Bass Fishing - UltimateBass.com

The Pinion Gear - Next we will look at "SUPER TUNING" the Pinion gear. You may have never thought about it, but during an outcast the pinion gear acts like an unsupported brass bushing as far as the spool shaft is concerned. It gets pulled away from its engagement point with the spool by the pinion yoke when you depress the release button to begin casting! It is at this time that the pinion gear is free to ride upon the spool shaft and act as a bushing would making surface to surface contact with the shaft. I quoted earlier from Shimano and Daiwa concerning this action and the friction it places on the spool shaft. We need to smooth this area up and reduce the potential friction it can have in order to maximize casting distances. This is how its done.

Using the afore-mentioned rotary tool and toothpick place a cut to length piece of 600 grit sandpaper in the slit of the toothpick. SEE PICTURE FOR LENGTH. This length might vary slightly depending on the diameter of the toothpick and inside diameter of the pinion gear. You will want the sandpaper to fit snuggly into the pinion gear, don't make it so tight that you have to force it into the pinion. Adjust the length of your sandpaper by cutting it to achieve this type fit. I cut the corners of the sandpaper to make it go into the pinion easier and to prevent these sharp corners of the sandpaper from scarring the inside of the gear. Before you start sanding get a folded up piece of paper towel to place between your fingers and the pinion gear while you are holding it. It will get hot during the sanding process and could become uncomfortable to handle if you don't do this! A WORD TO THE WISE! DO NOT HOLD THE PINION GEAR WITH ANY TOOL!!! If you do and the pinion gear slips and rotates in the jaws of said tool while sanding it you will damage the soft brass edges of the gear. The result of this will become evident when you put the reel back together and it is annoyingly noisy when you are reeling in! Then you will have to spend $8-14 dollars to get a new pinion gear and try this again!

Wrap the piece of sandpaper tightly around the toothpick and work it into the pinion gear by hand. Once inside you can now turn on the rotary tool and work it back and forth to sand the inside of the gear. Remember you are not trying to bore the pinion out! I have never measured it but I would say we are only trying to open the pinion up by about a ½ thousandth, not much at all so we can then polish it and reduce its friction! So you only need to ruff it up a bit with the 600 grit paper, then remove the 600 grit sandpaper from the stick, place a cut to length piece of 1500 grit sandpaper in the sanding stick and work it into the pinion gear as before. Sand with the 1500 grit paper removing it from the pinion gear periodically so you can inspect and evaluate how the inside of the gear is looking ( if the sandpaper gets loaded up with brass place another fresh piece of 1500 grit in the sanding stick or you can flip the piece you are using around in the slit of the stick to expose the unused grit of the sandpaper and keep using it). Once you have a smooth, even looking finish inside the gear, clean it with a cotton swab and alcohol to prepare for the polishing stage. Next place a bare toothpick in the rotary tool. Pull some cotton off a couple swabs to wind around the toothpick as the rotary tool spins. (If you have cotton balls available use them for this instead). The toothpick will wrap the cotton up easily on the stick while the rotary tool is spinning, then just smooth the wrapped up cotton out along the stick with your thumbnail till it fits snugly into the pinion gear. Next place the Simichrome polish on the cotton and insert it inside the pinion gear to polish it. Repeat this step as often as necessary till the inside of the pinion gear looks like a mirror. Hold it up to a light source, much like you would the barrel of gun, to see this mirror finish! When it gleams evenly inside you are done.