# Old Mitchell Reel problem



## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

I just bought my first old Mitchell reel to "restore" and use.
I received it and it as the usual paint chips, etc, but everything else seems good and tight except...

Upon disassembly, I noticed that the little plastic oscillation slide (81 131) has some wear to the underside that allows the central axle to twist slightly during reeling. Other that a slight rotational wobble to the spool during use, I do not see any other problems.

Here comes the problem. The rotating head (81 1260) has a tad of runout during use. If there is no line pressure, it is fine. But when a small amout of pressure is put on the line, you can see the head deflect about 1mm. just enough to barely contact the spool and cause a slight "chuff, chuff, chuff" noise. It is not full time contact, just once every rotation. Thus, the drag is jerky because I get the same deflection as the line is pulled off the reel. I fully disassembled the reel again and see nothing that seems to have any amount of wear. I noticed that there are two washers under the axle nut. One is copper and against the face of the rotating head. The other is stainless and was ABOVE the bail trip (81 122) According to the diagram, they should both go UNDER the trip. Now, which is which? I'm guessing the copper one is the adjustment shim. Is it possible/likely that I need another shim or two in there? Or could there be a more serious underlaying problem. I am considering getting a new NOS rotating head due to the paint chipping/corrosion.


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## fairpoint (May 9, 2013)

Is this the 304 you mentioned earlier...? On 302's and larger reels the bearing that the pinion gear is captured in wears out and causes slop/cup lean....the only fix is new pinion bearing IMHO....


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

fairpoint said:


> Is this the 304 you mentioned earlier...? On 302's and larger reels the bearing that the pinion gear is captured in wears out and causes slop/cup lean....the only fix is new pinion bearing IMHO....


Yes. It is the 304 I mentioned earlier.

On the 304, there is no bearing, just a brass pinion gear with a steel sleeve inside. Now that you said this, I went back and looked. It appears that the sleeve is worn. I cant see it, but there is definitely play in there. Only in the direction of the line roller. I guess tension over the years has worn it to the point of letting the rotating head contact the spool. I was considering buying an NOS rotating head (with pinion attached) for cosmetic reasons. I guess I will have to now...

I have a 300 and a 302 that are on their way in the mail now. I will see if one of these is in better condition. I'm gonna take whichever one I can build first and fix it up for the wife for her birthday. I'll get it working and paint it up. She will LOVE it. She's more into fishing than I am. :yes: I think she married me because I have a boat... haha


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