I bought a pair of FTH40LW for bottom fishing in AK at the end of June and put them into service on July 4th. Yesterday, as one of my anglers was reeling in a 15 lb Halibut, the levelwind quit moving back and forth, causing the line to stack up. Luckily, the fish was close enough when it broke that we were able to land it. When reeling line in, the levelwind will move until it reaches the far left side (clicker side) and will stop. When letting line out, it will move as it’s supposed to.
I took it apart today and this is what I find. The teeth on the cheap plastic gear are destroyed. I’ve got 20 fishing days left this season and am left with an almost new but broken reel. I’m a guide at a remote fly out sportfishing lodge in AK and cannot drive down the street to a big tackle store for parts. Can anyone at Penn help?
A PENN FAILED?..interesting…not suprising…just saying…plastic?..interesting?
Really, how much more would it have cost to have installed some kind of metal gears?
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
NastyDawg works for Pure Fishing, so he should be able to guide you in the right direction.
Thanks. Already talking to Tom and Tony the parts guy.
You could just remove the level wind mechanism and continue using the reel. I’ve never know them to hold up well for large fish. We used to use a lot of Penn 309s on our charter boats and we would take the level wind off right out of the box.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
That’s exactly what I’m going to do if I can’t get the issue resolved soon.
They’ve got the parts pulled and will be in the mail tomorrow! Plus they’re sending 6 sets just in case as there about 6 other guides with the same reels.
I wonder if the Defiance 40 lw has those plastic gears too? haven’t had to take her apart in the 2 yrs ive had her
Some Fish Some Catch
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70hp evinrude vro
Sorry for the delay been busy. Glad Tom and Tony got you covered on the parts. Are they just sending you the idler gear or a new worm gear and idler gear? The worm gear is the long stainless shaft with groves that the level wind rids back and forth on? What worries me is if the worm gear is damaged an you will still have the same problem if you just replace the idler gear. PENN’s idler gear design has been made of abs for years with no issues. The GTs, 209, 309, etc have all used this design. The reason this gear is made of ABS is because the sole purpose is to just move the level wind back and forth which requires hardly any pressure when the reel is working properly which makes me wonder that something else is binding and causing pressure on the idler.
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Yes it came with all that grease! The more the merrier and I was glad to see how much was in there when I pulled it apart.
Cameron, thanks for the reply. They’re sending the idler gears, no worm gears. If it happens again, I’ll try to get a new worm gear. I pulled it apart and everything else looked fine.
I’ve been very pleased with how quick and helpful the Penn guys have been. I would not hesitate to recommend these Fathoms to anyone. Excited to see what the new lever drag reels have in store
It’s a bit late for an update but I got the new gears and when I installed them, they chewed up right away. I shot an email to Tom Blecker, the parts guy and sent him the reels to look at. When I got back to SC a week and a half later, there was a package with two brand new reels with my line spoiled on them. Hats off to te Penn guys. The just convinced me to pull the trigger on another half dozen reels this spring.
What’s the point of fixing these when they will just break again? Loose the level-wind…I never have seen them hold up under anything heavy on the other end of the line for long.
“Never argue with an idiot…he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
quote:
Originally posted by Wolakrab
What’s the point of fixing these when they will just break again? Loose the level-wind…I never have seen them hold up under anything heavy on the other end of the line for long.
“Never argue with an idiot…he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
These are my charter reels in AK. I prefer non levelwind reels myself and even started last season with Baja Specials for bottom fishing in 200-600’. Even under constant coaching, it’s incredible how the clients can stack line on the spool and cause serious birds nests. The Level wind feature makes a huge difference for the inexperienced anglers using them so I switched halfway through the season without regrets. I use the FTH25LW for salmon trolling and they perform admirably.
I just had the exact same thing happen to one of mine. The reel was only about 3 months old, but Penn sent me a new idler gear quickly. I replaced the gear, put the reel back in it’s original box, and put the box on a shelf in my garage along with the other one that I purchased at the same time. I just cannot afford failures like that.
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What I was doing when I used the levelwinds was removing that feature and just not stacking the reel full of line. Granted I never fish in water deeper then 50’. Every 320GT I have had that issue. Penn makes some really good products but the levelwind reels just didn’t work for me. I’m now using TLD 15’s and they have been bullet proof on charters for about 4 years
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