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Conniek’s Reel Tips
and Techniques
Now days, anglers are interested in cleaning and maintaining
their own reels, changing out bearings, jazzing up the gears and
constantly pushing their reels to the edge of design. I hope you
will find the following information interesting and beneficial to
you in your quest to have a perfect fishing reel.
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This part stops handle from turning backwards. It is
either one of two types. The older reels (left) have a
anti-reverse dog that is mounted on a frame post and it
has 2 claws and it must straddle the drive shaft ratchet.
The other type (right) is called an Instant Anti-Reverse
(IAR) and it is mounted in the cranking side plate.
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- ABEC (Annular Bearing Engineering Committee)
Bearing manufacturers design and manufacture their
bearings to meet this standard. The number following the
ABEC the 1-3-5-7 indicates the tolerance of the bearing.
The higher the number, the tighter the tolerance. All
reel manufacturers have Precision Miniature Bearings in
their reels.
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- Bearing clip removal/installation
These are the retaining clips that hold bearings in
place. Usually Octagon shaped.
Removing a clip is fairly simple. Put your forefinger
over the bearing clip, use a pair of tweezers and grab
hold of the clip, slide tweezer ends toward the clip end
and pull end of clip in and lift out the clip. All the
while, keeping forefinger over the clip. Be careful, they
sometimes take on a life of their own.
Installing is just as easy. Put your forefinger over
bearing cavity, using tweezers install the back of the
bearing clip and one side and then slide the tweezer up
towards the free end of clip pull in and push down. It's
a done deal!
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- Bearing clips, E clips, and drag springwashers
The photos don't clearly show these parts so I wanted
to include a close-up. The bearing retaining clip is in
the upper left corner. Beside it is an E clip. On the
bottom, I'm holding some spring washers in the correct
orientation ( ). These are oversized for detail.
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Unfold a paper clip, bend one end at a right angle.
Now, you have a bearing puller. Insert right angle inside
the bearing and lift out. Paper clip makes a great tool.
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Position bearing over bearing cavity. Using forefinger
apply even pressure to seat the bearing. Never hit or use
heavy force to seat bearing. The tolerance between the
outside of bearing and the inside of the bearing cavity
is close.
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Cleanliness and care of bearings is very important.
Clean bearings in a bottle cap or small jar with Lighter
fluid or Acetone in it. Swish bearings around until
clean. Air dry on a towel. Spin on end of screwdriver to
ensure they are spinning freely. Apply one drop of oil
per bearing.
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It is not a good idea to use chemicals on reels and
this is why….The use of harsh chemicals such as
gasoline on plastic parts in reels may not show up until
later. The chemicals can corrode parts. Use of a
bio-degradable cleaner is highly recommended to clean
reels and parts.
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These are located in the palming side plate of reel
and inside the Cast Control Cap They may be round or
rectangular in shape. From time to time, they will get
dented due to the tightening of the Cast Control Cap
causing the spool shaft ends to indent the insulator.
Check them and turn them over so the smooth side will be
in contact with spool shaft ends. Apply one small drop of
oil to the insulator.
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They are actually called Drag Spring Washers. These
two washers should always be mounted ( ) one curved up
and one curved down. This is necessary for compression
when the star drag under the handle is tightened down.
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These clips are shaped like an E. Remove by
positioning your forefinger over them. Insert tip of open
tweezer into back of the E, pull out just a tad until
able to grab hold of the clip completely to remove it. Be
sure to hold finger over the clip until you got a good
bite on it with tweezers. Don't want you to wear out
knees of britches crawling around on floor looking for
those little suckers! Been there and done that!
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The application of grease is important. Grease should
be applied at the base of the gear teeth so when the
teeth of the gears mesh together, the grease is being
used as intended. Wiping the outside of gears with grease
will cause the grease to splatter inside of the reel and
all is lost. Grease with a good temperature rating is
preferred. Never use Vaseline.
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It is the piece at front of reel with an eyelet that
line is threaded from the reel spool to the rod. The line
guide travels from back and forth on the worm gear. It
holds the line guide pawl. Check for wear periodically
with a Q-Tip or some nylon pantyhose material.
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This small piece is mounted in the cavity on the line
guide and held in place by a cap. The pawl travels
between the flattened teeth of the worm gear. If pawl is
hanging up or stopping on one side of the reel, remove
and inspect it. Examine the sides looking for scratches
and gowges . The tips will be worn and not sharply
pointed. The worm gear may have burrs or scratches also
on the flattened teeth. Generally, it is a good idea to
replace both at the same time.
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If braided line on spool and the drag will not tighten
down and line is slipping on the spool, the solution to
this problem is to spool at least 10-15 yards of
monofilament line next to spool arbor, then tie the
braided line to the monofilament. A uni-uni knot works
well for this connection.
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Rocket Fuel oil is available in three viscosities. The
Tournament is very thin and used mostly by anglers in
Casting Contests and must be applied quite frequently.
Next , is the Yellow and is of medium viscosity and is
used by most of us anglers. It doesn't have to be applied
as often, Probably twice a season , depending on how much
reel is used. The last oil is the Red and is the thickest
and used by anglers wanting to slow down their reel.
Rocket Fuel possesses slightly adhesive qualities at the
start of the cast, yet is free running at end of cast. It
will not evaporate, so the reel bearings will not film
over, or have the oil in them turn to sludge. The oil
will not mix with water, has a wide temperature range. It
is not affected by any normal temperature differences and
due to its slightly adhesive qualities, it will not
easily be thrown off.
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This product is made by the Corrosion Technologies
folks. It is a new, high-tech, extreme pressure lubricant
that stops and prevents wear, corrosion and rust. It
contains no wax, tar, silicone, or other solids, so it
can't gum up. It outperforms all other lubricants,
displaces moisture and won't harm monofilament line.
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This oil is the new kid on the block! Working with
lubrication specialists, the engineers developed their
own lubrication called Quantum Hot Sauce. It has some
very unique properties not found in ordinary reel oils.
Its low viscosity allows for an extremely free rotation
of the crank handle and a lightning-fast Free Spool that
may scare you. Special additives cause the lubricant to
bond moleculary with the base metal providing superior
corrosion protection and a lubrication bond that
remains---permanently.
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As the handle is turned in the retrieve mode, the
pinion sets down on the spool shaft. If retrieve is
started prior to lure landing, the pinion doesn't get a
chance to seat on the spool shaft. After a period of
time, there will be a clatter click and that is the
pinion trying to seat on the spool shaft. The pinion
stops the spool rotation If pinion not seated, the fish
will be hauling off and you probably can't turn or stop
the get-away.
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Cleaning a reel isn't as difficult or scary as one
might think. Use a bio-degradeable cleaner and an old
cake pan, or your wife' new one will be fine.
Lay out strips of tape (masking tape will do) on table
and write numbers on tape every 2 inches or so. As you
remove a part, lay it by the number. For instance, the
first thing removed should be the nut cap screw on handle
nut cap. Lay the screw on number one, lay the nut cap on
number 2, lay the handle nut on 3. Continue until all
parts are removed. To re-install parts, start with the
highest number and do so until the last part mounted
which is the nut cap screw laying on the number one. It
is very important to jot down on piece of paper the
orientation of part if you don't have a schematic. I tell
all anglers to orient the reel the same way each time it
is picked up. Doing this allows you to install parts
correctly and will eliminate confusion of part
installation.
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These drag washers are comprised of a high-density
fiber material and silicone. The fiber draws off the heat
rapidly, and the silicone provides lubrication to
materials that reach very high temperatures. These drag
washers require no grease.
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Connie's e-mail -- reellady@peoplescom.net
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