the star loosens up on its own

[alantani]

penn 555 drag question

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star drag is starting to back its self off as the line is pulled out....any ideas whats causing it ??

here's a diagram from dawn. she's the lady that owns smoothdrag.com. note that metal washers alternate with drag washers. note also that there are two types of metal washers. the keyed metal washers ride on the drive shaft (aka gear sleeve). the slotted metal washers have nubs on the outside and ride with the main gear. the metal washers have to alternate "keyed, slotted, keyed" so that the top metal washer rides with the drive shaft. if you have your stack set up so that the metal washers are oriented "keyed, keyed, slotted, then the top metal washer rides with the main gear.

now what happens is that the line is pulled out, the spool moves backwards, the spool moves the pinion gear, the pinion gear moves the main gear, the main gear moves the slotted metal washer, the slotted metal washer moves the spacer, the spacer moves the star and the star backs up counter clockwise until you loose all drag pressure. this is the most common way that this problem occurs. your reel had to have been assembled incorrectly by someone. a reel could NEVER come from the factory like this. alan