Mike's Reel Repair

[crackedglass]

I own 6 of the above reel, they've been great now for several years. I just pulled two reels out of the box which I had bought some time ago and figuring that they may need some lube after sitting for so long, pulled the left cover off to add a few drops of oil to the spool bushings. On the one reel I found that the main shaft C clip was off and just laying behind the spool. The reel had felt fine, and I would never had opened it up otherwise.
I could not get the C clip back on, so I pulled the right cover and took the reel down completely, removed the bushing and cleaned behind it and reassembled. All fit back perfectly.
However, that reel has a distinct gear whine and just don't feel as free as the other 5 reels. It's only lightly lubed, (I've even tried just oil to see if that made any difference but no luck. The gears look good, the main shaft is not bent, nor is the spool shaft. The reel cranks fine till I slip the spool into the housing. Also, on free spool, the spool will spin just fine. I've gone so far as swapping over each and every part from another reel one at a time with no change. I just don't see what the cause is. I've had this model reel apart many times for service, so it's not a matter of misassembly or anything. I'm starting to think there's an issue with the reel body or side cover? It's almost as if the gears mesh too tightly for some reason. Another set of gears did the same thing, as did another spool. The gear noise comes and goes with crank position too, as if the gears weren't round or it had a bent shaft but nothing seems to change this? I had figured it had a bent spool shaft but swapping in a known good spool didn't help.

Have you had any issues with these reels?
Any tricks to maybe free this thing up?

[crackedglass]

The TR 100G is similar to other Triton series reels, it's the narrower brother to the TR 200G and similar to the TRN series reels.
(I believe it's in the same family as the Charter Special that they sell too).

These reels are good for saltwater use since the entire reel is graphite and stainless steel. There are no carbon steel or chrome plated parts in it and only the main shaft and handle nut are brass, along with a black anodized spool. They're a reel that can be pretty well neglected and still survive.

Another big plus is that the TR100G weighs only 12 oz or so.

Anyhow, I did sign up at 2cool, I'm waiting for my registration to complete now.
The part that gets me is that the handle spins freely with the reel disengaged, and the spool is also completely free, but when you engage the pinion it gets stiff. The gears have backlash all the way around, so it's not a case of them binding. The pinion fits pretty tight down onto the spool shaft when engaged so there's not much run-out there.
I even removed the levelwind gear to make sure that wasn't part of the problem. The yoke looks fine, the gears are also perfect, and each individual part works fine in another reel. It has to be a problem with one of the bushings or the body of the reel somehow. I can't see any other possible cause? When the reel is engaged, the pinion is pushed into position and in contact with the main gear. This is the only difference between freewheel and engaged positions. The levelwind is always engaged with the spool and all of that spins freely on the cast.
I guess the best way to describe the feel is like an over greased reel with a light pulsating gear whine.
The fact that the gear whine is only on half of the stroke made me think bent spool shaft but it's dead on, I even put a dial indicator on it. Besides, I tried a spool from one of the other reels and no change. The same with the main shaft. The noise and stiffness is only when any combo of parts are on this case. The gear noise increases severely when put under load, it sounds like an old car backing up at about 20 mile an hour.

Turning the reel slowing in gear, I can feel a slight tight spot where the gear noise is the loudest, but again, swapping any and all parts with a perfect reel changed nothing.

Can a graphite frame warp? Maybe miss machined?
I can feel the problem even with the right cover off, with just the unsupported main shaft and spool installed with the pinion. The reel gets tight the instant the gears engage but I can see that the gears are not binding or riding too deep. There is backlash through the entire revolution of the spool.

[crackedglass]

I've swapped this reels parts completely with another good working reel, all of them, the only thing I've not dune is swap end caps or main body.

The shaft, gears and spool work fine in another reel.
The other reels parts do the same thing in the problem reel.

One of the first things I did was to remove the levelwind idler, but no change.

Two things that I keep thinking is first, it felt fine before I put the main shaft's E clip back on, (which led to completely taking the reel apart since the shaft for some reason would not come through the bushing all the way with the gears and handle in place. I did have to finesse the washer beneath the clip a bit to gain enough clearance, but the washer in this reel was thicker by a few thousandth's compared to the other one's I have).
Second, it only happens when the yoke pulls the pinion gear up to mesh with the main gear. The pinion gear don't ride on the same part of the shaft as which the spool rotates on inside the bushings, so I was thinking that it only made sense that the spool shaft was bent beyond the bushing allowing the pinion to be out of true with the main gear. But, swapping in another spool should have proved that wrong, so I went one further and put a dial indicator on that shaft, and other than surface imperfections, the shaft is perfect.

I've even tried putting it all together with just light oil to see how it felt but no change. The part that I can't figure out is that if it is an issue with the body of the reel somehow, how can that create a tight spot.

I think the noise is a by product of the problem, usually noise is caused by misaligned gears or too deep or too shallow a mesh.

I'm a machinist/mechanic by trade, so things like this usually don't prove a problem with me. I guess I was just hoping someone would chime in a say there's a know fix or something and save me some time.

Its not so bad it's not usable, it's just not as free spinning as the others I have. If I didn't have so many others to compare to, I probably wouldn't have ever thought twice about it, but when I compare it to a better working reel, it's somewhat obvious that it's not just quite right.

[Ken D]

Thicker washer in the suspect reel from the rest? What happens if you remove the thick washer and add a thin one from the other reel?
_________________

http://www.zombo.com

[crackedglass]

I sanded the washer down a bit, even tried it with no washer but no change.

I've swapped in every part from a perfect reel with no change, and even taken those parts and put them in the other reel and that other reel works fine with them. So it pretty much eliminates all the internals in the reel. I swapped the entire right and left side caps and all internals to another center body and all is fine, but any internals I assemble on this center section have the problem. There has to be some sort of misalignment of the spool shaft and the main shaft with the pinion gear engaged, but even that don't explain the tight spot. If the body was warped, the gears might be noisy but still concentric on the shafts.

I may try putting some heavy line on it and cranking in something heavy to see if it gets better or worse with use. Maybe it'll work it's way out?

[Ken D]

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/forumdisplay.php?f=72
may be able to help. It may be that the driveshaft is not quite perpendicular, causing a slight bind. As to causes of the driveshaft not being square to the world, if that is even it, the frame must be out of alignement, or the bushing may not be round inside any more.
The gang at 2cool ought to be able to assist better than me.
_________________

http://www.zombo.com

[crackedglass]

I had actually registered there before for their catfish forum. I had trouble logging back in but finally realized that I had changed my email address since I was there last.

I'll give it a try in a bit.

[Ken D]