ok, this pinion gear is $10, figure $15-20 when you figure in tax, shipping and your time, so let's be really careful with it.
you need two big flat screwdrivers. place the blades of the screwdrivers underneath the pinion gear. they should be opposite each other. now CAREFULLY twist both handles clockwise, gentle, to give an even lift to both sides of the pinion gear. that should force it up. then polish the spool shaft and carefully drill out the pinion gear just a little to remove the excess rust. be very careful here as well.
remember, if you ding one of the teeth in the least little bit, it will echo throughout the reel everytime you crank the handle. good luck and please let us know how you do. alan
The Pinion Gear came off fine, Thank You. I'm really gaining knowledge in the assembly of this unit.
Just one note this reel has only been used 3 times, therefore the pinion gear shaft does not have any rust so no drilling out was performed. And I did only a light polish of the spool shaft (maybe I could have been more aggressive?) I'm not sure how tight the pinion gear to the shaft should be, but mine was pretty tight when I did a test fit. When I put the side plate back on there is a gap (~1/16 ") from the spool to the inside side plate. I'm thinking that the spool shaft is not fully seated to the pinion gear? The side plate screws are screwed down fully, hand torqued.
After putting things back together, the reel feels like it is stuck in drag mode (does not toggle between drag and free spool modes) and the drag will not tighten very well?
Also note, component wise I feel that the bridge/main gear/drag assembly is installed in the proper order.
