So I’m having an issue with one of my lews reels. It is a tournament lite, I’m currently using it for jerkbaits. The problem is when I’m working it back to the boat, every now and then when I move the rod to move the jerkbait the reel free spools like someone pushed the thumb bar to cast it. Sometimes this will give me a backlash, sometimes not. There is no noise when this happens, but a turn of the handle brings it back to normal. It doesn’t happen all the time but it is pretty frustrating, any ideas?

Sounds like the anti reverse bearing needs to be cleaned or replaced. One of mine was doing this and I cleaned the bearing and it took care of the issue.

If you don't work on your own reels , you can send it back to Lew's , they will either fix it or replace it.

But , yeah , anti reverse bearing sounds like the culprit.

Some other brands have an anti-reverse pawl as a backup system to prevent this problem

Or your drag is to loose.

Drag is good, I ordered a new anti reverse bearing for it so we will see what happens. Thanks guys

All of my Lew's reels still have the "ratchet" anti-reverse pawl in addition to the one way roller bearing that will prevent what you are talking about.  The spool/handle might reverse just a little but not nearly enough to cause a backlash if the anti-reverse bearing failed.  Are you sure it isn't coming out of gear?  If the springs on the yoke are worn, damaged or missing it can cause the reel to disengage at times.

I’ve seen this before in a similar reel. Keep the AR clean and lightly oiled. Did you try cleaning it before jumping to replacement?

3 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I’ve seen this before in a similar reel. Keep the AR clean and lightly oiled. Did you try cleaning it before jumping to replacement?

Im sure DVT has more experience than I, but I've never seen these go out. The real issue is typically over lubrication. 

 

On a friends reel it was slipping after he saw a YouTube video on how to oil a reel and removed the handle and gave the bearing underneath a big squirt of oil. The excess made its way to the AR and caused it to slip. A clean up and proper light oiling fixed it.

12 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I’ve seen this before in a similar reel. Keep the AR clean and lightly oiled. Did you try cleaning it before jumping to replacement?

Nah,  a replacement was cheap enough so I figured if I’m taking it apart I want to do it once and at least this way I will know it is new.

Ok. Just don’t over oil the new one or you’ll be back to square one. 

I've seen them slip because of the wrong lube. Cleaning is usually enough.  If corrosion gets in, then replacement is definitely in order.

 

Keep your old one. My guess is it will be good insurance that you hopefully never need.