Penn squidder 140 stuck chrome ring on right side plate

[retiredandfishing]

Have a stuck chrome ring on the right side plate of this squidder 140.  This design has two large and wide posts that cannot be taken off unless the chrome ring can be removed as they are attached to the chrome ring .  So not enough room to rotate the bridge plate assembly out of the way to allow setting the dog spring into's it's notch when trying to reassemble.

Anyone have a trick for separating the chrome ring on this design from the right side plate?  I'm assuming the quick disconnect screw is the only screw holding the two together.  I tried an ultrasonic bath but still doesn't want to come loose.  Thinking maybe I'm overlooking something that is still holding the chrome piece to the side plate, but I cannot see where it shouldn't pop out.  See picture.   

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Steve

[oc1]

I hate those things and have been able to scar and crack them with both a strap wrench and channel locks.

The root cause is the bakelite absorbing moisture and swelling, which eventually distorts the ring.

Man, I hope someone here has a trick up their sleeve.

[Dominick]

I'm not sure from the picture you posted what you mean.  Unscrew the posts and the foot.  Stand the plate up on edge and take a knife and insert it into the crack.  You should hear a click (meaning the knife has hit the plate).  Rotate it and continue in the same way.  ring should become loose at some point.  Dominick

[Wompus Cat]

Send it to me and just pay the Return Shipping .

[Maxed Out]

 Loosen thumb screw and pull it up as far as you can and use that thumb screw to help twist off the headplate

[Wompus Cat]

We are assuming you are aware how  that the Thumbscrew Maxed Out Refers to  works on those Reels .
Not trying to be a Smarty Pants.

[retiredandfishing]

Send it to me and just pay the Return Shipping .

Thanks for the offer, but the customer needs it as soon as possible (of course), so I'll see what I can do. If I can't get it off I think I figured a way to set the dog and dog spring once I get the bridge assembly in.  That's the only problem I had with assembly.  The other design that has smaller diameter round posts is easy to deal with, but this one with the big posts and no way to take them off without removing the side plate presents a problem in assembly.

Steve

[PacRat]

I've never had to do this but...I've read that you can put it in the freezer for a couple of hours and the bakelite plate will shrink more than the ring and they will come apart. Let us know if this works for you. Don't forget to pull out on the thumb-screw while twisting.
Good luck
-Mike

[milne]

Hey Retiredandfishing
   Firstly, not telling you how to suck eggs !!  But I remember when I got my first take apart reel and someone walked me thru taking it apart
So apologies in advance if this post is futile...

Firstly, They can be tricky puppies if they haven't been removed before, gummed up and corroded in.
But below is a couple of photo's of my first year 39 Squidder, it was well and truly stuck in the beginning.
I did the soak thing for a few days and it pretty well freed itself.
If I had seen a photo of how it works, I would have understood what I had to do and saved myself some grief.

Below is the inside of both halfs, you can see the locator pins and the screw in pin which has to be un wound, THEN, needs to be pulled out as far as it can go, then as shown in the second photo ( upside down sorry) I use my thumb and forefinger under the screw in pin, hold it out, then at the same time, wrap my hand around the handle and star, also holding the left hand tail plate with the other hand, then twist back towards you.
You can apply a fair bit of force actually, you will feel it turn and stop, when it does, the whole face plate will pull off.
A bit difficult to explain and hopefully the photo's give you an idea of it's workings.
If you already new this, again, my apologies...
HTH
Col
 

[retiredandfishing]

Thank you Milne.  That really helps me see what how the side plate fits together. The side plate slides into a chrome sleeve, not directly on to the case.  No apologies necessary, this is just a reel type I had not encountered before. I think I understand your explanation of how to get the side plate off. I'll give it a try in the next few days and post the results.

Thanks, Steve

[Cuttyhunker]

Like Dominick something sharp as a wedge to start the separation, I use a single edge razor blade first with penetrating oil, once on an old 100 the plate chipped.

[retiredandfishing]

Thanks for all the good information on getting a side plate ring unstuck.  Tried the way Milne does it on this particular reel and was not successful. It was clear that if I applied to much more force of any kind that something was going to bend or break.  Even tried ultrasonic again for about 15 minutes. However, I did Milne's procedure on a 2nd Squidder of the same design I got into the shop and it worked fine.  Because this is a customer reel I did not feel taking the chance of chipping the reel body by attempting to loosen the ring from the body by inserting something between them was an option.

I found a way to load the dog spring back in it's pocket even though the bridge assembly could not be slid out of the way. Used a very small flathead screwdriver with a slight bend in it's tip and was able to move the spring into the proper position and lock down the bridge assembly.  This was my main problem at the start.

So things worked out and I learned a lot from all of you.

Thanks again, Steve

[retiredandfishing]

Oh, forgot to include that one of the squidders (there were 5 from this customer) had a QA tag still on the inside from 1983, and the reel is pristine. 

Steve

[Gfish]

Excellent! I have a 146 like that. Like OC-1 Steve said, Bakelite swelling is the usual suspect. Some tape on the quick release screw to hold it out away from the plate, will give you 2-freed-up hands to work with. Also, it'ed keep you from tweaking the screw from excessive hand twisting pressure.

[retiredandfishing]

Finally did get that squidder apart.  Could not let it beat me. LOL.  Put it in the ultra sonic for about 45 minutes then it came right off.