Step 1:Clear a big space so you can lay out all your parts and place a towel over your desk to make parts easier to see. Make sure everything you need  is somewhere within your reach. To do a basic overhaul on your 501 or 500 you need the tool that comes in the box, reel grease, q-tips and paper towels. Optinal tools are needle nosed pliers and a flat head screwdriver.

Step 2: Turn the take apart thub screw counter clockwise pull it up as far as it will go and turn the sideplate counter clockwise. Once you do this the left sideplate should separate from the frame.

Step 3: Take the frame and spool and set them a side.

Step 4: Lay the sideplate plastic side up and take off the hadle lock screw.

Step 5: Use the Tool that comes with the reel to take off the handle screw.

Step6: Once the handle lock screw and the handle screw is off you should have something that looks like this. Take off the handle and lay it aside.

Step 7: Turn the star drag wheel counter clockwise until it comes off.

Step 8: Use the needle nose pliers to gently take the spacing sleeve out.

Step 9: Unscrew the upper and lower bridge screws to separate the sideplate from the bridge.

Step 10: Pick up the plastic sideplate and the bride and main gear should separate. If this doesn't happen, push on the bridge sleve to get it to pop out. Be careful not to let anything slam at this time. Now is when the dog spring likes to fly out.

Step 11: Take out the clutch spring, pinion yoke, pinion gear and eccentric jack. use a q-tip and alcohol to clean the grease and grime off these parts and set them aside.

Step 12: Take the dog spring off of its knob and set it where you can see it. Before you put it back in it is a good idea to fill it with grease so if it pops out on you it wont go more than a few inches.

Take the  main gear, fiber washer, metal drag washers, HT-100 drag washers and tension spring off the bridge sleve, and lay them out in an order so you remember where they go. Clean all of these parts except the HT-100 washers and the fiber washers off with alcohol. Dry them off and coat all the parts but the HT's  fiber washer adn the metal drag washers with a thin layer of grease or oil.

Step 13: Use the q-tip and alcohol to clean out the left sideplate. Once it is clean you can apply reel-X, corosion-X or grease on the q-tip and apply a thin layer to the inside of the sideplate.

Step 14: Put the grease filled dog spring, dog and fibre washer on the bridge sleve. Turn the bridge sleve to make sure the dog engages.

Step 15: Coat the bridge with a layer of grease or oil. Stack the washers on the bridge sleve. They should go in this orderstarting from the left of hte picture to the right: fibre washer, main gear, HT-100 washer, metal washer, HT-100 washer, eared metal washer,HT-100 washer, metal washer, tension spring and the spacing sleve.

Step 16: This is what the finished stack should look like.

Step 17: This is what the empty left sideplate shoudl look like.

Step 18: Put the two clutch springs into their holes.

Step 19: Apply grease to the teeth of the pinion gear. Do not get grease into the hole or your freespool will be worse then before you opended it up. Put the pinion gear and greased or oiled pinion yoke on the clutch springs.

Step 20: Press down on the yoke adn pinion, put the greased or oiled eccentric jack on top of the yoke and pop it into place on the eccentric. Make sure the parts move and are in the right place but be sure to hold them in place because there is no screw in there yet.

Step 21: This is what you should have, next step is to put the two parts together.

Step 22: Hold the bridge and sideplate at paralel and put them togeather makeing sure all the parts are going where they should be.

Step 23:This should be the finished product of putting the sideplate and bridge together.

Step 24: Apply a thin layer or grease to the upper and lower bridge screws and screw them in.

Step 25: Apply a thin layer of grease or oil to the threads bridge sleve. Turn the star drag wheel clockwise until the bridge begins to turn.

Step 26: Put the handle on the bridge and turn the star drag wheel all the way down.

Step 27: Apply a layer of grease to the handle scre and screw in the handle screw.

Step 28: Apply a layer of grease and screw in the handle locking screw.

Step 29 Degrease the left sideplate with a q-tip and alcohol.

Step 30: Degrease the spindle on the spool with alcohol and a q-tip.

Step 31: Apply a layer of grease to the inside of the right sideplate focusing on the clicker.

Step 32: Apply  a drop of oil to each side of the spool.

Step 33: Apply a thin layer of grease to the inner ring of the left side of the frame

Step 34: Take out one screw in the left sideplate, grease it and put it back in. Do this to ever screw on both sides of the frame.

Step 35: put the spool into the reel then put on the left sideplate. If all goes well you should end up with this.

Wishing you bent rods and clean reels,

Batty