The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Hi gents , lynch me if you will but i am contemplating converting a true pin ,trudex for example into a bearing pin , i have found a bearing which would be an ideal size but is it possible ? I would have to make a new boss , possibly a spindle and remove the brass bush , has anybody tried this before and if so did it work

Hello Richard,

The thought that first occurred to me was-and do please excuse me for saying this, why on earth would you want to do that?
Yes, It certainly can be done, all tasks are possible, but reels running on spindles are much nicer to use-and cast with-than those with ballraces... lighter too, come to that!
Unless the reel is badly worn and needs a lot of attention, there would be no advantage at all in converting it, but if you are determined to do it, firstly see what size bearings you can get which are suitable and design the rest around it.
A Trudex would be a good candidate to start with, but you will have to probably redesign the ratchet also.

If the reel is in fact, a worn-out normal centre pin, it would be far cheaper to have a new spindle made and the bronze bush replaced.

...Just my thoughts.

wm+

Hi WM+ , i agree that true pins are much nicer to use and alot lighter , the main reason i asked was because i have a grice and young reel which as seen better days

I know it would be cheaper to just buy another one but i would like to see this one working again and it will keep me busy over closed season

Richard, from the photos, the reel doesn’t seem too bad and first impressions say it would be a very straightforward job to make a new bush and/or spindle for it.
If I can be of assistance, do get in touch.

wm+

Thankyou WM , i perhaps should have used the grice and young as an example rather than a trudex in my post
Richard

I'm not quite sure where two bearing races might be fitted to such a reel. Even the tiny roller bearing races fitted to some Mitchell reels wouldn't fit inside that central tube section....unless you are thinking of putting them on the outside and making that tube stationary? And then you couldn't have a check. I'm sure I'm missing the obvious here......

I did once get a quote for making a new over-size spindle and boring the centrebush to suit, from someone for whom I had done a good few favours. He still wanted £80 and that was nearly a decade ago........