Black Betty 6061 Quick Fix

If you’re like me, you were ecstatic to get your hands on a Black Betty 6061 reel this season. I ordered 2 from Dean at Skeeter boat center. One of them for me, and one for a friend. I took one out of the packaging and started trying out all of the features. I discovered a problem with one, and in the following paragraphs I detail how I remedied said problem. I am not recommending that everyone tears apart their reels to try and fix them. From what I have read, 13 Fishing has an excellent customer service program and would be more than willing to help you with your problem. I knew full well that I might be voiding any sort of warranty by tearing into this reel. This post is meant to help those of you out there like me who like to tinker, and instead of mailing something in, would rather fix it themselves. Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the inner workings of this reel. The part numbers in parenthesis are referring to the BB 6061 assembly drawing included with the reel. I’ve also included pictures that are referred to in numerical order.

I depressed the locking screw (45) to engage the free spool feature and then engaged the handle to stop the spool (43), there was a clicking sound prior to the spool being engaged again. This was concerning, but I thought that maybe this was normal for the reel. So, I opened the second reel that I received and tried the same thing, but after I depressed the free spool button, the clicking sound wasn’t there when I turned the handle to engaging the spool. I was debating on which reel to send to my buddy, and I decided that I would investigate to see what was going on inside this reel, before sending him the noisy one. I get a $100 dollar ice reel and the first thing I do is tear it apart.

When I tore the reel open, I couldn’t pinpoint where the clicking noise what coming from. So, I took the second reel apart. After comparing the two reels I noticed that the spring plate, which was referred to as the pinion gear spring (61) by the assembly drawing, was at a different angle on the noisy reel, and the pinion gear teeth were contacting it as it rotated. To remedy this I was going to remove the pinion gear spring and file off the edges. Fortunately I was unable to pry it off initially and I found a different solution that ended up being much faster and simpler.

The clicking was happening when the pinion gear teeth (47) were contacting the pinion gear spring (61) due to the angle of (61). To remedy this, I bent the left and right holder (56) forward by prying on the top of them with a screwdriver. By bending the arms of the left and right holder back, it pushed the fixed gear spring (62) farther back, centering it over the pinion gear spring (61). Once the pinion gear spring (61) was being depressed horizontally rather than at an angle, the pinion gear teeth (47) weren’t coming into contact with it anymore.

I then replaced any gear oil that I may have lost during the process with some sub zero gear oil and proceeded to put the reel back together. One of the three screws holding in the Inner Cap, (37) was cross threaded when I took the reel apart, so I left it out when putting it back together. The threads can be a bit touchy so make sure to have the screws lined up properly before tightening them. Also, don’t over tighten the locking screw (45) on the spool (43) when taking it on and off. I didn’t strip off all the threads, but I did take a few off.

The attached pictures provide somewhat of a visual guide to what I did to remove the clicking sound coming from my reel. And they could give you a glimpse at the inner working of this reel.

1.Basic tools needed to remedy the clicking, pretty simple stuff.
2.Inner workings of the BB 6061
3.This was the reel that I noticed the clicking noise. Notice the angle of the fixed pinion spring when the free spool button is engaged.
4.The reel that was working correctly. The fixed pinion spring is flat when the free spoon button is engaged.
5.When the pinion gear spring is depressed at an angle, the edge that is circled contacts the pinion gears as the handle is turned.
6.By prying on the left and right arms I was able to center the fixed gear spring making the pinion gear spring horizontal when the free spool button was engaged, thus eliminating the clicking noise.
7.My reel after I had bent the left and right holder back in place.
8.Then you can put your reel on your favorite TB rod and hit the hard water!

It was a pretty simple fix, and it saved me from having to mail it away to get fixed. I will be hitting the ice for the first time this weekend, and didn’t want to do it without my newest acquisition. Other than the clicking noise I am pleased with this reel. It is really light, the free spool feature is awesome, and it is very smooth. The negatives that I have found are when the instant anti-reverse is engaged the spool doesn’t stop on a dime.

Hope this helps, I really like the feel of this reel so far. I look forward to icing some fish with it in Northern Wisconsin this weekend if I can find some safe ice.

Thanks much!

As is often the case when a great new product comes to market there certain technical and quality control issues that occur in the rush to get the product out.

13-Fishing has great customer service but its a pain to have to send your New toy back in for repair when the ice is just getting good!

Another dilema solved by the great inter-web..

Thanks, just seeing the guts in that reel makes me want one, looks very well made

Why didn’t you just give the broken one to your friend?

Thanks just fixed mine,took about 1 minute.

What is the advantage of the free spool when ice fishing? I have never used a fly reel and I was intrigued by all the talk of this reel reducing line spin but now I am rethinking whether this is the right reel for me. I have played around with it quite a bit and have no quality issues with mine. I fish 90 percent of the time for gills, perch and crappies.

The following are a few of the advantages that I can think of while using a free spool feature on an inline ice reel.

1. It allows you to simply press a button instead of stripping off line manually. If there isn’t any ice on rod or line it should drop a jig as fast if not faster than a spinning reel. The spool spins very smoothly.
2. If your jig or spoon is heavy enough you could easily fish in 20+ feet of water. It should allow me to stay in the strike zone longer than having to strip line to get down to the deeper water fish. The multiplier will allow you to reel it up that much faster as well.
3. It also allows you to keep your drag set while fishing. When I used an inline reel without the free spool, to make stripping line easier on both my arm and the fishing line, I would loosen the drag all the way. There was a few times that I got a bite while the lure was dropping, and I wasn’t able to set my drag for a decent hook set.

Glad I was able to help at least one other person. It took me longer to write this post than to actually fix the problem. It probably takes longer to read it too.

Glad ya got your 6061 back in business. On a side note…has anybody tried this reel using a pencil/pistol grip? I handled a EC and the exposed spool on the right side interferes with the ability reel and let line out since rubs on the heel of my palm. I also have the same issue with the BB I got. Near as I can tell from pics and posts the EC and 6061 are very similar. I did contact Matt at 13 fishing inregards to the BB and he said they are aware of the issue. I suggested a replacement part for the line guide that would have another arm to come off the backside to support ones palm…he said that is exactly what they are in the process of fabricating. They are a proactive company with great customer service.

I pencil grip it, no issues for me yet but untill I get several hours with it on the ice instead of the couch….