Shimano TLD 5 free spool

[Hungone]

Picked up a pretty clean little TLD 5 for 40 bucks at a local swap meet. It cleaned up well inside and out but it still doesn’t free spool very well. Is this the norm?

I had one when I was a kid for albacore and loved it as a 20lb reel.
I oiled the bearings and removed the excess grease that was inside

 

[AKSalmon]

If the bearings are good -- and they may not be even though you have cleaned and oiled them -- then something else is affecting the free spool. One possibility is that the plastic frame is torqued slightly, something that happens too often with plastic reels, especially old ones. Remove the spool and see how it spins on the axis. If it doesn't spin well, look at the bearings again. If it does spin well, your problems just got more serious...

 

[mike garrahan]

A lot of times the problem is where the end of the spool shaft rubs on the graphite frame on the side opposite the handle. If you look at the smooth side of the frame you will see a little rectangle that covers the round hole where the end of the spool shaft goes. If you remove the spool you can usually push something through the hole from the inside to remove the little cover. Once the cover is removed you can use a small round file to open up the hole a little bit which will allow the spool shaft to turn freely. I have owned a bunch of TLD 5's in the past and this is a very common problem. Usually the little cover gets ruined during the repair but the reel will work just fine without the cover.

 

[pacificscout]

A lot of times the problem is where the end of the spool shaft rubs on the graphite frame on the side opposite the handle. If you look at the smooth side of the frame you will see a little rectangle that covers the round hole where the end of the spool shaft goes. If you remove the spool you can usually push something through the hole from the inside to remove the little cover. Once the cover is removed you can use a small round file to open up the hole a little bit which will allow the spool shaft to turn freely. I have owned a bunch of TLD 5's in the past and this is a very common problem. Usually the little cover gets ruined during the repair but the reel will work just fine without the cover.

This is why we ask questions here.
Great Information.

 

[AKSalmon]

The spool shaft on a TLD reel is fixed; it does not turn as the spool turns. However, if the plastic on the left end plate warps, it will make it hard for the shaft to move from retrieve into free spool. In this case, it does help to open the hole a tiny amount. But again, remove the spool from the reel and see if it free spools well. If it does, this sort of frame fix may work. If it doesn't free spool well outside of the reel, you likely need bearings.

 

[mike garrahan]

You know way more about how the reels work than I do. I always thought the shaft rotated in the hole. I guess it was because the shaft couldn't move sideways to go into freespool. On the reels I had once you opened up the hole up a little bit they would freespool like they were supposed to. It always seemed like the problem was worse in the TLD5's. You didn't see the problem as much in the TLD 10's and 15's.