I took apart my abu 6500 mag elite to clean it. Now when i reel it is really tight. Does anybody know what i did wrong? nysuggestions would be highly appreciated!

Just a little more info. I noticed that I was missing the two little "knobs" that deal something with the centrifugal brake system. Could this be my problem?

Make sure you did not reverse the washers below the start drag and that all washers in the pinion/drag assy' are correctly installed. Chances are your problem is in that area.

Those two "knobs" are the fiber brakes in the centrifugal brake system. You'll want to keep those in there until you are comfortable with the use of the reel...

John

Would the lack of these knobs cause this problem. If i tighten the tension then it makes it harder to crank. I did not open the crank side of the reel so it should be fine.
thanks

Striper, did you lose the brake blocks beforehand? If not, when you put the right side plate back on you might have crushed the blocks in the race. When you reassemble the reel the blocks have to be pushed in towards the shaft to avoid this. Open up the reel again to see if the brakes are damaged. Hope this helps.Prospector