Old reels and how to make them better.

Reels are one of the critical component's that we need for our sport. With the exception of the guys who handline, that reel gets the hard work done.  The guys over in NCKA turned me onto Alan Tani, who at that time was Pharmacist in local hospital in the San Jose/Palo Alto Area.  He is also a first class reel Ninja.  He has retired from the Pharmacy but he does have a site alantani.com  .  There are people from all over the world on it, who are there to fix a reel, submit a tutorial, or trade stories.  Everything I know about reel repair and tuning I learned on that site. That said I am no expert.  But I can follow direction if you give me enough pictures.  I have worked on a lot of smaller, older Penn's (Surfmasters, Jigmasters, Squidders, Delmars, Long Beaches, 3/0 and a couple of 4/0's), as well as some smaller Newell's, Abu's and a lone Diawa 50H.  All of these reels presented challenges or allowed me to upgrade them to being something better.  Upgrades can be anything from switching the old outdated drags to the newer carbon fiber ones. Replacing a straight slot screw in the handle to an allen to make it easier to remove and put back when servicing a reel.  Almost all of us can do it, it takes patience.  Is it worth it to upgrade an old reel? Depends on what the reel means to you.  For me it is a challenge, and I like it.  Think of it as Model Building for Fishermen/women.  You can spend as little or as much as you want on this.  Below are a few of my toys: first image is a Penn 112H2 or 3/0.  It looks pretty much stock, but it was upgraded with a 5+1 Drag kit, SS gear sleeve.  Image 2&3 a Cortez Conversion Squidder 146 Left Hand, Double dogged, with a 5+1 Ultimate Drag Kit.  Images 4&5 are a Jigmaster 500, with a Tiburon P21XN (Extra Narrow) Frame and spool, side plates are Penn.  Insides are all Pro Challenger Stainless parts, and PC drags, AT 3/0 Handle.   

I also did GF's Reel, it is a powder coated/painted purple Penn Surfmaster 100. Great little troloing or jigging reel. 

Caution: 2 rules: It is addicting
rule #2, order extra dog springs, I don't care who made the reel, those springs go to places where no man has gone before.   lol!

Cool topic, beautiful reels, and now I'm going down the alantani rabbit hole.

Great topic! I have ~6 year old "Salt Striker" (made by Okuma) reels that I have kept in good shape by regular maintenance and care. These Cabela's branded reels have really worked well for me and have put hundreds of fish in the kayak, but to make the price point some corners were definitely cut. One of those areas is the drag system. I finally gave up on servicing the felt washers it shipped with and replaced them with carbontex washers (thank you, eBay) and between that and another lube job the things feel like they can give me another 6 years! Upgrading the drag washers was incredibly easy - I wish I'd done it a long time ago.

My next project is to rehab an almost new Okuma Coldwater linecounter than was submerged in the surf and dragged through the sand. I've never seen so much sand inside a reel before in my life. It's in pieces on my workbench as I type this... but it's behind quite a few other projects... 

Agree, great topic.  Thanks for bringing it up.  I've done a lot of repair on my old (some cheap and some not so cheap) reels....nice to hear what others have done as well.  I've never replaced the drag washers...might have to consider that.

Great topic! I have ~6 year old "Salt Striker" (made by Okuma) reels that I have kept in good shape by regular maintenance and care. These Cabela's branded reels have really worked well for me and have put hundreds of fish in the kayak, but to make the price point some corners were definitely cut. One of those areas is the drag system. I finally gave up on servicing the felt washers it shipped with and replaced them with carbontex washers (thank you, eBay) and between that and another lube job the things feel like they can give me another 6 years! Upgrading the drag washers was incredibly easy - I wish I'd done it a long time ago.

My next project is to rehab an almost new Okuma Coldwater line counter than was submerged in the surf and dragged through the sand. I've never seen so much sand inside a reel before in my life. It's in pieces on my workbench as I type this... but it's behind quite a few other projects... 

If you know what model Okuma that comes from, you should be able to find something on Alan's forum.  Another really good place to get replacement drags is from Smooth Drags (you may have to call them and give them the dimensions of the drag in question, and get something close to it).  Check Out www.smoothdrag.com

I have tried several times to look for the threads that address the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur failure to engage the spool after casting on his website. I do love the depth of that rabbit hole though.

Fred "True" Trujillo

I have tried several times to look for the threads that address the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur failure to engage the spool after casting on his website. I do love the depth of that rabbit hole though.

Fred "True" Trujillo

Fred, I meant to reply to this thread, but accidentally sent you a PM instead....D'oh! 

Anyway, I was asking if this was in regards to a specific Abu model or just in general?  I had a Revo STX that would do this, but was within the year warranty, so sent it back.  Was told it was a known issue with that model.  It was fixed and returned to me.  I didn't have that problem again.  I have no idea what the issue was or how they fixed it though. 

I have largely stayed with the 6501 & 5501's C3's, until I got a 6501 C4 Line Counter.  Not much to do to them as they are pretty tough little reels.  But your right Fred, one thing leads to another on some reels.

I returned a lengthier response in a PM to you, BentRod, but the gist of it is, yes, I have had problems with several 5501 and 6501 reels that have done this to me. I have about 5 in a drawer waiting to be either sent out to someone more capable than myself in fixing these or waiting for me to find a video that helps me address the same issue a lot of these reels are suffering. Just trying to find the time to find a link...

Fred "True" Trujillo

Try Alan's website and post the issue.  I would not be surprised if he replied himself.