# Penn 6500ss Drag issue



## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

Okay I have taken my Penn apart and for the life of me can not figure out why the drag is failing. No matter how loose or tight i set the drag, once line is pulled out the drag quickly tightens down more and more until after the spool makes a couple rotations it is locked down. Basically the drag gets tighter and tighter and very qucikly. Does this make sense? 

The only thing I can figure out is that I have the wrong knob or something with the internals of the knob, but it is the one half hitch put on their and looks like the right one. I have looked at the specs and everything looks correct and everything appears to be there. But maybe I am missing something? This is not my first reel repair and this is the way that Half Hitch gave it back to my dad after a repair like 2 years ago, I just haven't used it since.

Any suggestions or has anyone had a spinning reel or a Penn do this before?


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

http://store.scottsbt.com/PennParts/Home.aspx


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## Joraca (Dec 29, 2007)

The top washer (the one under the knob) needs to be one that is keyed to the shaft, so that it can't spin when the spool spins (or it will spin the knob with it).


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

Joraca said:


> The top washer (the one under the knob) needs to be one that is keyed to the shaft, so that it can't spin when the spool spins (or it will spin the knob with it).


Okay so you're saying you think my washers may be out of order? I thought I checked that but that makes sense if I didn't. If I remember right the top and bottom washers are keyed? I'll check the specs. I appreciate the help.


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## Joraca (Dec 29, 2007)

Yes.

The other possibility is that it is the wrong knob and is dragging on the spool. I had to replace the knob on one of my 5500ss reels a couple of years ago, and the replacement knob (which didn't match the one that came off of it, which had been discontinued) dragged on the spool. I fixed that by putting a spacer washer on top of the drag assembly, to space the knob off the spool. Most hardware stores have a big drawer cabinet with various sized washers, etc.

Joraca


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