9500 drag question...?

[marlinslayer]

I picked up some new drag washers for my Penn 9500's and am looking for some insight on the proper way of redoing them. Do they get greased ,are they a dry system ???? I opened up one I had and really didn't see any lube in there and the reel is not a year old. It did see a couple of good tuna bouts but the drag washers on don't seem all that different(visualy) than the newer ones. Thanks for any advice.........
Dennis

[lemaymiami]

All of the Penn Spinfisher reels use HT100 drag washers that come from the factory dry. That's how Penn uses them and that's how I've installed them for years until recently. There's a reel guru on another website, thehulltruth.com who's turned me on to using them in conjunction with Shimano drag grease. If you go to that site, look for the board that features reel info, then look for any posts by "Alantani". He's very good, and gives detailed instructions on various modifications and problem solving techniques for most reels. The trick about using the HT100 washers in conjunction with the Shimano drag grease (any shop that repairs Shimano reels probably stocks the stuff, it's listed just as I've named it) really works. My heavy spinners are used to take fish up to as much as 300lbs, usually sharks, sawfish, and the occasional jewfish (most bigger jewfish have no problem tearing up your gear, our biggest to the boat for a photo and release is only 150...). The greased drags have held up really well. Give them a try. They also help deal with the inevitable corrosion problems that usually plague Penn spinning reel drag systems...

[RogerStg]

I'm with lemay on this. I've been using the shimano drag grease on HT-100s all season and I have not had a drag failure or sticky drag yet. The 9500 has the drag on the underneath of the spool so it is pretty well protected from water. You don't really need it there, but I greased mine anyway.

That grease is great on reels like the 704z, which is on top of the spool and subject ot water intrusion. It seems to protect them form splashing and periodic dunking. I suggest using HT-100s in place of the teflon washers in these systems if you grease them.