Hey guys - was wondering if you guys can help me with a problem I'm having with mag elite. I was fishing Wednesday afternoon livelining herring with no problems. Then I tried to cast and the spool seized up. The spool was very tight instead of spinning freely. So that put me out of commission with that setup.

Last night I began to take apart the reel for the first time. Just want to let you guys now this is my first convetional reel and I'll do my best to describe in detail the problem. I was using the diagram from Steve Barratt to strip down the reel and had no problem taking apart the reel. I followed Steve's directions and found that there was a lot of crud in and around the main gear. So I cleaned out the right side of the plate and the gears as best as I could. I oiled every piece that Steve suggested and then proceeded to put the reel back together. After putting the reel back together, everything looked fine. However every time I tightened the drag, the handle became harder to turn. Loosen the drag and the handle turned fine. Any help or suggestions from you guys would be great. Fishing early tomorrow morning so if I can fix the reel tonight it would make for a better morning tomorrow. Thanks for any help.

Tobias

Common problem.

Look at your schematic of the reel carefully,you have the washers in the wrong way,They are either backwards or not in the proper sequence.

When you oil,DO NOT GET OIL ON THE DRAG WASHERS!!. take your time and, put the reel back together acording to the schematic that came with it.Again I think you just have the washers in the handle the wrong way.

Tobias, I believe Bill is right on that. I have not had that happen to me but have heard of it. I'm going away this weekend but if it still isn't resolved soon, let me take a look at it. Did you loose anything or forget to put the "Oh Jesus" e-clip on the top of the main shaft? I have two Mag-Elites and I disassemble, clean, and reassemble the reels frequently, all my reels actually... When the spool siezed up, was it on the cast and the button popped back up? This happens to some Mag-Elites and there are a couple fixes for that... Where did you get the reel??

Thanks for the reply guys. #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&, when you say don't get any oil on the drag washers, do you also mean the fibre washers. From my outcome last night I probably put something back in the wrong order or flipped one of the pieces. I'll take a look at it when I get back home tonight.

John - When I took the reel apart I followed the directions from Steve Barratt's diagrams and hopefully I did it correctly. The spool seized up during the cast but it was not due to the button popping up. It stayed down. When I did open up the reel, there was a lot of crud around the main gear. Hopefully with your suggestions I can fix the problem but if I can't, John you're more than welcome to take a look at it. I bought the reel form Steve Barratt in Australia. Thanks again guys.

Tobias