Reel Rebuild_ Very Basic Penn Reel Rebuild; Penn 78

I decided to do this very basic rebuild guide for the Penn 78 to show how a Penn 78, and many other simple conventional reels, can be tear down and then rebuilt very easily with nothing other than a screwdriver. From here, you can access the spool, grease and or/ oil the left side plate, and maintain the right side plate, main gear, drag stack, etc. This is not a complete maintenance guide, as those a re soon to come, but it is a guide to show how easy reel repair and reel maintenance can be. I will be sure to post full detailed reel maintenance, repair, and complete fishing reel rebuild guides in the future.

First, we have a nice Vintage Penn 78 fishing reel and a small Flathead screwdriver. The Penn 78 happened to be one of Penn's first fishing reels that was mass produced in the United States. They were known for their unique simplicity and no- drag system. Later models, such as the Penn Jigmaster 500, Squidder 146, Penn 200 Surfmaster, and Penn Senator were built to be much more rugged, efficient, and were equip with a washer drag system. The 77 and 78 were often called "knuckle-busters" for this lack of drag system, and handle spinning when a fish took line off the spool. This often lead to injured knuckles from the handle bumping against your fingers.

 Next, remove all six(6) screws from right side plate. Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey =)

Once screws have been removed, detach right side plate from spool. This should be very easy, if

it is not coming apart easily, either you forgot a screw, or the side plate is stuck. In that case apply WD-40,

Liquid Wrench, or similar product.

 When original right side plate has been removed from spool and left side plate, detach the spool from left side plate. Once again, this should be very simple. Now you have the three main parts to the reel. From this point, extended servicing and maintenance on this reel can be done, but I will save that for another article. Notice left side plate is still attached to crossbars and reel seat.

Finally, re-assembly the left side plate, spool, and right side plate in the correct order. Then, replace all six(6) screws in the right side plate. This will attach the right side plate to the crossbars and reel seat. Note: Reel seat must be attached to side plate using short screws. The distance from the right side plate to the reel seat is very short, therefore shorter screws are used here.

Hope you enjoyed this short take down and rebuild guide. Please stop by my blog in the future for more posts, guides, and instructions regarding fishing reels and fishing reel repair. Feel free to leave a comment!