Penn Reels "Any Reel Repair Guys Please Weigh In"

[cashews121]

I would like to know,,specifically from some reel service techs if there are any here which Penns seem to hold up best.  I am not familiar with any of the spinning except the Z and old SS Series ..but I am not interested in those. I want to know about the Battle,Conflict,Clash,Pursuit,Fierce etc..I am assuming these are direct drive,,"handle screws directly into main gear"..would love to hear from some educated guys on this.

[reelfire]

If you have the budget get a Torque. If not get a slammer 4500 for 9 ft or less, 5500 for 10 ft or more.

[needles]

Here's my experience with Penn.  I bought a SSV 5500, the reel was very smooth. But I picked thru 4 SSV's to find that particular reel. Not all are as smooth as mine. Some down right feel like crap! I upgraded the gears with a brass set, my choice, there were no issues with the original gears. It's still as smooth as before the upgrade.

It's used as a surf reel but I only fish about 14 days a year. When I lived in NY I would fish 100+ days/nights a year. So I can't give you an actual account of how it would hold up fished on a regular bases. What I do believe is if you properly lube it with a quality marine lube and do periodic maintenance it should be fine. I would recommend the gear upgrade or for a couple of bucks more buy the Slammer, which wasn't available when I bought the SSV.

IMO you have to go to your local B&T and feel Penn reels and pick the one you like the best. Not all Penns are created equal and honestly don't know why that should be.

[Surfcaster809]

Hi

All of the reels you listed are the same basic reel with more or less bells and whistles. As you go up in price you get more bearings, HT 100 drag washers and different cosmetics. Some have graphite rotors on the smaller sizes, the Battle is aluminum on all sizes. Gears are the same for the same size reel. The clash is not part of that family of reels and has machine cut gears instead of cast on the others. Hope this helps a little.

Bob

[55555s]

in order of increasing bells and whistles (mentioned above):  pursuit fierce battle conflict...    

different designs:

SSV

Clash 

 

Would be interesting to hear some penn service techs weigh in on longevity/durability of various designs under real conditions.  

[johndtuttle]

2 hours ago, cashews121 said:

I would like to know,,specifically from some reel service techs if there are any here which Penns seem to hold up best.  I am not familiar with any of the spinning except the Z and old SS Series ..but I am not interested in those. I want to know about the Battle,Conflict,Clash,Pursuit,Fierce etc..I am assuming these are direct drive,,"handle screws directly into main gear"..would love to hear from some educated guys on this.

 

What size reel are you talking about and for what application?

Some of them are beast mode (like Slammer III) others are still strong, but super light (Clash).

[crazybellringer]

i love my penn reels and the service is the best. Some of the reels i service myself  scott's  has all the parts you need. 

[cashews121]

4 hours ago, johndtuttle said:

 

What size reel are you talking about and for what application?

Some of them are beast mode (like Slammer III) others are still strong, but super light (Clash).

I do more Fluking than anything else.from surf pier etc..currently use lower end Daiwas..Exceler 3000

[glos]

7 hours ago, needles said:

Here's my experience with Penn.  I bought a SSV 5500, the reel was very smooth. But I picked thru 4 SSV's to find that particular reel. Not all are as smooth as mine. Some down right feel like crap! I upgraded the gears with a brass set, my choice, there were no issues with the original gears. It's still as smooth as before the upgrade.

It's used as a surf reel but I only fish about 14 days a year. When I lived in NY I would fish 100+ days/nights a year. So I can't give you an actual account of how it would hold up fished on a regular bases. What I do believe is if you properly lube it with a quality marine lube and do periodic maintenance it should be fine. I would recommend the gear upgrade or for a couple of bucks more buy the Slammer, which wasn't available when I bought the SSV.

IMO you have to go to your local B&T and feel Penn reels and pick the one you like the best. Not all Penns are created equal and honestly don't know why that should be.

how does one upgrade a gear on a reel ?

I want to do it on daiwa bg sw 8000 one day

 

and about lube, use gearcase lube to fill it up all the way

edit: use NLGI 00 EP lube, not 000 which is to runny

Edited July 12, 2017 by glos

[scoobydoo]

58 minutes ago, glos said:

how does one upgrade a gear on a reel ?

I want to do it on daiwa bg sw 8000 one day

 

and about lube, use gearcase lube to fill it up all the way

Please don't fill a reel with Gearcase oil.  As it will contaminate the antireverse clutch bearing causing failure.  And leak out of the reel.

(only do this with reels such as ZB and VS not sure about torque)

 

[Kent I]

Avoid the Conflict 4000.

[Spigola]

I currently fish a Clash 2500 loaded with 10# Sufix 832.  I use it for fluke in bay, fluke in surf and this spring it overwhelmed the BIG bluefish in Great Bay.  Great reel for the price with an excellent drag.

On my St Croix Legend 10'6" I use a Torque 5.  Once again, great reel. 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Spigola

[reelfire]

This is the value of the big winter shows such as RISSA. Where the manufacturers have booths and bring their whole lineups. You can ask questions and they will most of the time open the sideplates.  Stuff you don't see at small regional shows.

[needles]

15 hours ago, glos said:

how does one upgrade a gear on a reel ?

I want to do it on daiwa bg sw 8000 one day

 

and about lube, use gearcase lube to fill it up all the way

edit: use NLGI 00 EP lube, not 000 which is to runny

Penn sells gear upgrade for the SSV, to the best of my knowledge there is no gear upgrade for the BG

[striperondafly]

I have a SSV 5500 that  has caught many fish and I've had no issues with it. I will upgrade to the brass gears if the zinc ones fail. 

Last year I picked up the 2500 Clash and 4000 Clash. I have fished the heck out of the 4000 and I find I am going for it more than my Stradic FI that  has been my go to light inshore reel for a few years now. 

I picked up the Slammer 3 4500 and 7500 but have not used them enough to comment. I have one of the original Slammer 350's that is my favorite spinning reel I've owned. I have had zero issues with it since day 1 and it's been through the ringer more than once. It's a survivor. First day I had it I was fishing for schoolie stripers with small pieces of clam in the delaware bay and a 50 lb class black drum wound up being released 20 minutes or so later. I believe the Slammer 3's will prove to be excellent reels like the original slammers.