Issue with Baja Special

Started by Bill B, October 10, 2019, 07:09:45 PM

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Bill B

Well I thought the Baja was was fixed. When there is no tension on the line, it is the perfect reel with great free spool and smooth handle turning. But during retrieve with weight on the line there is a bumping every 1/4 revolution of the spool.  I know the issue is in the drive train, as putting the spool on the handle side and applying pressure while turning the handle gives the same bump.  The pinion, spool, bridge, sleeve, dogs are new so I doubt the spool is slipping on the pinion or dogs on the sleeve. The only thing I can see wrong inside, is the locator pins on the handle plate that locate the bridge are broken off.  Inspection of the main gear shows no wear or missing teeth.  Loosening the left side bearing reduces the bump but does not stop it. There is some wear to the handle side spool flange. 

Any ideas?  Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

alantani

probably a small piece of crud in the pinion gear.   :-\
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

steelfish

#2
Quote from: Bill B (Tarfu) on October 10, 2019, 07:09:45 PM
The pinion, spool, bridge, sleeve, dogs are new so ....................... Inspection of the main gear shows no wear or missing teeth.  ...
Any ideas?  Bill

Bill,

have the reel worked correctly after you installed the new pinion before this trip or this is the 1st time using it after installing the new parts?

Im asking cuz sometimes the main gear and pinion when working together for many time they molded their teeth after thousands of revolutions, when you install a new pinion it teeth might not match 100% equal against the main gear that has the teeth molded after the old pinion.

this had happens to me on other reels with many teeth like the shimanos, trinidad/talica/etc.

the way I can test that is to take out the main gear and pinion and roll the pinion teeth along (literally) the main gear teeth for a complete round, you might find the bump after few tries.
if thats the case, there is no much you can do about it other that use the reel and hope for the teeth of both gears to mold/adapt each other after some use, that or getting a new main gear that has no wear so it will match the new pinion correctly (in theory)

it might be other part of culprit, but I had have the previous scenario on few reels when the main gear and pinion are new vs used on a same set
The Baja Guy

Bill B

Alex this is the first time out with the new parts, will have to check out the mating of the gears tomorrow.  Funny how the problem only is only under tension like reeling up fish and weights. When not under pressure they are smooth as glass.  The gears are crud free. Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

steelfish

Quote from: Bill B (Tarfu) on October 10, 2019, 11:49:50 PM
Alex this is the first time out with the new parts, will have to check out the mating of the gears tomorrow.  Funny how the problem only is only under tension like reeling up fish and weights. When not under pressure they are smooth as glass.  The gears are crud free. Bill

if its only under tension it could be a bearing, some bearings spins nice on your hand but if you put some tension on them they start to feel rough.

Baja Special has a really tiny bearing when the floating spool shaft fits, check that out too, really dont know what Penn was thinking using that super tiny bearing on a big heavy duty reel.
the spool in the rightt side floats over two bearings, check if one the them is toasted, that might make the pinion to act weird under tension
The Baja Guy

Bill B

It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

Bill B

Was able to check all the bearings and all are OK. The issue is definitely a gear mesh issue, there is some gear binding under high loading ( by high I mean reeling 2+ pounds) Since the bridge locator tabs are missing from the handle side plate I suspect that may be the issue. Not keeping the the main and pinion in alignment. Will order a new plate from Mystic and see what that does. Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!