Tightlines & Penn Question

[Marlinmate]

Hopefully this will get tightline's attention:

Sometimes during my reel repairs, I need to replace a worn down click tongue. This often requires grinding out the old click button and replacing it with a new one.

Some replacement click buttons require the click tongue to be Re-peened onto the click button.

I've been successful on a few, but was wondering if you had any secrets to make my average a little better.

To date, I've cracked a Squidder sideplate and I have also peened too much of the click post and was not able to slide the click button at all.

Is there a spacer you use between the tongue and the sideplate so that you don't Overpeen?

Thanks

Marlinmate

[tightlines58]

Hello Marlinmate......how are you? I know the feeling when a side plate breaks.I broken quite a few myself.Best success we've had at Penn once the peened part of the button is ground down and you're ready to knock the old tongue out is bracing it up from the outside of the plate.On the smaller Penn reels what works well is the sleeve that falls over the main gear stud.(If you remove the star drag on most reels,it's the chrome plated sleeve that sits on top of the drag system).That tends to fit nicely over the button on the outside of the plate.Brace it up,then with a punch,drive the old ground down button out.The older style button as you know then needs to be peened to the new tongue.I tend to use a nice metal block to rest the new button against,and then peen away! The metal block is the only thing I'll use to brace up the button when reinstalling.I tend to just take my time and peen around the outer edges and keep checking after a few taps to make sure it isn't binding up.I check also before the peening process to make sure it looks like there is enough"clearance" between the two parts. Sometimes these parts aren't perfect,so before I start,I'll double check.Most times the plate will break when removing the old part.Once and awhile it may break when installing.Just alway be careful......those older plates can be as brittle as hell! Also,most of the newer buttons and tongues have been redesigned to reattach everything with a "e" clip.Once the old one is removed,its easy to slap the new one in.I'm pretty sure most of the reels can have the new style installed.All parts are pretty much in stock too. The drawers in the parts dept. are always full.
I hope I've helped you in some manner. If it seems a little confusing,just give me a call. Always on hand to help you out.

Have a great and safe Thanksgiving.......Tom

Thomas Blecker/Service Dept.
Penn Reel Mfg.
(215) 229-9415 EXT-181
Cell (215) 500-2026