those of you that prefer a dry drag can either re-install a new canvas washer (part #tld-0129) or use a the penn ht-100 without grease. my preference remains to grease this washer using shimano or cal's drag grease, applying a thick coat to both sides of the drag washer.
install the gooped up washer.
wipe off all the excess drag grease until drag washer basically looks dry.
now, just a side bar comment. note the rubber gasket of the spool cap....
and the metal lip on the drag pressure plate assembly.
when the drag lever is at strike and the reel is engaged, this metal lip mates up with the rubber gasket and seals up the drag chamber to keep water out. the take home message is this. rinsed off your shimano lever drag reels in the "strike" position. all other lever drag reels should be rinsed in "free."
here's an example in the second reel that was probably rinsed with the lever in the "free" position. note the rust in the right spool bearings.
install the pressure plate assembly.
install the spool cap and pinion gear.
install cross pin B (key #50) and place the spool assembly back into the frame. the spool should slide easily back into the frame.
IF THE SPOOL DOES NOT SLIDE EASILY BACK INTO THE FRAME, ROTATE THE SPOOL SHAFT 180 DEGREES AND TRY AGAIN.
this works. i have no frickin' idea why!
now, this reel felt like a coffee grinder when you turned the handle. this rusted right main side plate bearing (key #212) is the reason. to get the to bearing, you have to remove the handle.
remove the handle lock screw (key #1), the handle lock (key #2), the handle nut (key #3), the gear shaft shield (key #5), the gear shaft thrust washer (key #6) and the main gear (key #8). the dog (key #26) and the brake collar (key #190) will fall out as well.
pry out the right side plate bearing.
the old bearing was too badly rusted, so i pulled out a new one....
and packed it with heavy grease.
reinstall the new bearing and dog.
install the main gear, the rotate the dog clockwise until the gear "drops" into place.
install the handle assembly.
install the brake collar.
reinstall the right side plate.
install the quadrant.
install the lever and pre-set dial. make sure the lever is in the free position and drop the lever shaft body into the lever so that they mate up.
there are several handle options available. be creative!
the spools of both reels will now spin easily. both of these reels have only 5 seconds of freespool, but that is because of levelwind mechanism. without the levelwind assembly, the spools probably would spin for 30 seconds. both now have a max drag at strike of 15 pounds before losing freespool. and both have a smooth drag from 1 pound up to 15 pounds. the total time required for service, including time to clean out the bearings, was an hour.