Gear alignment in Shimano spinning reel

[Capt. ahab]

I picked up a used Spheros 14000FB to use as a jigging reel.  I changed out the drive gear bushing for a bearing, and i seem to have messed up the alignment between the drive gear and pinion gear.  It sounds horrible when I crank it.  I hooked up to an amberjack a few weeks ago and could feel lots of grinding/resistance as I cranked the fish in.  Unfortunately I've thrown away the bushing, so I'm stuck with the bearing arrangement.  Do you think that if I order a stack of drive gear shims that I can shim this thing into alignment and salvage this project? 

I got the reel for such a good deal, I want to see it work, but at the same time, I won't have lost much if I can't make it work.  I'll just throw in the towel and get a new Saragosa. 

[ReelClean]

Have a look at Alan Hawks review:
https://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/spsw.html

Not identical? but might give some ideas. 
Mid page is a picture of the bush vs a bearing.  From what I can see the bush has a dished inner race that would not locate the maingear shaft as would the "flush" inner race of a bearing.  You may find the the bearing has shifted the mesh of the gears due to that difference?
It looks like Alan subbed a bearing identical to the other side, so it must be possible.  Some shimming will prob still be required, but the way he explained it, it seems pretty straightforward.
Cheers
Steve

[philaroman]

Ockham's Razor solution:
number of shims on a Shimano schematic (esp., older/cheaper)
has no relation to how many were actually factory-installed at given location
they like to stick to greasy gears/bearings & escape...  most likely, you missed one

less likely: allegedly, Shimano gears are designed not to develop an uneven wear pattern that requires you to mark the main & pinion before separating them...  maybe a worn plastic bushing on the main, negates that design feature & you DID need to mark the gears

if you cranked aggressively, while gear alignment or shimming were significantly off -- prob., more damage 

[handi2]

I've always changed the plastic bushings to bearings without any issues.

I hate to say it but you may have ruined both gears. Once they are turned like that it ruins the soft pinion gear.

[philaroman]

I've always changed the plastic bushings to bearings without any issues.

ditto, here...  always makes things better

[Capt. ahab]

I forgot to add that I have installed new gears since last fishing with the reel.  But i can still feel the light grinding when cranking the reel under no load.  I have seen the Alan Hawk bushing-bearing measurement.  That was in the spheros SW, newer model than the FB.  Maybe there is some gap that i need to eliminate.  Last ditch effort - just ordered 3 3-packs of shims on eBay. 

[JasonGotaProblem]

I had a similar issue on a spheros 3000FA that I fixed up to give to a friend. Noticed a very slight grind after I swapped bushing for bearing, it may have been more significant under load. I do suspect its a shimming issue. After all, it is a SHIMano.

He hasn't fished the reel yet so I've been able to completely forget the issue til just now. I kinda wanna take it back and try to shim it now.

I guess my real question is would I want to place shims to push main and pinion closer together, or separate them further? Forgive me if that's a dumb/obvious one.

[philaroman]

if you're shimming a reel that you, yourself, "wore down"
you compensate for the wear w/ shim(s) to bring main closer to pinion

I can only remember one occasion, while compiling 3 bad partial old Stradics into one "good" one,
when I actually needed to shim the main AWAY from pinion

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general thought: modern Shimano plastic bushings have ears that act as a flange, while the bearings do not
if the frame is sufficiently worn/corroded where the bearing/bushing is seated (handle openings -- magnets for salt & grit),
you might be able to push the steel bearing farther into the frame, than an eared/flanged bushing would go
in that scenario, you'd have shimming issues that are much more drastic than just compensating for wear