You can then remove bearing and shims from spool, then remove clip and washer from other side of spool to remove that bearing. Then soak the bearings in lighter fluid.

Remove the bearings from the bath and dry with tissue, then add a few drops of red label oil on each side of bearing and re install bearings back into spool. Then re fit block holder and 3 screws also slighty oil spindle and refit that and the spool is built ready for re fitting.

 

Right then were ready for the gear side, remove the handle lock screw then the handle bolt with the spanner supplied.

then unwind and remove star drag, and then remove drag clicker from shaft.

You can then remove 2 washers from shaft under clicker, take note how they come out, then remove the 5 screws to get remaing side plate free from frame. Like in picture above, as you can see heavy grease that needs to be cleaned then new applied lightly.

Now then this is what you will see looking at the frame, dont panic it's pretty simple! Start by removing the complete main gear from the post by simply pulling off.

Then start removing washer stack from gear by pulling off but take note which way they are removed.

Wipe blue grease from washers and apply a little bit of cals drag grease to prolong the life of the drag, then simply rebuild the washer stack the way it come off, grease very lightly!

Now you can remove the pinion gear and yoke mechanism, remove the springs from the posts, then pull the pinion gear and yoke up off the posts and then slide out the eccentric jack

 

Now you can clean the plate and lightly grease.

And then clean the frame before refitting the parts you removed from it.

You can remove the Instant Anti Reverse bearing by pushing through side plate and add a few drops of oil to it and then refit it back into plate.

Rebuild pinion gear and yoke, eccentric jack and main gear in reverse order, grease gears lightly with marine grease, refit post springs, then refit side plate and 5 screws, grease the threads on the screws to stop corrosion build up.

Refit the 2 spring washers correctly and refit the clicker assembley and star drag, then the washer, handle and retaining bolt and screw.

Now your ready for the left side, I oiled the brake drum lightly to see if this will prolong the life of my brake blocks in anyway, time will tell, this is not necessary, just personal preference. Grease plate lightly and refit plate and grease screws, refit the 3 screws.

 

Wipe all excess grease and oil from reel with rag, check all screws are tight, check there are no noises from reel when operated and check everything works, load with line and shock leader and your ready for the beach. Hope this helps!! Thanks for looking.

Sorry for dodgy pics and text, done this one my phone!! Reels right for a few months now!! Tight lines all.

 

Very nice Ken.....I know where to go when I need mine done now then!!!

 

Excellent job, I bet that was a lot of work to put that together Ken ..

 

It was doing it on the phone Russ, that's why it's a bit all over the place! Ha, hope it can help somebody out one day.

 

Very nice Ken.....I know where to go when I need mine done now then!!!

Cheers mate, lol.

 

Ought to make this a sticky

 

Hi ,

very useful post Ken , thank's for sharing the nice work !

Gert

 

No prob lads, happy to share, I've learned a lot from this site over the years.

 

Should be a sticky this.

 

Ken

So glad you did this, wind blew my rod and reel over today down morfa...rod and brand new fathom under water and full of sand

Just stripped it down, cleaned it out and removed half the beach, hope it all goes back together

 

Lol, what a coincidence, hope all goes well. Best of luck.

 

All clean and re greased, fitted together and runs very smoothly!! Very surprised by the amount of heavy blue grease in there....cheers Ken!!!

 

Glad of that Geraint, yes penn do pack the grease in their reels. Enjoy the reels mate, they are tidy reels for the cash.

 

This is also the same for the fathom 12 lads. So don't be afraid to have a go.

 

Made sticky. I have left it open for now, but, if Ken asks later, I can clean up the thread to just the instructions.

 

Hi Ken I've just come across your excellent tutorial on a penn 15 service,I've just finished doing mine but not quite sure which way round key8 x2 washers and 18a keyed spring washer everything was going great until my dog got in on the act any info be much appreciated.
Cheers Kevin.

 

Had mine in bits today after it became a bit grindy. The culprit looked like the pinion bearing that sits in the side plate and is held in by a circlip. Took a fair bit of wiggling and persuading to get out, didn't do the circlip much good in the process, probably due in part to dissimilar metals? Packed the bearing with grease and had a time getting it back in because of how beat up the gold alloy housing got getting the bloody thing out. Something to watch out there for guys, tons and tons of blue grease except where it could have done with a bit!

 

Wouldn't normally grease a pinion bearing (the one the pinion gear sits in) personally ... need to be cleaned and oiled regularly like a spool bearing). Be careful because the grease has a knack of finding its way into the spool bearing that end and causing grief. You tend to find that grease will actually make them sound grindy on the retrieve .. much quieter with oil. If they are not quiet with oil, throw the thing out and put a new one in ... the standard ones are not the best you could fit.

Would agree on the standard grease job ....

 

xcellent pics/detail,very good of you to take the time to put this all together,cheers

 

Thanks.

 

Mine's a boat reel so I won't really mind a bit of grease getting into the spool bearings, not desirable but won't kill it. I'll give out a try on the wrecks at the weekend, hope it's a touch less grindy but if it's still a bit second hand I'll re bearing the whole thing. She's a good old girl, worth spending a quid or two on.

 

Mine's a boat reel so I won't really mind a bit of grease getting into the spool bearings, not desirable but won't kill it. I'll give out a try on the wrecks at the weekend, hope it's a touch less grindy but if it's still a bit second hand I'll re bearing the whole thing. She's a good old girl, worth spending a quid or two on.

See your point ... they tend to get a lot more of a salt wash in a boat too don't they so very logical. Well worth a few bearings, I suspect the ones that Penn fit are not what you would expect to be long life. I'll shut up now

 

The bearings that are in there are rubbish no idea where to source new ones. Someone who runs one of the country's top online tackle/ reel spares/ tuning shops ought to start doing a kit really with full a set of bearings and new circlips. Bet he'd sell loads

 

i think the standard bearings in all penn reels are poor. the grease problem hasnt changed sine the very first 525 and 535,s came out either. think i must have done about 20 of them when they first came out for mates and club mates. new bearings or bearing washed out and oiled.

i used to be able to get quality bearings at better prices than penn and daiwa from the local bearing services place, but the funny sized ones daiwa use in slosh,s have gone up a helluva lot. a pity as it used to be economical to buy a new main shaft when the end snapped off and a new bearing kit from the local place, now they are the same price as daiwa the reels just go in the bin.
cheers rab

 

i bet he's thinking the same , he's going to have 2 of mine 3rd week in august, whanting a full services and mono maged , AND new bearings , bless you russ lol

 

The bearings that are in there are rubbish no idea where to source new ones. Someone who runs one of the country's top online tackle/ reel spares/ tuning shops ought to start doing a kit really with full a set of bearings and new circlips. Bet he'd sell loads

All of the bearings in the fathom (with the exception of the IAR) are already available on there ... they are all labelled as fitting something else mind as I haven't had time to sort myself out I'm doing the accounts and putting together a completely new website at the moment as well as busy with reels so I've had to prioritise a bit

I will attempt to find some time ASAP because I reckon you are right and they would be a good little earner as Dell-Boy would say.

 

Hi lads, had mine magged a few weeks ago by Chris Macey, would of had it done by blakdog but Chris is local to me so easier to drop the reel to him rather than post to russ, (they both do a great job) anyway back to the magged reel. I used the reel a few times, started off very docile, controllable, quite fast and smooth, after about 5 outings it became unusable, removed sideplate to find blocks burnt out, thought about going down the abu block road but then thought a mag would gave me more control with wind etc. glad I did, the reel is superb, its turned a great reel into a superb reel. If penn put their mag system on the fathom, they could discontinue the 525 and 515 range and these fathoms would fly off the shelves. I would like another to pair up but the missus thinks I have too many. Lol