SportFishing and Charters Forum - Penn 50 drag upgrade?

I recently purchased an old (1979) Penn International 50. The reel is new and never used. I'd like to get 24lbs of drag and still have free spool. It is currently not quite able to do that. Is there a drag upgrade that will help? Where can I buy the parts?

www.alantani.com - Alan is on THT, has his own site, sells parts, and drags, plus has "how to" directions here and on his site. Great guy to deal with.

yes you can go to the newer HT plates. I upgraded a buddies a few years back.

www.alantani.com (http://www.alantani.com) - Alan is on THT, has his own site, sells parts, and drags, plus has "how to" directions here and on his site. Great guy to deal with.

This is the best place to get the info you need on how to.

www.alantani.com (http://www.alantani.com) - Alan is on THT, has his own site, sells parts, and drags, plus has "how to" directions here and on his site. Great guy to deal with.


Wow! Tons of good stuff over there. Looks like I want a 117DN-50 drag. I'll do a little more research and order it up...
Thanks guys.

Or you can send it to Cals shop & choose from many options including a 2 speed conversion,if thats something you want.If you want to DIY,Alantani is the site.

Sending your reel to either Cal or Alan will get you a fine working reel, however a quick fix would be to reconfigure the shaft washers.
I believe the standard configuration looks like this. (())
Changing it to ()() will increase your drag pressure.
Adam of Canyon Runner fame talked about this at one of their seminars.

Sending your reel to either Cal or Alan will get you a fine working reel, however a quick fix would be to reconfigure the shaft washers.
I believe the standard configuration looks like this. (())
Changing it to ()() will increase your drag pressure.
Adam of Canyon Runner fame talked about this at one of their seminars.

I was reading about that. Question is- would that increase drag at strike without sacrificing freespool? Should be easy enough to experiment a bit. Might as well throw the new drag washers in while its opened up.

Originally Posted by Captjohn22 http://www.thehulltruth.com/cb/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.thehulltruth.com/sportfishing-charters-forum/440693-penn-50-drag-upgrade.html#post4777171)

I believe the standard configuration looks like this. (())
Changing it to ()() will increase your drag pressure.

Yes, but it is quite the opposite:

Stock = ()()
Stronger = (())

Question is- would that increase drag at strike without sacrificing freespool?

Those washers (springs really) do matter. Time and time again one sees posts from a frustrated owner who has a problem with this-or-that, and the answer is often that someone before him has haphazardly fiddled with the spring washers.

Under no circumstances, btw, should they ever go )()( for example.

.

Sending your reel to either Cal or Alan will get you a fine working reel, however a quick fix would be to reconfigure the shaft washers.
I believe the standard configuration looks like this. (())
Changing it to ()() will increase your drag pressure.
Adam of Canyon Runner fame talked about this at one of their seminars.

You are on the the right track there , but its actually () () from the factory ... we change all our TW's to (()) and we have no problem getting 24lbs of drag at strike while keeping freespool .. if you really want an incredible reel , send it to Cal for blueprint and 2 speed ...

Mark

The 50TW's are freakin' bullet proof. 24lbs of drag is plenty at strike for me.

Mark is correct, () () is the stock setting.

Thanks Mark.

Thanks Mark.


No problem .. the TW's are awesome reels that are very easy to service yourself. I find the weak link is the main gear being held to the shaft with (3) small screws that are prone to shearing if the angler tries to winch a fish instead of pump and reel. I sent my personal TW's out to Cal and he replaces the gear set with a one piece machined set that is bulletproof .. unfortunately this is only available for two speed conversions .. I'd love to see someone make a better gearset for the single speed configuration ...