Reel Chronicles...

[FloridaFishinFool]

Here are two of them on ebay right now- both of them can be yours for $30.00 with free shipping!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-Shimano-B100Mag-Lo-Pro-Bass-Casting-Reels-Walleye-/232497633112?hash=item3621f05758:g:BuUAAOSwg6pZbNrT

The customer could have two working reels for what this one is costing to overhaul.

[LgMouthGambler]

This is probably the perfect thread for people to see as to why they shouldnt use your reel repair facitlity. 

[FloridaFishinFool]

We see thousands of reels every year. You don't.

We don't fix reels on our dining room table.

[LgMouthGambler]

Yeah, shops like yours are what keep me busy with modding and servicing reels. All the crap goes to you, while I get to pick and choose what to work on that makes me some extra coin. Ill stick to fixing them on my "dining room table". 

[FloridaFishinFool]

All the crap goes to us? Hardly. The money maker reels cost thousands. Heck, just to put line on some of them costs hundreds. 99.9999999999999999% of our customers are not on this forum or even know it exists since most of them are saltwater guys.

Most of the big dollar reels we work on here you will never see because they are too big for your dining room table.

[LgMouthGambler]

OK. Good luck to ya. 

[Bud Kennedy]

Fishing fool, Any business that chooses to treat their customers and their property with complete disdain is a sad state of affairs.  Although the reel might not mean anything to you it may mean a whole lot to the customer and it is not your place to pass judgement on their property.  If I want one of my old treasures refurbished or repaired it is my decision about how much I am willing to pay for that service.  I would think you would have a solid triage process that could inform the customer that the product is beyond repair and allow them to make the decision rather than tossing it around the shop just because you might think you are too good for them.  If your company does not want this kind of business then they should state that clearly and communicate it to the customer and let them decide on proper next steps.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I don't speak for the shop Bud, just me. I am just not in the mood for it right now is all. And it is my choice.

And often we can not determine if something is beyond repair at the front counter. That is often only determined once on the bench and a tech is in it.

And LMG is right about one thing, we do see a lot of crap since most of the reels are used in saltwater they are so eaten up with corrosion they are very difficult to work on. Quite often so corroded they break when trying to take them apart.

The bottom line is, and I have seen this most of my adult life working in the service end of things from sound systems to neon signs to reels, rods, whatever and especially electronics equipment I use to service... we are expected to fix it and most want it done for free or as cheaply as possible.

And if this does not create some cynicism I don't know what will.

[FloridaFishinFool]

My cynicism is well earned.

And so today... I have decided to hit the "quick fixes" only and then hit the road out of town for some RnR.

[SFL BassHunter]

This is probably the perfect thread for people to see as to why they shouldnt use your reel repair facitlity. 

I am personally glad you are the one that repairs and maintains my reels. I would hate to take it to some shop like the one FFF is describing.

[SFL BassHunter]

All the crap goes to us? Hardly. The money maker reels cost thousands. Heck, just to put line on some of them costs hundreds. 99.9999999999999999% of our customers are not on this forum or even know it exists since most of them are saltwater guys.

This reel is being handed over to the salaried part owner to do. I gotta stay focused on money makers for me and for the shop. Just the way it is...

Be glad that 99.9999999% of your customers aren't on this forum or you'd be losing customers left and right in my opinion.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Well at least we don't make a blanket statement that we do not work on any spinning reels like some do! I guess they deserve to lose business too!

I should be entitled to the honesty of my well developed opinion. With all the years it took to earn it I own it.

I just worked on a Okuma spinning reel. It is made of cheap chinese plastic junk- an IA 45. And the failure of the reel was due to the cheap chinese plastic junk it was made from that snapped in half rendering the entire reel worthless from one small plastic piece breaking. Its junk. And yes we will fix it and I just ordered the parts, but you know I call a spade a spade.

Can't blame me for what it is or why it failed. And if I choose to call it junk then I should be able to make that determination if I so choose. It is really not a big deal at all.

This thread is serving a purpose of showing what reels are made like, the good and the bad, and already helping some to choose better quality for their money.

So in that sense it is a good thing. I don't want to spend my money on junk, does anyone else?

So let me call junk junk when it is junk! 

[cojab]

FFF, your fully entitled to your opinion and you should be proud of your work but I'm not so sure your doing your company any favors in their customer service deptartment.

I do agree that this thread could be very beneficial but when you see such obvious bias its hard to take that persons word as gospel. Theres good and bad in every manufacture and when you blanket statement all of a particular brand as junk, well...........

[LgMouthGambler]

 

[SFL BassHunter]

FFF, your fully entitled to your opinion and you should be proud of your work but I'm not so sure your doing your company any favors in their customer service deptartment.

I do agree that this thread could be very beneficial but when you see such obvious bias its hard to take that persons word as gospel. Theres good and bad in every manufacture and when you blanket statement all of a particular brand as junk, well...........

X2

[FloridaFishinFool]

FFF, your fully entitled to your opinion and you should be proud of your work but I'm not so sure your doing your company any favors in their customer service deptartment.

Interesting you should say that because I don't deal with any customers. I am only paid to pick things up and put them together. That's it. I don't answer the phone and I do not deal with customers at the front counter. We are not paid for any of that so the reel techs avoid all that.

There is a backroom where most of the work takes place and there are several of us who stay back there and do one monotonous job over and over and over. And we do it well or we would not be doing it. It can be a boring repetitious and tedious job at times.

And I go out of my way to make sure the reels I work on are in tip top shape. My reels don't come back. I will do things to a reel other techs might let slide.

And I don't think I label all of one brand as bad because of one bad reel. I try and be specific to the reel being shown like this one:

Problem: broken bail just flops around.





The above is an Okuma IA-45, another reel I would not  spend two cents on to buy to own and use nor, to repair. It is simply not worth it to me- but that is just me. If someone wants to pay big bucks to fix something cheap that is AOK too- its their money. But for me the reels are impersonal inanimate objects and I never see or know the customers. We have to crank out a lot of reels especially during high demand fishing season.

Another thing is that once reels are put back together we pass them around to other techs to examine as a quality control measure. So before a reel is judged as finished at least 3 or more people are examining it and making their own determinations as to whether or not the reel is ready to be passed on to the front office for return to customers or whether or not it needs more work. We rely on each other for this so that everyone is satisfied with the quality of work going out.

Shown in the image is a broken bail spring cover. A small tab that snaps into the rotor broke off and this allowed the bottom of it to separate from the rotor and you can see how bent and damaged the spring is.

It does not take much of a hit on this rotor to render this reel completely useless. Just think, that small tiny little speck of plastic that broke off of this bail spring cover is all it takes to completely destroy this reel.

This is a design flaw and materials flaw. All Okuma had to do here was to either increase the tab size and strength and rather than a snap in, it could have been an insert tab, or they could have used a screw like most other companies do.

So we have here another cheaply made reel failing for something any engineering student could have done better.

Point being... put your money on higher quality engineering and higher quality materials. Avoid the Okuma IA-45 or this failure could very well be coming...  I would judge this one as cheap plastic junk with 10 ball bearings! Whoopie.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Just found this on aliexpress for the Okuma IA-45:

We are okuma agent in China. that is why we could provide very reasonable price for all buyer from all of the world. we will provide much lower price for big order quantities.

OKUMA Inspira IA-45 Palm Size Spinning Reel Free Spool IA-45
BRAND NEW -- IN THE ORIGINAL BOX!

Can be yours for only $87.37 per piece!


Inspira Features   
- Multi-disk Japanese oiled felt drag washers
- 9 stainless steel HPB ball bearings
- 1 Quick-Set Anti-Reverse roller bearing
- Precision machine cut brass pinion gear
- ALC : Rigid diecast aluminum frame
- Patented Elliptical Oscillation System
- Spare matching aluminum and ported spool
- Rigid forged aluminum handle design
- Hydro Block water tight drag seal


They forgot the part about the el cheapo plastic bail spring cover that breaks easily destroying entire reel!

Now let's see if Okuma will even have the parts we need to fix this reel. We have had trouble getting parts from them in the past so who knows...

[cojab]

Interesting you should say that because I don't deal with any customers. I am only paid to pick things up and put them together.

Sounds like you have everything well under control. Carry on sir.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Sounds like you have everything well under control. Carry on sir.

I pick things up. I put things down. I stole it from the classic old commercial.

You know, it is what it is...

Guess I am not the Kum Bah Ya type. 

[Oldfart9999]

I think you all should pick up pellet pistols, stand back to back, step off ten paces and fire.
Rodney

[cojab]

I think you all should pick up pellet pistols, stand back to back, step off ten paces and fire.
Rodney

Your absolutely right OF.
I really need to learn to leave well enough alone.



But........I am a pretty good pistol shot!

[FloridaFishinFool]

Me too!

I got a PM this afternoon saying that I write about the reels that fail all the time but don't mention those that seem to work forever.

He also asked if there were any Daiwa reels that I do like. And there is one.

It is a 2000/2001 Team Daiwa spinning reel model 3500CU.

This spinning reel is built like a tank and is presently the only Daiwa reel I use on a regular basis. I can honestly say this is one awesome spinning reel. I bought mine used in a pawn shop on a rod for under $20.00 in near mint condition. I overhauled it several years ago and upgraded the drag washers and may have added a ball bearing or two and it is still running strong and smooth to this day.

And I have to say I love this reel every bit as much as I do my Shimano stradics and sustain reels.

So if you can find one of these old Team Daiwa reels and can overhaul it yourself, then this is the one to have... extremely reliable and a work of art too!







In the following schematic for this reel, one thing to notice is that the pinion gear is supported by not one, not two, but three ball bearings! In the front is bearing #34, and in the middle is the AR needle bearing #38, and in the rear is bearing #41.

This type of bearing support for the rotor provides an extremely stable rotation without wobble. And, the front and rear bearing prevent any angular wear on the AR bearing that translates into a reel that lasts longer without significant wear or noticeable loosening of the rotor.

Another nice feature of this reel is the oscillation worm gear. This is the same type as found in some of Shimano's high end reels.

Daiwa built a very nice and smooth reel here as well as extremely reliable over many years...

[FloridaFishinFool]

Hmmmm... I am guessing I am the only member here with one of these Team Daiwa 3500CU reels??? I took mine out today and was amazed at how smooth and effortless it was to use. Daiwa hit a home run with this one!

Today I got a Quantum KVD signature series reel on the bench. It cranked OK, but I could not push down the cast button. It was stuck. So I began taking it apart and I found that the pinion bearing had rusted up and the pinion gear itself was literally glued to the bearing and stuck in place in it.

And apparently due to the design of this reel, it is a common problem since I found a second reel in our pile of junk reels with the exact same problem...





Well, upon opening it up and finding it with the pinion stuck in the bearing, I had to remove the bearing retainer clip and you know at my age I have to wear magnifying glasses to see things close up, so I guess I did not have my finger on the clip very good when I popped out the second side of it and it sprung out of the reel to where I have no idea. So I had to go dig around in the old junk reel boxes in the backroom to find a similar Quantum reel from which I could take the bearing clip from it to replace the one I had just lost.

And what did I find? I found another exact same reel, but not a KVD signature reel, with the exact same problem of the pinion gear frozen in place inside the pinion bearing rusted really badly...



Just look at that rusty old bearing in there! That is the problem...



You can see where I slightly sanded down the pinion gear on the left to give it more clearance to slide in and out of the pinion gear bearing with each cast. This is a place where you do not want it to hang up at all. And add a little grease here when putting it back together.



So the quick fix for this one was to free up the pinion gear, sand it down just little bit where it is suppose to slide in and out of the pinion bearing to give it a little bit of space so it could slide in and out easily with each cast. And I replaced the pinion bearing and put it back together and it worked like new again.

I almost considered replacing the drag star from an older Quantum reel made of metal to replace the cheap plastic drag star on the KVD signature reel I was working on, but didn't. That is a junk reel behind the red KVD reel I was working on...

[FloridaFishinFool]

Here is another quick fix I got into today that turned into a complete tear down and rebuild simply because the person who owns this reels thought he was qualified to do it himself at home and well he failed big time so let's take a look at how...

Shimano Sienna 2500FD spinning reel.

First of all, the problem I saw written on the ticket said AR failed so fix it. OK. Let's take a look and see... and upon removing the rotor I noticed three problems right off...

1)The AR bearing was not seated down on the reel correctly. I noticed one side was raised up.
2)I saw rust.
3)I saw the inner race of the AR bearing was upside down the AR would not work if the thin side was in the needle bearings. The thick side has to be up inside the needle bearing to work.



Taking a closer look at the AR bearing itself, this is what I saw- np AR switch slot visible! Not right. Someone has been in this reel messing it up!



Now here it is side by side with another Shimano AR bearing, though larger, the AR switch selector slot is clearly visible on the larger AR bearing but not visible on the smaller AR bearing.



Conclusion: reel owner has been inside of this reel, disassembled this AR bearing and put it back together incorrectly.

And now here I am tearing the AR bearing completely apart and finding rusty needle bearings, but not bad enough to have to replace. So I sanded them all clean and removed the rust before putting it back together correctly.

***Notice the springs in this AR bearing? Notice how they are in the bearing because they have to be put back exactly as shown...



And now that I am all the way into the AR bearing, this is how I found it. The lower black bearing support was reinstalled by the owner of this reel 180 degree backwards with the switch slot on the other side of the AR bearing where it could not possibly work.

***And don't lose any of those springs or else! And make sure you put them back in the correct order and polarity too!



And now here it is turned around correctly so the switch slot is now on the same side as the opening in the AR bearing housing so now I can begin to reassemble the AR bearing...



Now you can see the AR on/off switch slot is where it should be:



Ah yes, now here we have a correctly reassembled AR bearing ready for reinstallation into the reel.



Case closed. Well, almost... with this particular reel I am now going to reveal a secret even the owner of this reel did not know... Shimano now requires the drive gear and oscillation gear to be aligned before closing up the reel. Each gear has a triangle shaped arrow on it which is needed to align one gear with the other or else the reel will not operate smoothly.

So here is a link to the schematic of this reel which shows very clearly in the box how to align the gears before closing up this reel. Learn this shimano secret or stay out of your shimano spinning reels!



And leave the AR bearings alone! No one needs to tear them apart! Most are cleaned and lubed without taking them apart! Learn the secrets before destroying a reel! But hey, it keeps us in business!

Problems like this are just too dam easy.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Not disappointed. Started reading from the top, and in five minutes I was learning about worn out titties!