Inverted Mitchell 301

[Alwaysinthemire]

Hello,my name is Mike and new to the site. I bought a Mitchell 301 and thought I’d been sold a mash up due to the inverted Mitchell! I didn’t realise they did this from the factory! The serial number is 153860 stamped on the bottom of the body. By the look of the wear I’m guessing there should be a shim under the crown gear? Any information on this reel would be greatly appreciated. I’ll try and download some pics.
A big hello to all,look forward to being a member. Mike.

[Wallace Carney]

Hello Mike, we missed your question but ,

We need to see pictures of the reel, not the intermal parts, to be able to help id your reel. Thanks, Wallace

[Alwaysinthemire]

Hello Wallace,
Thanks for the welcome,I did upload all of the images so I thought! I will try and get the rest up. I have since bought a half bail that has no serial number but does have the letter K stamped on in the centre of the foot. Been fishing with it tonight but got nothing!
I’m loving the website and have learnt a lot already. Thanks for all the hard work you put into it. Looking forward to learning and collecting more in the future. Mike.

[Bailarm]

Hi Mike, the broken transfer gear you show was a short-lived version put in the last half bail reels around 1953 I think. Fortunately it can be replaced by any transfer gear in metal from a similar time period or even several years late.

I would have a good look at the smaller gear on the main gear ( that connects to the handle) in case it has damage that caused the nylon one to shed teeth. I might have simply been caused by 'knocking' the handle loose for service with the anti-reverse was still engaged.

The swirl marks on your oscillating slide are caused by the outer teeth on the pivot gear ( the one with the cloverleaf teeth). It's a fairly common problem and can be addressed by filing those teeth slightly at an angle if you wish. Just occasionally a 'bad reel' shows up and you can put a pinion gear shim under the pivot gear to lift it away from the oscillating slide, but if you do this you have to make sure other gears don't start colliding..for instance the pivot gear might now rub on the transfer gear.


This image shows the slightly altered gear teeth and ridge 'radiusing' in the foreground with a standard gear in the background. This is the transfer gear side, but the cloverleaf side is addressed in the same manner:

small 8a.jpg (20.53 KiB) Viewed 3889 times

[Alwaysinthemire]

Hello Bailarm,thanks for the great reply. I have trying to resize my photos so I can upload them.
I’m going to order some shims and also redress the gears. Will also get a new gear,I’ll probably never use the reel as I reel with my left but would like to have it running as it should be.
I’m loving the’new’ half bail I’ve bought but it’s as noisy as a well used egg whisk! Are they normally like this? Nothing looks particularly worn.

[GreatLaker]

Hey Mike,

Going by your serial number your reel would date to circa 1957. We (MRM) call that version of the Mitchell 300, the fourth version.

As Nobbie points out, you will need to replace your transfer gear if you want it to work properly. You can use either one of the Duraloy metal gears or, if you can find one, an original Nylon gear. This is entirely up to you as both will work and there are pros and cons to doing it either way.

You mention a crown gear but the crown gears were not introduced until the newer M8 gearing came out on the Mitchell 300A models (circa 1977). In your case (circa 1957), you have what is called a Pinion Gear, part #26 on the old numbering system or part #81048 on the new system .

Yes, there was a shim under the pinion gear, it was part #51 and called a "washer to adjust pinion gear" on the old system, and on the new system, part #81047 and called a "shim to adjust pinion gear".

By the way, "under the pinion gear", means between the gear and the cover plate. The shim should sit directly on the cover plate, with the pinion gear on top of it. You would be surprised to know how many people put the shim on top of the gear only to have it fall off and stick in the grease when they put the reel back together.

Regarding the noise, it all depends on the individual reel, its condition, how well lubricated, and etc.

Kind Regards,
Bill

1959 Mitchell 300-Schematic-diagram v2-MRM.jpg (74.14 KiB) Viewed 3847 times

1959 Mitchell 300-parts list only v2-MRM.jpg (130.11 KiB) Viewed 3847 times

[geo.ulrich]

I'm new here also and wondered the same thing. Thanks for the explanation.. I have B 98843 it's a half bale trying to work through inserting an image