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Thursday, August 28, 2008

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Open-faced Reel Improvements
provided by Old Spook

Hi there, fishermen! This week is on basic all around open face reel improvements!

To take care of the average basic open face spinning its all actually pretty simple to do. All you need is the correct fitting screw driver for the screws, some reel grease for the gears, reel bearing oil for the bearings under the spool cover, and a few paper towels to clean the old parts with after you clean them with either carb cleaner or WD-40 spray. Always wear glasses to prevent getting some spray back in the eyes! Ok here we go!

1. Take a piece of tape and tape the line to the spool so it doesn't lift off and make a nest! Then remove the drag star adjuster on the top of the spool and take the spool out. Set it aside. Also set the reel's pawl in the freespool position so it goes forward or backward.

2. Remove the handle from the reel. On some reels, like a Garcia Mitchell 320, it unscrews clockwise on a left hand crank and on a right hand crank it unscrews counter-clockwise unless the crank has a screw cap on the opposite side on some convertible reels.

3. Take the screws that hold the plate to the reel out and lift the plate off. The main gear should be sitting right there now in the housing.

4. On the gear there is a cam on a pin that the shaft rides through. Take the pin out and then pull the shaft straight up from the top of the reel. Now take the gear and cam right out.

5. Now that you have the gear out take the reel outside and using the carb cleaner or WD-40 (I prefer the carb cleaner because it dries faster) completely spray the innards out of the housing and then carefully wipe out the old leftover grease. Then, take the cam off the main gear and set it aside the way it came off. Now clean the main gear off too.

6. Now take the nut on the top of the driveshaft in the outer spool cover and lift it off. Clean it with the spray and then re-oil the points for the bail on either side of the latch for the bail release. You should see a retainer and two screws holding the ball bearing race in. Unscrew it, add two drops of oil and put the clip retainer back on and tighten it down. Now put the spool cover on and then tighten the nut down on the driveshaft housing for it.

7. With the inner housing completely clean and dry now take the reel grease and grease the main gear and its shaft. Also, grease the pawl catch teeth underneath and slide it in the reel. Now wipe the nylon camoff of old grease and put it on the gear's pin again the way it came off. Install the driveshaft from the top down in the reel through the cam and insert the pin on the shaft through the cam block. Lightly oil thedrive shaft with the reel oil.Also check to see if the screws on the bail are loose. If so tighten them up.

8. Now put the cover and the screws in and you now have a freshly greased reel ready to fish!