Kelso Quick-apart??

[john elder]

I picked up this 80 yd Kelso reel made by the Rochester Reel Company at Cardiff. Judging from the scratches and buggered screws, this reel has had a hard life, but should recover with a bit of TLC. However, I found it anything but "quick-apart" and it has more parts than one of Tommy's spinning reels! BUT....I have no reference and this is the first that I have opened up, so I'm not sure if all is original or some jury-rigging has occurred. Also, the clicker/drag on the back plate, activated by twisting the knurled plate, is not working. The arm that hangs down and is acted on by the post on the rotating backplate piece seems not to be engage so it's not acting to engage and disengage the clicker. Does anyone have input here?

[Steve]

Here's a properly assembled click/drag.

[john elder]

Thanks, Steve. For whatever reason, that arm is a bit too far out on mine to make proper contact with the post and is not being influenced by the spring; the spring does work on the click pawl, however, so not broken or lost. I will take it apart and see whats up.

[john elder]

Ps...i see your bearing caps are jewelled and mine are missing the jewels...but is the style of mine the same? Ie, are they correct? Nthey were a bit cleaner than the rest of the reel.

[Jeff Johnson]

John, the one I see on the front does not look correct to me and I couldn't see the back one. Missing bearing caps and non working clickers are common on these reels. Finding non-original replacement bearing caps are difficult because of the small diameter threads. Just my 2cents - Jeff

[john elder]

jeff, this isn't a very good pic, but running out the door so will have to do better later. They fit nicely, but they could be Shakes for all I know?

[Midway Tommy D]

I found it anything but "quick-apart" and it has more parts than one of Tommy's spinning reels!

Hardly!

[Jeff Johnson]

Yes the rear bearing looks correct. I've been remodeling my house for the last 8 months so 95% of all my fishing reels are in storage so I cant go look but I did check the web and on Ron Gasts excellent site http://luresnreels.com/rochester.html it shows the caps well. Jeff

[Kevin McJunkin]

I just purchased a Kelso Quick-A-Part at the NFLCC national show in Fort Wayne. You're supposed to be able to rotate the tail plate to activate the click, but the click wasn't working which apparently is the norm with these. After laboring to get the tail plate unscrewed, with some judicious mallet taps (I agree with the comments about the reel not being a "Quick-A-Part"), I was able to fix the complex click assembly, with the aid of the photo of the properly assembled click/drag that Steve Vernon posted. All of the parts were there, but the spring needed to be reconfigured. Thanks, Steve!

This forum is a great resource!

- Kevin

[Steve]

You're welcome, Kevin, but the judiciousness of your mallet taps deserves most of the credit.

PS Yep, the forum rocks!