It was a bit of a risk as the front plate looked filthy whist someone had done something akin to sandblasting to remove a patch of corrosion from the backplate. However, at the worst, I would have a donor reel at a fair price.
Putting it to one side a few weeks ago, I took it out on Christmas morning. The backplate, pin and ratchet mechanism where all fine, shining in the case of the ratchet switch! The patch of corrosion was gone but so was most of the paint. The white filled Millward engraving was clear.
The front plate was a very different matter! It was filthy! She wouldn’t spin at all, the handles where frozen and the thumb wheel was stuck firm! I gave her a basic scrub up with a brush, a good cleaning with WD40 and an oiling. This freed the handles and the thumb wheel, which all worked fine. However, still no spin, so time for Christmas dinner.
Boxing Day saw me return, stripping down the central boss, cleaning that and the bush and pin. All where filthy and horribly sticky.
With some trepidation, I put her together again, adjusted the grub screw, and was hugely relieved to find that she spins like a dream and has not a hint of a wobble. Firm pressure with thumbs on both sides of the front plate results in absolutely no movement. I now have 4 Rapidex types and whilst she may the the worst cosmetically, she is in the best working order.
There is only one, slightly strange, issue. I flipped over the pawl, as I have done with every Rapidex and Trudex I have fixed up, and the ratchet fails to engage. I tried the pawls from my other Floatcraft and an early Rapidex I have but they are all the same. I learned to use line off the top some years ago and will do this but I did wonder if anyone has come across this issue before? The ratchet mechanism looks identical to the other two whose pawls I tried but something must be different!
