ABU 7K Problem

[HugoBox]

Up til now I've had good luck with mine but this past weekend my 7K started acting up. The levelwind will get "stuck" on one side for a couple revolutions of the spool before it goes back to normal. This ends up throwing the spool and the level whind out of whack when I cast - by this I mean that the line may be coming off the middle of the spool but the level wind is way off to the left or right so my casting distance is pretty much nil. I've got a call into the ABU service number but I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this and if there's a quick fix. I'm pretty sure I'll send it in for service regardless as I've noticed it running a bit rougher the past couple weeks. I got a great deal so I have two of them and use them pretty much for pulling bigger blades. I decided that since I got such a good deal I'll give them each one service call before I join the "Abu's suck club."

[propster]

Box, sounds to me like the pawl is worn down a bit and while it mostly engages in the worm gear on the straightaway it won't always on the turn. Think of it like your brakes or tires on your vehicle - you can't expect it to drive forever without repairing/replacing certain parts now and again, especially when pulling the big blades regularly. In the past on other reels, until I got a new pawl I have used shims before to get it to engage as a temporary fix. I haven't had mine apart yet to see if it's the same setup but it might be. Abu will have it back to you in very short order if you do send it in.

[VMS]

Yep...worm drive and a new pawl. Will take about 5 minutes to fix and you'll be all set.

Steve

[RK]

Hiya -

Propster and VMS are right on. It's the pawl/worm gear. You need to replace them both, and I think the parts are probably under $10. When you pick some up, buy a couple extras and keep them in your tackle box. I can change these out on the water in about 3 minutes. The underside of the levelwind is exposed so it can pick up grit and gunk, and they eventually [PoorWordUsage] out. Helps if you oil it once in a while though. (You can file that advice under "do as I say, not as I do" )It's the one thing that you can pretty much count on failing eventually on 7000s. Fortunately, it's easy to repair.

[squeedunk]

I have the same problem on one of my ABUs. Where do you get the parts from and how do you go about replacing it?

[HugoBox]

Thanks for the help fellas. Just to be clear - I'm not a member of the "Abu's suck club" I'm actually happy to see that its an easy fix. I'll probably order the parts today. I'm now about to expose my level on engineering inetptitude - is the pawl the piece that screws into the underside of the levelwind that runs into the grooves of the worm gear?

[propster]

You got it Box. I might have a schematic here and could shott you the part number. Is it is silver iC3 or the HSN rocket?

[HugoBox]

Keith -

Thanks - its the IC3 and I think I still have a schematic you sent me on a different issue last year.

Let me know when you're up visiting the parents next and maybe we could sneak out for a couple hours.

Take care - box

[PostFrontal]

You can call Wayzata Bait and see if they have parts. The guy there is a licensed Abu reel repair guy that I have gotten parts from before.

[HugoBox]

Gotta give the folks at Abu some good PR. I shipped the reel back on Saturday with a nice note about their products as well as a description on the problems with the reel and a new one arrive for me today. Gotta love great customer service.