Pflueger Bond Model 2000

[Brewcrafter]

Tore into another of my Father in Laws old reels as a diversion and thought this might prove helpful to anyone with a similar reel.  This weeks project: Pflueger Bond Model 2000 Levelwind.  As always, if any of the Ohana have any information on the history of the reel, please share!  I wasn't able to find out much about the reel, but "guessing" he acquired it in the 50's or 60's, but only a guess.

I am going to try and highlight some of the things I found unique in working on this project.  Starting with the right side head plate, the yoke engages the pinion and shifts in and out with a unique cam type arrangement with a pin that rotates 90 degrees on the spring loaded cam.

The left side tail plate has a couple of fun things going on.  Firstly, yes, those are METAL levelwind gears!  Secondly, you can see that at some point my Father in Law was inside of this reel - that "custom" spring for the clicker started life as a paperclip.  As a man who worked on everything from P51's to B29's and B47's, I'm sure that ingenuity was second nature to him.

The levelwind assembly is pretty robust, with a shield over the worm gear.

The bridge plate and drag assembly are pretty straightforward for anyone that has torn into a conventional reel, with 2 keyed and 1 eared washer sandwiching 3 fiber washers plus and undergear.  Not sure what material the soft parts were made of, but it seemed very similar to what I found in the Diawa Millionaire that I went through a couple of weeks ago, almost like a graphite embedded paper, very thin and easily torn.

A quick count of the main gear and pinion gear teeth reveals this reel has virtually the same gear ratio as the Diawa Millionaire as well: 3.77:1
Also since a complete drag package doesn't seem to exist, and the factory washers didn't seem to match and standard sizes:  the ID matched a Smoothdrag #5 and the OD matched a Smoothdrag #4.


After mulling over the options, a nice sharp step drill was employed by hand to open up the ID of the #4 washers which seemed to be the easiest approach.  It was a little messy, but I only needed to gain couple thousandths

Here are a couple of other fun differences that I found in this reel.  Firstly, instead of the press fit pin holding the gear sleeve onto the bridge that all of us Pennheads are used to the gear sleeve is retained with a screw down through the center of the sleeve.

Also everyone is probably familiar with the metal ring that Penn employs on the pinion gear to help reinforce the end that engages with the spool.  The Pflueger does not have such a ring or a provision for it.

Instead, when the pinion is engaged with the spool, it "nests" down into a collar machined into the spool, in theory giving it reinforcement and preventing the end from splitting outward under load.

Beyond that, assembly was pretty straightforward: grease where needed, Cal's on the drags, oil where needed, and CorrosionX on everything else.  I haven't put any line of this reel since I'm not really sure what I'm gonna use it for, but I am guessing just based on the washer sizes that it should get somewhere around 10# of drag - more than enough for this old reel.
Summary:  Its purely coincidence that I did this reel right after doing another reel from my Father in Laws stash, the Diawa Millionaire. In size and function they seem pretty similar, but a couple of major differences.  The most noticeable is weight, the Diawa makes ample use of lightweight aluminum and plastic, the Pflueger, while marginally larger, weighs substantially more.  The metal spool alone might weigh as much as the entire Diawa  I don't have access to my digital scale at this time, but hope to update this in the future when I can actually weigh them both.  The Pflueger is unquestionable more robust, and yes, I can see how one can get seriously pinched in the event of getting their fingers caught in the levelwind!
As always, if anyone can shed any additional light on the history/background of this model, you thoughts will be appreciated!

[Crow]

Good job !  Thanks for showing it.

[Sharkb8]

Thanks for showing, some info 1957 black side plates 1959 red side plates ,freshwater stand model 2000 salt water stand 2002,gear ratio 3.77-1 ,300yds 15lb

Kim

[Brewcrafter]

Kim - That looks SWEET!  Thank you for the info and hope there are some cool fish stories on that awesome reel you shared!!!! - john

[Mic]

 Agree,
Sweet reel Kim !
Thanks for the info on the Black side plate 1957's. That's really good to know.

From what I've seen of the internals, these reels are 2x Super duty. I believe I read a statement from Fred Oakes that I'll quote as close as possible when he was discussing old reels from back in the day. ...."well engineered and over built".....


John,
Were the springs and washer in your Bond the same as the ones in mine ? My spring appears to have sprung in this one. The coils are not on top of each other anymore and appears to be collapsed.
As for the cut washer, it actually will pass through the spring ID. Virtually doing nothing at all....

[Brewcrafter]

Identical setup to mine.  They both function as springs, under the sleeve/hat, however they do not act (or stack) directly on each other, but work together as the drag star compresses on the top drag washer of the stack.  The round spring washer should nest into the recess in the bottom of the drag sleeve/hat.  Then the cut/spring/lock washer sit inside the circumference of the wire spring.  Think of it as a spring inside of a spring.  I think (only my guess) is that it was a crude way to build a progressive ramp into the drag - under light pressure the coil spring is providing the minimal pressure between the drag star and the top metal washer (and keeping the drag star from migrating lighter or tighter).  But as the drag is cinched down, the second, heavier split washer begins to add to the pressure.  Also, do you have a small, thin plastic/nylon washer that sits on the top of the drag sleeve between the star and sleeve?  Allows it to operate smoother.  I do not think I will get to it until later tomorrow but I will try and post another photo. - john

[Mic]

Identical setup to mine.  They both function as springs, under the sleeve/hat, however they do not act (or stack) directly on each other, but work together as the drag star compresses on the top drag washer of the stack.  The round spring washer should nest into the recess in the bottom of the drag sleeve/hat.  Then the cut/spring/lock washer sit inside the circumference of the wire spring.  Think of it as a spring inside of a spring.  I think (only my guess) is that it was a crude way to build a progressive ramp into the drag - under light pressure the coil spring is providing the minimal pressure between the drag star and the top metal washer (and keeping the drag star from migrating lighter or tighter).  But as the drag is cinched down, the second, heavier split washer begins to add to the pressure.  Also, do you have a small, thin plastic/nylon washer that sits on the top of the drag sleeve between the star and sleeve?  Allows it to operate smoother.  I do not think I will get to it until later tomorrow but I will try and post another photo. - john

Thanks John,
That's really helpful information.

No, didn't see a nylon washer in it. But I kinda figured there should have been something between the these washers and the first drag washer ? Something to spread the force out across the surface area without cutting the washer

I plan on putting this rascal on a good rod and see what it can do. It's built tough and maybe with a few modifications, "she'll be a contender!"

Thanks again for your help

Mic

[Brewcrafter]

It looks like I will need to reach out to Gobi King to "relearn" how to post photos since I do not see a "Gallery" feature anymore (maybe he restricted my account because I was sucking up too much bandwidth  ).  Hard to see in your photo but does the lockwasher/split washer have a small amount of offset between the two ends?  This is what allows it to function like a spring when it is compressed.  If the reel was left for a very long time with the drag totally locked down I can see how it would be permanently compressed flat and would not function properly. - john

[Gfish]

Nice view of a tough lookin lil levelwinder. Thanks for posting. Another reel I've never heard of. I always think of Pflueger's as those older all metal baitcasters, even though I have a "Capitol" with black sideplates.

[Mic]

It looks like I will need to reach out to Gobi King to "relearn" how to post photos since I do not see a "Gallery" feature anymore (maybe he restricted my account because I was sucking up too much bandwidth  ).  Hard to see in your photo but does the lockwasher/split washer have a small amount of offset between the two ends?  This is what allows it to function like a spring when it is compressed.  If the reel was left for a very long time with the drag totally locked down I can see how it would be permanently compressed flat and would not function properly. - john

Ha !
Gobi King hasn't blackballed me yet.....YET

There is about 1/8" or lees gap on the spring washer

PS....Thanks for the input

Mic

[Brewcrafter]

That's perfect for the lockwasher.  I was talking with Gobi King this afternoon and he "swears" it wasn't him that blackballed me - said it might have to do with the Commodore 64 computer I'm using  .  He's going to try and help me figure it out tonight.  Benni figures that since I never catch fish - I don't need to be able to post photos  - john

[Sharkb8]

Here is a photo of the reel and the drag

Kim

[Mic]

Here is a photo of the reel and the drag

Kim

Thanks Kim ~!

John mentioned a nylon washer above the springs. Is that it under the drag star in your picture ?

Mic

[Sharkb8]

Yes it is between the drag star and the top hat .

Kim

[Rick53]

Very nice piece of work! Thanks. I'm gonna test your memory a bit. I've got a 2002 Bond I cleaned up.
According to the drawing the original drag material is leather. Anyway, I'm a rookie on the site, so please cut me a little slack. When I assembled after cleaning there was very little, if any drag. I replaced the old with new carbonex. Still no drag. I am stumped and looking for suggestions, hoping that
the problem is something simple.