing up and out.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#19
Continued...

The planamatic gear system consists of a main("drive") gear (left side in picture) ring gear("planamatic cam ring")far right, and an oscillating gear("planamatic gear") middle. Note in the 2nd picture I push/pulled out what I'll call the "lubricant absorbtion pad" from the main gear shaft, it's sitting on the reel seat in picture #2. This is common in the older Mitchell reels. I press cleaned it between paper towels. Looks kinda delicate---hey, it's almost my age!
At this point I'm gonna return the screws, clips and a few other small items to where they go, after clean and lube, so I don't lose 'em or forget where they go.

These gears shine like steel, but feel like they're aluminium in weight. Probably some kinda alloy. Tolerances at the various friction points seem to nice and tight.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#20
Continued...

The anti-reverse assembly.
8th) remove the "E"-clip from the from on top of the "antireverse cam spring"(black color). Carefully, with your finger on the silver dog spring, pull the AR cam spring and then the dog and dog spring.
This looks like a nice sturdy system. In the first picture, it's in the off position.
Cleaned and lubed all of the above parts, as well as these AR parts as described before. Exceptions would be the lube pad that I pulled out of the main gear shaft. I dumped some clean oil down there and stuffed the pad back in. The ball bearing got soaked in inox mx3, lubed with oil and covered in marine grease. Most other friction parts on the reel got a mix of oil and marine grease.

Reassembly of gear box next.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#21
Reassembly:
1st) the AR system. Very simple: the reverse of disassembly.


2nd) the shaft, with the axel guide, pivot slide and pinion must be done in the right sequence. The pinion goes in, in only one direction, from the inside of the gear box, up. First, install the pivot slide on the shaft WITHOUT the C-clips. Install the pinion gear also on the shaft above the pivot slide.
Remember, the pivot slide and shaft have corresponding groves and they must face the planamatic gear on the proper side. The planamatic gear's knob, needs to fit into the pivot slide/shaft grove.

Second, attach the bottom of the shaft to the shaft guide, but don't screw it in yet. Next, push the pinion up through the top of the gear box and put the ball bearing in on the pinion shaft and install the set screws. Are the groves on the pivot slide & shaft going to line up with the planamatic gear(i.e. face the gear side-plate)? Install the shaft guide screw, now. Push the C-clips onto the shaft groves, on the top and the bottom of pivot slide.

3rd) The 3 planamatic gears are straight forward with one exception: the planamatic cam ring(middle gear) does not move. There are 2 knobs on the ring that must be inserted into corresponding holes inside the gear box. Easy to see. However, there's also a knob on the planamatic gear(innermost gear) that 1) has to be lined up with one of the knobs on the cam ring gear and 2) at the same time, fit into the pivot slide. Once you think you have it right, tighten down the shaft guide screw.
Screw in the handle assembly.
Place the gear side-plate on the correct side of the gear box, without the plate screws. Hold it close to centered and get the ring gear knobs into the corresponding holes. Then manipulate the planamatic gear to 1) have the knob fit into the grove of the pivot slide and 2) be lined up, side to side, with one of the ring gear knobs.
Test it by holding the gear side-plate and gear box (with alota pressure) centered and steady and turn the handle. May take several adjustments to get a proper & consistent oscillation of the shaft. Screw the plate on when it works right.

4th) you've already installed the ball bearing and the 2 set screws. Now put the copper shim down against the top of the ball bearing and the chrome bushing on top of the shim. Make sure the tiny key is still in the pinion shaft and adjusted longest side top to bottom.

Time to button her up. Non-gear side-plate, rotor, spindle, spool and drag stack. 1st) install the rotor by positioning it so that the keyway slot slides down over the key. Screw on the 14mm nut. 2nd) screw the spindle onto the axel. 3rd) add the spool onto spindle and put drag washers in, proper order is important for best performance. Drag washer order is on page 1, post #5. Screw down drag knob making sure the spacer washers with the 2 flat sides on the inside hole are down properly on the spindle. Twist in the screw on top of the drag knob.
Test, and screw on the side plate. Done!

Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

#22
Oh boy! A "new to me" reel. Kinda like a new relationship, and the honeymoon phase is a goin' on!
Gonna get some good line on her and take her for a nice long test drive.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Crow

There's nothing wrong with a few "F's" on your record....Food, Fun, Flowers, Fishing, Friends, and Fun....to name just a few !

foakes

Excellent tutorial, Gregg!

Like many of us on here, having worked on plenty of these over the years — at least (2) things are worth noting, in my opinion.

1) These 302/303's are strong salt water reels.  Good, tough frames — metal spools, good construction and
    materials, attractive in appearance.

2) They also seem like they have too many parts for a HD Salt-Water reel — overly complicated and prone
    to salt/sand damage and corrosion.

I have 2 or 3 large crates of these — and it seems like if they were ever used — they need major restorations to bring them back to where we would fish them confidently.

You have done a fantastic job on yours.  It will catch a lot of fish!

Best,

Fred
The Official, Un-Authorized Service and Restoration Center for quality vintage spinning reels.

D-A-M Quick, Penn, Mitchell, and ABU/Zebco Cardinals

--------

The first rule of fishing is to fish where the fish are. The second rule of fishing is to never forget the first rule.

"Enjoy the little things in Life — For someday, you may look back — and realize that they were the big things"
                                                     Fred O.

festus

Great job, Greg!  You are right, the bail is puny on these reels. The smaller heavy freshwater/light saltwater 306 has a more robust bail wire.

The 302 engineering is nothing like the Mitchell 300. Similar to the smaller 308 and 306, but more complicated.  One weak point is the plastic anti-reverse lever.  Mine arrived with a stripped a/r lever, but l found the parts cheap on ebay.  Also Fred Oakes sent me some missing drag components at n/c. 

These reels can probably handle anything in my neck-of-the-woods, big cats, stripers, carp, drum, buffalo, paddlefish, and lake sturgeon which have been stocked in the past 20 years or so.

handi2

I cut my teeth working on these reels. Its all we had back in the day when I fished with my father on the Pensacola Beach Pier. Hundreds of King and Spanish Mackerel. They are still used today.

You can fit 5 Penn 6-155 HT-100 drag washers if you remove the spool clicker. The spool clicker puts a lot of tension on the line. Not so good for free lining a tiny bait.
OCD Reel Service & Repair
Gulf Breeze, FL

Midway Tommy

Great walk through, Greg! Thanks! I've got a tote with about 20 various Mitchell models to service, if I live long enough  :D, one of these winter months. These types of tutorials will sure come in handy when that time comes.  ;)
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

festus

A note about this odd color metal inside the housing.  A while back in the Mitchell Reel Museum forum I read that this is either a coating or plating to prevent salt water damage.  Can't remember exactly what the plating is made from.

Gfish

Special Note: George6308, whom posted replies #1 & #9 on page 1, passed away a few days latter. Sounds like before he left us though, he got another reel(his old 302) out, serviced and up to par. Maybe his kids or grandkids will use it someday. In honor of his memory, I'm gonna unofficially name mine George(hope that's ok buddy!) and will remember him whenever I use it.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!