Hawaiibassfishing Forum

my dad has been using the old metal Penn 420 SSes since i was a child, and later i got his old ones, we've always loved them for their ruggedness and simple and smooth action, but the line roller was a bushing, and now it spins like 220 sandpaper against 180 grit.

With the replacements costing more and getting harder to find, i tried polishing out the line roller bushing and the shaft, and used a variety of lubes to get it freely spinning again, no dice.

then when i was at mucully fishing supply I checked out the newer 420s and their new line roller with 2 ball bearings, talking to the guy there he said that the way Penn does things they are not about to change much in their designs. so we took apart one of the shelf models line rollers and wire bails and it fits perfectly.

So i order the parts, took 3 month and swapped out the Line roller, wire bail, and the Bail arm and Bail arm screw(both of which isnt needed to change)


the result is AMAZING, its almost as smooth as those newer reels

pictars!


as you can see its right on there no modding


but you need the newer bail wire that fits into the bearings


its like 30 bucks(2x8 for the bearings, 8 for the bail wire, you need to buy the newer smaller bail wire screw, you can use the old line roller arm, the newer screw is longer, but i dont think the older shorter screw would strip, oh and the line roller washer).....might be better to just buy a 420-470(?) from walmart and swap the parts and then return it hahahahaha

Parts you need to buy
2 bearings $8 each
line roller washer
line roller
bail wire $8
bail wire screw

Parts you can reuse
Line roller arm
Line roller/Bail wire screw

That guy at McCully Sporting Goods, if it is the guy I'm thinking of, is a wealth of tackle knowledge. I also like that he tells it like it is. That's rare to find in a retail clerk. I asked him if Penn reels are any good and he said they used to be. He said that basically they are living off of their name alone and people thinking that they are good because that's what their dad or grandparents used to use. I had a 420 SS and also an old non-skirted spool (bad idea) model when I was younger and I thought the SS was a good workhorse of a reel, although a little crude. I caught some nice smallmouths on it. He told me that they are still good for saltwater and for being tough, but if you are willing to put even a little time into regular maintenance, there are much better choices out there. Oh, and he said don't even think about getting any of their newer models.
Thanks for the tip though. If I still had my Penn, I would definitely do this upgrade.

yep thats the exact same situation i was in

the reel is super old, when Penn meant something, thats why i didnt want to stop using it, so im so stoked that this line roller fits....makes the reel so smooth.....now to convince my Dad to convert the 420s he has at home



next mod is to increase the spool diameter...using a 430ss or bigger hahahahaah

HO, that was a fast reply at 1:30AM. GO SLEEP!! HEHEHE!!

nah cannot im thinking of what kind of pole i should get for this reel, i have a 5 foot berkley technique Trout pole, its like 15 years old, good enough for steams but i want to use the reel in bigger water.....any suggestions?

I recently heard that Penn was bought by Shakespeare, I don't know how long ago this was, but since then the quality of Penn reels has decreased, from what I was told. I haven't owned a Penn reel since I was a teenager and the two I had were stolen out of the back of my dad's truck