Question? Upgrading penn 500 - Page 2

vilters · Sep-21-2008, 11:30 PM

frame is a good upgrade. plates look nice, but will not noticeably improve performance, also add weight. make sure you have ht100 (oe penn) drags, greased or not. if you are going to fish bait, i'd leave the stock 4:1 gears in. more power to pull brutes off the bottom. nothing wrong with old school penns, still fish killin gear.

sdfish02 · Sep-22-2008, 12:40 PM

buy a new reel

JRD · Sep-22-2008, 12:59 PM

Change them both and the pinion yoke (put in a stainless yoke) is the quick answer. Shit spend the money and be happy you have something different for whatever reason you want. Just dont tell the wife how much it cost.

mchawk · Sep-22-2008, 01:02 PM

The 505HS gears won't fit in the standard 500, the main gear is larger so the bridgeplate has a wider spacing between the 2 bottom screws to make room for the gear, the sideplate also has extra room for the larger gear. If you use accuplates you would need to buy the plates that are made for the 505/506 and also change your spool and bridgeplate to the 505 (the spool has a longer shaft) to be able to use the 505 gears, and both the main and the pinion have to be changed.

If you want 5:1 gear ratio in the standard 500, Newell makes some stainless steel gears that fit without having to change any other parts, they will work in the standard sideplates or the accurate 500 plates.

_Mike