Reel Rebuilds

So this was on my winter todo list that I never got to.  I had some reels in major need of a rebuild.  One is Progear 251 and the other is an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500C4.  The 251 had a frozen freespool lever and the 6500 had a broken levelwind.

I completely took apart the 251. The "eccentric" had frozen in place so I had to punch it out and re-lube with Corrosion-X (Reel-X works just as good).   While I was at it I cleaned everything in brake cleaner, re-lubed (Shimano drag grease) the carbon fiber drags that I had previously upgraded, and lubed the bearing with Corrosion-X.  I also re-greased the gear with a thin coating of penn gear lube (although any marine gear lube would do).  I had previously replaced the gear sleeve that had loosened.  The gear sleeve is brass and the part that mated with the reel handle had worn the corners a bit oblong causing a loose fit.  The bridge and drags of this reel are compatible with Penn 500 Jigmaster parts so getting parts was easy.  I also had previously upgraded the handle from the Progear handle to a Penn power handle that fits a Jigmaster.  This handle fits my larger hands better.  I really love this reel, in fact I also have the narrower model 255 upgraded in the same manner.  The 251 performed admirably on a 17-18 pound California halibut that I hooked in Santa Cruz this weekend.  Too bad my spectra got nicked and I lost it after a botched netting attempt.  D'oh!

I used the Jigmaster schematics for guidance ... http://www.scottsbt.com/catalog/store/images/pennparts/schematics/500.pdf.  You can find schematics and parts for pretty much any Penn reel at this site.

The 6500 had a worn worm gear so the levelwind was "sticking" on one end.  I decided to hot rod this reel a bit and went with a dual bearing worm kit and bearing idler kit from Mike's reel repair (http://www.mikesreelrepair.com/).  These upgrades make the freespool and reeling really smooth as the upgrades really reduce the friction on the levelwind mechanism.  This reel had also previously had it's drags upgraded to greased carbon fiber drags that I had hand cut from Penn HT-100 drags washers.  However, these days Smooth Drags (http://www.smoothdrag.com/ has carbon fiber drags precut to match.  I also had previously upgraded from the double sided reel handle (I had broken one side) to a single sided reel handle, again a better fit in my hands.  I'm also a big fan of the Abu's for a variety of uses.  They are very reasonably priced, easily upgraded, and perform admirably.

I'm a big fan of the greased carbon fiber drags and try to do at least this upgrade on most reels I use.  I learned this upgrade from Alan Tani.  If you are not familiar with Alan's work, do a Google search on him and you'll find many hits on tutorials that he has posted on various sites over the years.  Alan is a master at reel rebuilds and upgrades.  Which reminds me, I have an Abu 5500 reel that needs drag upgrade.  And I also have 3 older Penn 209's in need of rebuilds.  THe 209's are from my childhood so have sentimental value.  Ah heck, I have a Penn 112 that needs some work too.  Perhaps I'll get a round to it this coming winter.  Does the list ever go down?

No time to post pics right now, but perhaps when I get to it I will post a pic by pic tutorial when I upgrade/rebuild these other reels.

-Allen

I also highly recommend the ceramic pawl upgrade for the abu(also available at mikesreelrepair). It will make the reel even smoother. I have a 5601C4 that I made into a C6 with the upgrades you described plus the ceramic pawl, ultra-cast brake, and a wiffle spool. The reel is now so sensative that the aluminum pop can pull-tab I have tied to the end of the fishing line will free fall to the floor when I release the brake. I'm very happy with the upgrades. As far as drag washers, you can also use the carbon matrix drag washers out of the new Ambassadeurs as well. I think they work well but they are paper thin so I don't know how long they will last yet.

Yup, I did do the ceramic pawl upgrade as well.

And yes, some of the newer Abus come with carbon matrix drag washers that I think are basically the same as the carbon fiber upgrades.  A little drag grease on them and you're set ...

-Allen

Yup, I did do the ceramic pawl upgrade as well.

And yes, some of the newer Abus come with carbon matrix drag washers that I think are basically the same as the carbon fiber upgrades.  A little drag grease on them and you're set ...

-Allen

I got the SmoothDrag carbon matrix washers for my Abu and when I opened it up found it already had the carbon matrix washers.  Should have looked FIRST 

The drag grease is used directly on the drag washers?  Both sides?

I prepped my new Abu 6500 C3 with Cal's Drag grease to the carbon washers, and Corrosion X to the bearings before I ever spooled it with line.  Then took my 3 year old Abo 5500 and did the same thing with it.   Works nicely!

Ya i just did the carbon fiber upgrade on my Penn 320GT2 this past weekend...Ripped everything out including the eccentric lever because it felt like there was some sand and grit in there...also the button for the clicker  was pretty stiff but I cleaned it up and it works much better now...greased all the drags with cals drag grease and put corrosion x on the spool bearings and spool shaft...greased all the other parts with blue marine grease....and finally put it all back together and corrosion x on all exposed metal...I'm confident in the corrosion protection it now has...and the drag seems to be a little smoother...

The free spool time really didn't improve any but I am pretty sure that is because of the level wind assembly preventing it from really being any smoother...the worm gear is pretty course