When I press the thumb bar down, the spool doesn’t budge. Any tips on how to fix this?

Take the spool out and see if there's anything jammed between the frame and the spool, or the spool axle. Anything further will require some knowledge and mechanical acumen, which your question suggests might be better bought than learnt.

Have we done any DIY maintenance?

There's an essay missing on the reel model and the individual reel history. 

Aside from needing a lot more information to give an intelligent answer,

first thing I would do is open the spool tension cap, and see if you can generate side play in the spool. If you can, it is was probably just too tight and likely dirty. 

If you can't, the pinion gear is not being lifted from the spool pin, and you can work on the link diagnosis from there. 

On 6/3/2022 at 9:55 PM, bulldog1935 said:

There's an essay missing on the reel model and the individual reel history. 

Aside from needing a lot more information to give an intelligent answer,

first thing I would do is open the spool tension cap, and see if you can generate side play in the spool. If you can, it is was probably just too tight and likely dirty. 

If you can't, the pinion gear is not being lifted from the spool pin, and you can work on the link diagnosis from there. 

the spool does have side play who how do I clean it though? 

If you cannot produce end play in the spool by backing off the tension cap, the pinion gear is not being lifted from the spool pin by the clutch link, and cleaning isn't the issue. 

oops - see my post below

 

What freaking reel make and model are we talking about? 

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

What freaking reel make and model are we talking about? 

I think its a secret ?

3 hours ago, frgavinn said:

the spool does have side play who how do I clean it though? 

oops - I misread this, anyway. 

It would still help to know what model reel we have here. 

You need to get the spool out.  That means taking one side from the reel (or the other depending on the reel model). 

One thing that also comes to mind is that the line could just be backlashed,

Line could be jammed against the frame, could be outside the spool between the spool and frame, etc. 

You need to get the spool out, and see what needs cleaning up. 

It may be time to get the old line off the spool and start over.  We're still guessing from too limited information. 

 

We are making progress - we know the casting button and link is working. 

On 6/5/2022 at 4:38 PM, bulldog1935 said:

oops - I misread this, anyway. 

It would still help to know what model reel we have here. 

You need to get the spool out.  That means taking one side from the reel (or the other depending on the reel model). 

One thing that also comes to mind is that the line could just be backlashed,

Line could be jammed against the frame, could be outside the spool between the spool and frame, etc. 

You need to get the spool out, and see what needs cleaning up. 

It may be time to get the old line off the spool and start over.  We're still guessing from too limited information. 

 

We are making progress - we know the casting button and link is working. 

Thank you for taking your time to help me and sorry for the late response. The line isn't stuck or anything, its very shallow like 5 yards to fix this issue. Any key parts of what I should be cleaning on the spool. It's a Ozark Trail reel by Walmart. I recently bought a Lew's but I still want to fix this reel for another rod. 

That reel has a definite Doyo look, so it's going to be very similar to Lew's and Abu mag-brake reels. 

This isn't going to be your exact schematic, but close, especially for what you need to clean - the spool spindle, spindle contact bushings, and the spool bearings. 

The first thing to do is remove, or at least fully loosen the tension cap, represented by p/n 57. 

(also easiest if you remove the handle and star drag first, but removing those parts shouldn't be necessary just to deal with spool free-spin and spool bearings). 

Everything that contacts each end of the spool spindle, p/n 88, should be cleaned. 

You'll also have to remove the palm-side cap to get the spool out, represented by p/n 96. 

The spool bearings are p/n 107, p/n 89, and possibly p/n 57 - you'll either have all 3 or just two of these, either 89 or 57. 

To remove the main spool bearing (89), you need a pin tool.  The $15 Billings version should work great on your spool. 

 

You can likely find many bearing cleaning tutorials on the forum, removing shield and washing the bearing balls and races, then re-oiling. 

I would recommend starting over with line, so you can check free spin on the empty spool, proper end play when you reinstall the palm plate, and before you tension the spool with the end knob. 

 

If you can measure the bearing sizes, you can simply go with new bearings from an outfit like HPR Bearings.  He has an e-bay store, good communication, and he can put together a bearing kit for you. 

 

Your drive is going to have the same waxed and caked grease, and probably needs cleaning of the gears, also, but limited this post to getting the spool spinning. 

On 6/16/2022 at 6:24 PM, bulldog1935 said:

That reel has a definite Doyo look, so it's going to be very similar to Lew's and Abu mag-brake reels. 

This isn't going to be your exact schematic, but close, especially for what you need to clean - the spool spindle, spindle contact bushings, and the spool bearings. 

The first thing to do is remove, or at least fully loosen the tension cap, represented by p/n 57. 

(also easiest if you remove the handle and star drag first, but removing those parts shouldn't be necessary just to deal with spool free-spin and spool bearings). 

Everything that contacts each end of the spool spindle, p/n 88, should be cleaned. 

You'll also have to remove the palm-side cap to get the spool out, represented by p/n 96. 

The spool bearings are p/n 107, p/n 89, and possibly p/n 57 - you'll either have all 3 or just two of these, either 89 or 57. 

To remove the main spool bearing (89), you need a pin tool.  The $15 Billings version should work great on your spool. 

 

You can likely find many bearing cleaning tutorials on the forum, removing shield and washing the bearing balls and races, then re-oiling. 

I would recommend starting over with line, so you can check free spin on the empty spool, proper end play when you reinstall the palm plate, and before you tension the spool with the end knob. 

 

If you can measure the bearing sizes, you can simply go with new bearings from an outfit like HPR Bearings.  He has an e-bay store, good communication, and he can put together a bearing kit for you. 

 

Your drive is going to have the same waxed and caked grease, and probably needs cleaning of the gears, also, but limited this post to getting the spool spinning. 

Phew this is a a lot, I’ll definitely try this tonight to how it goes. Hopefully collecting all the tools and cleaning will be worth it. Thank you so much once again.