My Penn 8500SS chocked on me last week. I opened it up last night and a one inch section of the main gear is completely ground down! This reel is roughly 1 year old. I never had this happen before. Is this common? Is this due to lower quality parts? Did I not maintain it sufficiently? Looks like I can replace the gear for about $8.

that happened to my 5500 on an albie last year. I've seen it happen to the larger reels when the small tuna were inshore.strange. did it fail with a fish on?

I wish.
I had landed a bunch of fish the last time I used it but nothing over 10 lbs. Pretty sad if thats what did it.....

seriously.that's a good sized reel. should be able to take much more than that. look on a bright side. its an inexpensive fix and you didn't drop a nice fish on it.

I agree, just want to see if I can avoid this in the future

The best thing about Penn reels is you can get parts most anywhere, the worst thing about Penn reels is you will need those parts.

I did the same thing to a 6500SS twice. I was using the reel in heavy current and would put alot of pressure on fish. Stopped using it in heavy current and it has been fine for 6 years.

try coving the gears with blue grease next time. for christ sakes they use that reel for tuna the gear on that reel should of not worn down like that unless you were horsing in big fish. sounds like low grade parts to me