takin off old pistol grip

[Maxximus Redneckus]

I have a few ugly stiks with the pistol grip but i want to put a exposed cork pistol grip on these .How do i take off the old one and can i use gorilla glue to set the new ones????  

[snapperd1]

The short answer is cut them off.  I have used a Dremel tool with cut off wheel in the past.  The bad news is the best way to install the new one is going to reguire you to remove the guides as well.  Most handles are slid down the rod from the top not pushed on from the bottom.

Good luck,

TD

[Guest DavidGreen]

the_Conceited_ReDnEcK,

I have a few ugly stiks with the pistol grip but i want to put a exposed cork pistol grip on these .How do i take off the old one and can i use gorilla glue to set the new ones????

If you have no experience at this, I wouldn't even try.

If your still thinking of replacing the old grip and reel seat, your going to have to carefully cut the seat and grip off and clean up the blank. Then if you plan on replacing with a new preformed cork pistol grip, and an ECS (exposed casting seat). It gets even tougher.

To replace the reel seat you have to measure the blank at the position where it will be mounted, prep the blank, then order the right size seat (they are measured in MM), and fit it (light reaming), from the front of the rod blank (because of the blank taper). To accomplish this you have to remove the guides.

Once the reel seat is fitted and ready to be mounted, then you have to fit the pistol grip. Now many of the preformed pistol grips are mounted from the but end of the rod, unless you wish to finish drill the hole all the way through, and then you have to plug the butt end of the grip.

As for Gorilla glue I know nothing about this glue, if it is a waterproof epoxy it might work, but their are excellent rod building epoxies available through Cabela's rod building section of their site.

Good Luck.....

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Thanks reelmech sounds too much like work for me LOL i wish they made ugly stiks with a ERS and cork handles i know the ugly stik lites are cork and exoposed but they too have that twist grip wich i dont care for very much..Thanks much guys

[Tuffy]

Are there 2 piece pistol grip repair kits ?

In other words after you carefully remove the crummy seat that broke, is there a 2 piece seat that can be installed without removing guides and foam/cork ?

 

I have a mint St Croix that the back end of the seat broke... Common issue on the old Pro Graphite series...

 

I have nothing but time... I can fix it with the right parts...But removing guides and handle negates the value of the rod.

 

 

[MickD]

https://www.mudhole.com/Pistol-Grip-Casting-Handle-Kits

 

Whether this can be adapted to your rod or not, I don't know.  But it's worth a call to customer service to get their advice-Mudhole has great customer service . I recommend having the OD of the blank where it enters the current seat/grip when calling.

[S Hovanec]

You're not going to install exposed seats from the rear unless you install them on a larger sleeve that will fit over the butt of they blank.  Then you need to build up the blank so the seat/sleeve will tightly fit where required.

[J Francho]

Fourscore and 12 years ago...  Saint Croix does reel seat repair.  They rebuilt my Avid rod when the down-locking ring stripped out.

[Tuffy]

I thought about just installing a tennessee style handle with slip rings, but I do like the pistol grip..

I'll give St Croix a shout. I was a staffer from '88-94 , but most of my contacts, well the head builder Marcella, has long since retired.

[spoonplugger1]

It's a fallacy that a ERS reel seat is more sensitive, rods aren't a combination of individual parts, as you build and bond it up each piece becomes a part of the whole structure incorporating the same features as if you rolled it on the mandrel as a completed rod. That little exposed part doesn't transmit vibrations to your hand better than any other reelseat of like mass.

[MickD]

Unless I'm missing something, the only thing standing in the way of installing a seat and grip from the butt is if the seat ID is smaller than the blank butt OD.  Then it's got to be done from the front.

 

But if the seat/grip ID's (cork grips can easily be reamed to larger ID's)are larger than the butt OD then the blank taper can easily be accommodated with masking tape wraps on the blank thus providing a constant diameter just a bit larger than the seat ID.  If the tape wraps are totally encased in epoxy they will last forever and the structure will be fine.

 

That's why I suggested contacting Mudhole to find out what the ID of the seat is.

[Tim Kelly]

4 hours ago, MickD said:

Unless I'm missing something, the only thing standing in the way of installing a seat and grip from the butt is if the seat ID is smaller than the blank butt OD.  Then it's got to be done from the front.

 

But if the seat/grip ID's (cork grips can easily be reamed to larger ID's)are larger than the butt OD then the blank taper can easily be accommodated with masking tape wraps on the blank thus providing a constant diameter just a bit larger than the seat ID.  If the tape wraps are totally encased in epoxy they will last forever and the structure will be fine.

 

That's why I suggested contacting Mudhole to find out what the ID of the seat is.

That's fine for a lot of reel seats, but the original poster asked for an exposed reel seat, which is sized to fit at the position you want the seat on the blank, so it does need to be installed from the tip end. For a non exposed reel seat, you're absolutely right.

[MickD]

I didn't read it carefully enough-I thought he wanted a pistol grip.  Sorry for the confusion.  If there is a significant difference between the sensitivity of an exposed vs non-exposed reel seat, I'd be surprised, as Spoonplugger mentioned.  

[Lyman X]

Didn't realize how old this post was, but Gorilla glue is not the best option.