The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Can anyone let me know if it is possible to alter the ratchet for left hand wind please.
Thanks,

Yes, but the Speedia ratchet is so light it's hardly worth it really.

And the only way to do it makes it lighter still.


But if you wish to go ahead you need to clamp the ratchet pawl in a vice and re-profile the back edge...the one the spring bears against.
You'll need a light hand with an angle grinder to do this. The other methos is to clamp it in a pair of Mole Grips and re-shape it with a bench grinder....wear safety specs and work slowly....you are only out to remove 1 to 1.5 mm. from just one side of the back edge.


Here's the shape to go for:





Sorry about the huge background..I must get around to cropping it off. You want the re-profile on the left....the one to the right is to quieten a ratchet...definitely not needed on a Speedia.

If this is something you don't feel comfortable doing send it to Garry Mills.

edited to remove huge background of picture - Snape

The other way is to put a little lump of plastic metal or araldite on the other end of the edge that Nobby has marked for a cut. This has the advantage of making the ratchet slightly stronger. You only need enough to kick the pawl over slightly. You'll need to degrease it beforehand.

That's an interesting thought Sean. It seems to be a fulcrum issue, I thought, .... with one side of the pawl bearing on the spring much nearer its fixed end and so it is harder to make the pawl work....???

But of course, my re-profiling would also shift the pawl slightly off-centre thus also reducing the load on the cog-wheel.


Who'd have thought it would be so complicated

Nobby wrote:Who'd have thought it would be so complicated

... and then there's the question of what to do if you want to change it back to right handed !!!!!

It's the way the pawl sits on the spring. You need to get it pointing against the direction of rotation when the reel is giving line. With the araldite method (sounds like a form of contraception!) you can always take it off if you don't like the effect.

I first tried this with a reel that had a weak ratchet. I've also tried putting a tiny wedge between the pawl and the spring which worked ok but was prone to coming out.

That's a nice method for restoring a reel with a worn-out ratchet Sean!

Thank you all for your help - much appreciated.