Swap Hardy pawls into a Leland Classic Drift fly reel?

Para_Adams

Para_Adams

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Does anyone on this board have experience with swapping Hardy pawls into other click and pawl fly reels? I have a couple Leland Co. Classic Drift fly reels, and they are very classic looking on my bamboo rods. I'd rate their construction quality about an 8 or 9 out of 10. They don't match the feel of a Hardy. But that raises the question of whether I could find and swap into the Leland a couple quality Hardy pawls which might bring these reels up to a 9.5/10 and make them very sweet. Thoughts and advice are welcome!

[url=https://postimg.cc/jwLZXCb3][/URL]
[url=https://postimg.cc/RJCh9Dm6][/URL]
 
Para_Adams said:
Does anyone on this board have experience with swapping Hardy pawls into other click and pawl fly reels? I have a couple Leland Co. Classic Drift fly reels, and they are very classic looking on my bamboo rods. I'd rate their construction quality about an 8 or 9 out of 10. They don't match the feel of a Hardy. But that raises the question of whether I could find and swap into the Leland a couple quality Hardy pawls which might bring these reels up to a 9.5/10 and make them very sweet. Thoughts and advice are welcome!

[url=https://postimg.cc/jwLZXCb3][/URL]
[url=https://postimg.cc/RJCh9Dm6][/URL]
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I’ve put a hardy pawl into a heddon imperial before. The pawl was too thick and I had to sand it down for it too fit so that dimension might be something to check.
That reel is probably a direct knockoff and you could swap out the springs as well for an upgrade.
 
What is different about the feel? If it is that the click is too loud and rough, that can be often fixed by slightly rounding the edge of the pawl with some sandpaper. The pawls are probably pretty much identical, but Hardy might use a tumbler on theirs to smooth the edges.
 
From what I’ve seen, swapping Hardy pawls into other click-and-pawl reels isn’t always a straight fit. Hardy parts are made to pretty tight specs, so the angles and thickness of the pawl and spring may not line up the same in a Leland reel. Your Leland reels look well-built for a fishing reel, but the click feel mostly comes from the geometry of the pawl and gear, not just the material. You might be able to make it work with a little filing or tuning, but it’s hit or miss. If you really want a smoother or sharper Hardy-style click, you might have better luck polishing the existing pawls and checking the spring tension before trying to swap parts. It saves you from forcing something that may not seat properly.
 
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I've put Hardy springs and pawls into several of the Hardy clones, like the Heddon, Eagle Claw, Berkley, Roddy, etc all made in Japan by Olympic/Seiko. Most of them were plug and play if you got the right size. A pawl for a St. Aidan is bigger than a pawl for a Flyweight.
Same with springs. So if you get the springs and pawls for a similar sized Hardy compared to your Leland it should work. Lelands are a bit skinnier than Hardys, but are essentially a modern Hardy clone.

This guy has lots of parts. https://www.mikesreelrepair.com/ree...Pr4MjJDOmIIiKSc1Qz9j6Iz_yZaUUBEMv&zCountry=US

Good luck!
 
skyriver said:
I've put Hardy springs and pawls into several of the Hardy clones, like the Heddon, Eagle Claw, Berkley, Roddy, etc all made in Japan by Olympic/Seiko. Most of them were plug and play if you got the right size. A pawl for a St. Aidan is bigger than a pawl for a Flyweight.
Same with springs. So if you get the springs and pawls for a similar sized Hardy compared to your Leland it should work. Lelands are a bit skinnier than Hardys, but are essentially a modern Hardy clone.

This guy has lots of parts. https://www.mikesreelrepair.com/ree...Pr4MjJDOmIIiKSc1Qz9j6Iz_yZaUUBEMv&zCountry=US

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Awesome link, thank you!
 
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