Regards a Silex Major; in normal use the handles are on the right, the casting brake lever is at the rear and there is a one-way ratchet so that when you wind in the reel is in free spool but immediately reverts to a ratchet if line is drawn off the reel. When the casting brake lever is lifted the ratchet disengages and it is possible to apply pressure to slow the spool down during the cast.
It is possible to change this orientation so that the handles are on the left and the reel works in the same way as it was originally intended. The modification takes a few minutes to do and the only difference is that the casting brake lever will be pointing to the front which for me is an advantage.
The process is to take the spool off then remove the three screws in the cog mechanism. Before doing this I would recommended to mark the retaining disc and the brass spool using a soft pencil so that on re-assembly you can orientate the three holes to their original position. I found that the holes were not exactly 120 degrees apart. I think the engineer's term is "A Gnat's" but if you get it wrong it could strip the threads.
Once the screws are removed, use a finger to retain the position of the parts whilst you invert the spool so the cog mechanism is on the lower side. Gently place the spool down on an A4 sheet of white paper and then carefully lift the main spool off the mechanism you have loosened. To change the reel to left hand wind you simply need to flip the cog and then re-assemble the parts so the shaft key (top left on the photo) is aligned in the same shape depression in the retaining flange (the depression can be seen at 10 O'Clock on the flange on the photo). The cog sits underneath the flange and is retained by it.
Lower the spool over the re-assembled parts and then trap them together with a finger and invert the spool so that the screws can be replaced once the marks are aligned. Put a spot of oil down the hole in the flange and everything should run sweetly.
Other modifications are possible. The reel has a casting brake that applies a gentle pressure to a brass spool inside the main spool via a small felt pad brake block. The lever that you apply to slow the reel is connected to the brake mechanism via a spring so you cannot apply direct pressure. How much pressure you can employ depends on what setting the brake control is on. This regulates the length of travel of the casting brake. There isn't enough pressure to make much impression on a running fish and the full cage construction makes it difficult to palm the reel to slow a fish. It is either light drag applied by your thumb on the rim or the simple ratchet drag.
The felt brake block can be removed by picking at it using whatever tools come to hand. Those things you use for baiting hair rigs with boilies are useful as are small screw drivers and tweezers. It is a bit like dentistry. Once the felt is totally removed from the brass holder it can be replaced with something more robust like synthetic materials. Cork if you can find a good grade that won't disintegrate is good. I tried a few things and ended up with a cork from a good bottle of wine. Some wine bottles are stopped by synthetic corks and others by a cork MDF composite, but good wine has good corks generally and can be cut accurately. The size of the pad can be made larger than the original felt pad by making the pad 'T' or mushroom shaped to give a greater surface area of contact. Do not make the pad too proud of the holder though as that would interfere with the free spool casting. I have trimmed back the one in the photograph as there wasn't enough gap between free spool and light drag. Better men than me will be able to accurately calculate the size required. I use trial and error. The cork block is glued in place using rubber glue as used on bicycle inner tube repairs.
Once the pad has been upgraded the next step is to make a spring limiter. I used pike wire trace and crimps and threaded the wire through the same holes used to secure the spring. This allows the brake to operate as per spec' until the spring reaches the same length as the wire at which point you can apply direct pressure to the spool using your new brake pad. I estimate that my reel now applies at least 2lb pressure on the drag whereas before it might have been 4 or 5 ounces. Again, trial and error was used to obtain the optimum length of wire. It is all about making the reel right for your purpose.
With these modifications the reel is now LHW with a free spool retrieve and an automatic ratchet on the reverse. By lifting the brake lever slightly the ratchet disengages and the reel is free spool both ways for casting. Apply more pressure and the brake is applied gradually at first and then as you lift the lever to its maximum travel the spool is more heavily braked, a casting brake come fighting drag. The braking force that can be applied is more than is good for a Mk. 4 Carp Rod so you can cut it back a bit to suit your own needs.
I don't know whether these modifications will work with other Silex models than the Silex Major and I dread to think what James Dodd would make of them.
