403 / 303 drag nut

[seasearider]

My drag nut is frozen . any ideas how to release it. its the one with the crosshead screw. thanks sea sea

[Sandman]

Sea, to the Mitchell Reel Museum.

Did you remove the drag nut screw? If so, the drag nut just pops off. May need to pry it up.

Sandman

[seasearider]

It doesn’t pop out , you have to unscrew it, but it’s flush with in the know and the head of the screw is worn.
I need to remove it Part # 81441. Drag nut

[Sandman]

Sea, the drag nut does pop off, but you have to get the screw out first. The screw threads into the end of the axle. Not the best photo, but you can see there are no threads in the drag nut. The drag nut slips over the steel washer on the left. The steel washer threads onto the outside of the axle. I've had this happen before when corrosion has "welded" the drag screw to the axle and had to drill the head of the screw off, pop off the drag nut and the use pliers to twist out the screw shaft from the axle.

Sandman

IMG_2835 - Copy.JPG (116.13 KiB) Viewed 4325 times

[seasearider]

5A20BD61-A752-4956-AEDA-69C9851ECCBF.jpeg (25.54 KiB) Viewed 4316 times

This is the screw I want to remove. Sea

[Sandman]

Sea, If you can’t get a good bite with a screwdriver on the head of that later model drag adjuster screw, then you’ll need to drill the head off the screw….your other option is to just screw the whole spool off and buy one to replace it. The drag nut screw is screwed into the axle sleeve that is fixed to the spool assembly, so it comes off with the spool. To remove the spool, you just turn it opposite direction of line pay out and it will unscrew from the axle.

Sandman

[seasearider]

Thank you for your help. I drilled out the center of the screw with a small drill and went to a bigger drill size and the next thing I know the screw came right out.
That thread is a left hand thread. The drill acted like a left hand drill and back out the screw.
Thanks again Sandman.

[Sandman]

Excellent, nice work, you're welcome...its an inexpensive fix, just need a screw...and yes, everything spins opposite direction on right hand wind reels and along with that, thread direction. The one time I needed to drill out that screw, I wasn't that lucky, since it was a LHW reel...

Sandman

[piscesman]

Hello, sorry for late involvement. You did mention 303/403?? I'm just checking that when you tried to loosen the drag that you turned in the opposite direction than normal. Clock wise for right handed threads and counter-clock wise left handed threads that the 03 or odd number that you stated require.......
Kim