CJay Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 G'day guys, just some food for thought so here we go.. I recently received two of the Penn Slammer III 6500's one in Hi Speed for my land based Spin and one normal for offshore , spooled one with the 50lb Tasline and the other in mono. Spooled the mono first and had no problems at all the reel was silky smooth and had no knocks or grinding noises at any winding speed and felt solid like a Penn should. Here comes the twist... The Hi Speed felt really different like almost sluggish/resistance in the handle not like a spinning reel should feel but i figured its sealed pretty good so might take a few spins to spread out some grease . As i was spooling the braid on the high speed the main spool shaft started to gain play and was almost stalling for a split second on the way down. It felt like something barely clipping the spool and making a metallic whirring when cranked at a faster pace (this made me think the main shaft was loose maybe the locknut) , i slowed down the wind speed and the grinding seemed to stop and also the stalling. By this time id knew something wasn't right, so I stripped the braid and took off the spool to check the lock nut to see if that would help... but to no avail, there was movement from the housing below.. So I went to take the side plate off and found that the screws were only just fingertight! I opened her up and the whole thing was absolutely gunked in blue grease and i mean packed with the s*#t total overkill , then i notice to my horror that the whole mech inside was basically sliding around in the housing groove i could see the tracks in the grease and by a good 3-4mm, now theres my problem!! Upon further inspection the scraping sound I could hear and feel from the handle turn was from the big brass plate wheel that was located maybe half a mm from the edge of the housing! Which i thought is a pretty strange design, then i noticed that the bottom of the pinion actually has no washer/protective seal it almost just bottoms out onto the frame which is pretty crude considering the price tags, After this id seen enough and swiftly returned it for a replacement. Overall I cant say i was too impressed with Penn for this one, i mean its not the most expensive gear but could definitely improve on a few things , it seems they sacrificed a few things to cut some corners perhaps, i mean whats the extra price of a couple more bushings these days haha maybe its time for them to up the quality control, Awaiting a replacement so il keep you guys posted on the outcome! Tight Lines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MainframeJames Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Interesting. If you open the housing for the other one is the design different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Disappointing to hear things like this but it happens all too often. I've had new reels from one of the big two manufacturers with no grease on the gears at all. I know guys who will strip down and fully service a new reel before spooling with line, not only to ensure they're properly lubricated and all screws are tight, but to get all the metal shavings and other junk from manufacturing out of the bodies before it does serious damage to gear sets and bearings. Its surprising how much junk can be flushed out of a brand new reel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJay Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 On 3/17/2018 at 1:49 PM, Green Hornet said: Disappointing to hear things like this but it happens all too often. I've had new reels from one of the big two manufacturers with no grease on the gears at all. I know guys who will strip down and fully service a new reel before spooling with line, not only to ensure they're properly lubricated and all screws are tight, but to get all the metal shavings and other junk from manufacturing out of the bodies before it does serious damage to gear sets and bearings. Its surprising how much junk can be flushed out of a brand new reel. It seems to be the way these days big brands producing their gear in china and indo to cut costs but unfortunately at our cost :/ received another and gave it a whole strip down and everything seems schmick so fingers crossed it wont catch fire or anything haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Hi CJ. I had a similar thing a few years ago. I bought a Penn spinfisher when camping down in Ballina to spin the south wall for jew. The boys at the shop spooled it up for me with 40lb braid. It didn't look right, as it spooled unevenly. Needless to say my spin session was a disaster, with massive knots in the braid every third cast. The line would stack up thicker at the top of the spool than the bottom during retrieve. I lost about 80mtrs of braid through cutting & re=tying! I took it back to the shop & they tried a few things, but couldn't get line to lay evenly. They spoke to the rep & he let them replace it with the upgraded SSV model. Great reel. Heavy, & not suitable for long spin sessions, but solid & reliable. I've since changed over to a Pflueger Salt 6000 that pulls 13kg of very smooth drag & couldn't be happier. It seems that Penns in the lower-mid price range have various issues that they need to address. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xerotao Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 20 minutes ago, Jewhunter said: I bought a Penn spinfisher when camping down in Ballina to spin the south wall for jew. The boys at the shop spooled it up for me with 40lb braid. It didn't look right, as it spooled unevenly. If its the older SSM models i dont think they are suited for braid. as i have had mates spool up their 650ssm and 850ssm, and they braid went on uneven. You cant even add shims to adjust the spool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJay Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 On 3/21/2018 at 5:09 PM, Jewhunter said: Hi CJ. I had a similar thing a few years ago. I bought a Penn spinfisher when camping down in Ballina to spin the south wall for jew. The boys at the shop spooled it up for me with 40lb braid. It didn't look right, as it spooled unevenly. Needless to say my spin session was a disaster, with massive knots in the braid every third cast. The line would stack up thicker at the top of the spool than the bottom during retrieve. I lost about 80mtrs of braid through cutting & re=tying! I took it back to the shop & they tried a few things, but couldn't get line to lay evenly. They spoke to the rep & he let them replace it with the upgraded SSV model. Great reel. Heavy, & not suitable for long spin sessions, but solid & reliable. I've since changed over to a Pflueger Salt 6000 that pulls 13kg of very smooth drag & couldn't be happier. It seems that Penns in the lower-mid price range have various issues that they need to address. Yeah that sounds about right they had some issues with line lay in the past for sure, but even if the line lay is spot on I dont let any shops spool my line anymore as they never seem to get it tight enough and ive experienced line dig and wind knots like never before! I use the beesknees spooler these days and crank on with about 10kgs of pressure to prevent any dig ins/ twists to cause wind knots. Im using Tasline 50lb and it casts like a dream easy 85-90m with the metals and zero wind knots yet! I totally agree thats one heavy reeel to be spinning with on a long session, my replacement slammer 3 6500 hi speed is perfect this time completely silent on the crank and even the line lay is spot on too, i must have got a super dud from the factory it felt like it had been thrown around like a football from the factory to the doorstep. i think the Salt 600 weighs maybe 100g less the the slammer 3 which is quite alot considering the sizes etc but i guess being fully sealed with grease and especially with the jig handle its sort of expected , whats your line capacity for the salt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Great to hear the new reel is a good one. Not sure how much line the salt takes, but it's a fair whack. I put about 20mtrs of backing on it & still fit 300m of 40lb braid on top. I'm surprised by how good a reel it is for the price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xerotao Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Tackle advisors has mentioned that all penn slammer 3 will not come with a roller ball bearing instead of a bushing now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 17 hours ago, xerotao said: Tackle advisors has mentioned that all penn slammer 3 will not come with a roller ball bearing instead of a bushing now A few reel manufacturers are heading down this path. The idea being that a bush is less likely to fail than a bearing if regular maintenance isn't kept up. That being said, if it was my reel, I'd be replacing it with a bearing right from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJay Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 headscratching designs everywhere! Although i have to say This reel has impressed me for the price, id even choose it over the stradic now! Ive stripped her down and added a couple bits and pieces here and there perfect line lay and holding just under 500m of 50lb tasline, first smaller kings landed at the weekend and the drag on this thing is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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