Reel Chronicles...

[FloridaFishinFool]

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

Hate those worn out titties! Chewed up to the max! Gotta trade 'em in for a new pair! Some perks that are NASA approved no doubt! Missles! Pointed to the sky and beyond! Careful there or they might poke your eyes out! 

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Probably the best post I'll read all week!

Now, I'm leaning towards a Curado or Tatula as my next reel. One thing I know I want for sure is a stronger frame. I'm pretty sure that's what lead to the death of my Black Max.
But then I see the plastic worm gear and pawls. Yeah, I think I'd prefer metal. Even aluminum rather than plastic.
It'll never see saltwater.

Not sure which model or sub model is right for me.

[FloridaFishinFool]

You know, like a good pair of "perkies" try them both! Try a Curado K and a Daiwa whatever... people gravitate to what feels right for them.

One day try yourself a Shimano DC. Nothing out there like it. Kind of cool having an electronic brain figure out anti-backlash braking for you rather than leaving it up to centrifugal force and rpm's. DC reels are bad to the bone! Sure beats a worn out pair! Well, you know what I mean! 

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Lol, maybe I should mention my budget will be <$200.
Which also precludes trying them both.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Then you have a dilemma! Which to choose? I won't try and influence you one way or another. Reel preference is something each person has to decide for their self. But do let us know which way you go...

And to those who service their Shimano spinning reels at home,  on some spinning reels, Shimano has designed in a gear alignment requirement as shown below:

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Well that's kind of why I shared that!

Here's the "reel" dillema:
They're both great for my price range, right?
Both come in different sizes, sub models, and have very closely related sister models, right?

What I'm wanting, in order of importance is...
Durability first and foremost.
Well heck, that's really the biggest concern.
Ease of use is important, but I'm sure all of them in those lineups and price range are easy to use compared to what I'm accustomed to.

You know I'm an Ambassadeur fanboy. Hard core, to the bone. Built like tanks, dead simple to use and maintain, a lot like pretty much everything I own. Those are the kind of qualities I'm looking for, except the fact that Ambassadeurs can be finicky and are no doubt unforgiving. Oh, and size. That's one of the biggest things I like about modern low profile reels vs my old round reels. I have small hands and arthritis, wore size small work gloves until I trashed my left hand in a bike wreck. Probably the only reason I get along with big reels is because it's what I started with. Folks have learned not to stand in front of or behind me when I'm swinging a hammer, cause there's no telling if/when it could go flying. I don't use glassware anymore, because drinks sometimes have a tendency to randomly hit the floor. This is also why I had to wrap my rod handle in hemp, men with normal sized hands that haven't seen quite the abuse that mine have would probably have no problem, but as soon as my cork handle started wearing a little smooth, I just couldn't keep a grip on it.

Ease of maintenance not so much a concern. I have no qualms tearing into an Ambassadeur or any gun I've ever come across. But I've tried to repair a couple of clocks, and one thing I've noticed with my not so dearly departed Black Max, the older Daiwa I have, and my new to me pawn shop Shimano is that they're kind of like clocks in one regard: lot of very small parts that require a fine and steady hand to tear down and reassemble. I can do it, but it's difficult enough that if I invest in a better reel I'll be outsourcing that sort of work. Probably to one of you guys, since my local reel repair man really isn't much better off than I am! I'm a 33 year old Marine combat vet who's worked with my hands all my life, he's an 80 year old Marine combat vet who's done the same. Plus he has fingers like kielbasa sausages.

By the way, that kerosene you smelled on those two reels that were repaired in Orlando? Possibly Hoppes' bore cleaner. I've used it from time to time to clean the metal parts in my Ambassadeurs, but you have to clean that off thoroughly and thoroughly relube everything. Kerosene is one of the main ingredients, and I'm sure you know kerosene is an awesome cleaning solvent, but there are other ingredients in it that will eat brass for dinner and it's not always friendly towards synthetic materials. Brass and bronze gears and bushings will acquire a nice, rough and dry green patina. It actually interacts more with the copper content in brass and bronze, it's main purpose being to dissolve powder and copper fouling in barrel bores.
So if you didn't THOROUGHLY remove it and neutralize it with something else, those reels are probably irreparable trash by now, or will be soon.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Well those Kerosene reels have not come back- yet. So that is a good thing.

As for reel reliability, I would give the Shimano the edge on that one. I am still using an old Curado that is now about 25 years old and still as smooth as nice to use as when it was new.

I'll stay away from commenting on those abu's you like. We have discussed that before... and it looks like both of our opinions are pretty much set in stone on those reels.

[FloridaFishinFool]

First reel across the workbench this morning was a Bass Pro Carbonlite reel, I think it was a CL10H.

Not a bad little reel. A typical Bass Pro creation... it did have an aluminum frame so that was a plus. And it also had dual braking- magnetic and centrifugal brakes. And it had ball bearings in the grips too which is not a big deal really. Some like them, some don't care.

So at first I thought this was suppose to just be a quick fix, but then my boss said a C&L, and I can see that was noted on the ticket too. But the problem it came in with was noted as a casting problem. I tried operating the reel and noticed another distinct problem reeling it. It was fine to a point and then got tight and was difficult to reel but it did keep going and then got easy to use again. I found that peculiar so I began my regular tear down of it.

The first thing I noticed was the owner had removed the handle himself and put it back on and got the handle nut cross threaded and he tightened it down that way damaging some of the drive shaft threads.

Well here is the first problem I came across that explained why the reel got tight in one spot...





This reel had about 1.5 inches of braid line wrapped around the line guide worm gear wrapped tightly down in the worm gear groove the pawl tracks in.

Here it is removed...



And I can tell the owner of this reel knew he wrapped braid line around the worm gear because he scratched up the inside of the frame trying to remove most of it himself:



Another issue I noticed is the cast mode trip lever was worn down some, but nothing close to how bad the Daiwa was mentioned earlier in this thread. At least with this BP reel the part is made from molded quality metal and not cheap pot metal and even though worn, is still in good usable shape. I will take a small file and clean it up some before putting it back into this reel.

This one will last many more years to come...



The aluminum gear in this reel is nicely done, but the drag washers are some real cheapo plastic cardboard type punched out of a sheet of this stuff. The washer under the main drive gear was stuck onto the drive gear and when removed it left behind some of the surface of the drag washer still stuck on the drive gear which I cleaned up before reusing:







The casting problem was nothing more than one of the three spool bearings had gotten crunchy from rust and was preventing good casts. So all three bearings were cleaned and lubed and high speed spun checked before putting them back into the reel. Now it will cast as well as when new or maybe even a little better since the grease was removed from the bearings and a lightweight oil was used instead.

Oh, and there was one other issue slowing down the cast of this reel. The grease BP uses in this reel was thick as glue. And it was gobbed onto the pinion gear literally gluing it to the clutch bar. So I removed all the old hardened thick sticky grease and replaced it with new grease and freed up the pinion gear quite a bit.

And now she is ready to rock again!



My personal opinion of this reel... it is an OK reel. I have used reels like this one in the past like my old Johnny Morris signature series BP reels, and my old Rick Clunn signature BP reels, and my Browning reels are all almost identical to this one with the exception of the ones I used are more top of the line BP reels and had brass gears and triple carbon fiber drag washers, but everything else is basically the same as this one.

So not a bad reel, but not a technology advancement by any means. Just the same old same old BP reel made lighter with an aluminum main drive gear and has a cheaper drag washer setup.

Another issue I have with this reel and my other 3 I still have in a pile somewhere is that on the spools are six brake shoes that are spring loaded which means they are harder to get activated having to overcome the spring in order to touch the drum, and because of the spring they are quicker to be pulled off the drum as the spool slows down.

I use to remove the springs from some of the brake shoes so this did not happen in some of my reels. I modified how the centrifugal brakes operated, but today I have just simply moved away from this type of design and now prefer the newest Shimano braking that does not have springs controlling the brake shoe. My curados also do not have magnetic brakes like this one does.

I'm not saying any of this is bad, just that I have moved on from this type of reel two fishing seasons ago. But you know, take care of these BP reels and they are very reliable and will last for years.

[FloridaFishinFool]

This next reel I chose to work on today was in the quick fix box. So that means I am only suppose to fix only what is broken and nothing more. But as usual I go above and beyond because on this one it was very necessary.

This reel was a Quantum Snapshot LS-30 spinning reel. It came in with the request to simply fix the AR. I tried reeling with it and could barely turn it. It was noisy and bearings all crunchy.

So I knew I had to go inside the body of this reel to replace one or more bearings to get this reel turning again. And I found it was so badly rusted up I had great difficulty in taking it apart. The following images show how extensive the rust was:


This left side of main drive gear bearing is where the rotation problem was. That bearing was darn near frozen up solid from all the rust and had to be replaced to free up this reel

The following image shows how it looked when taken apart. Rust in the oil just flowing out everywhere.


Even the stainless steel shaft was pitted and needing a light sanding:



The next image shows this reel use to be one of those quickfire trigger reels, but the owner removed all of that from the rotor throwing it badly out of balance and now wobbles when reeled fast.





But here is where the problem was... the AR simply stopped working.



The following lever was frozen onto the pivot. Basically this reel had been used for years in saltwater and so it was excessively corroded and oxidized and that caused this lever to stop moving.



And so for a quick fix on this reel, the lever shown above I had to sand the oxidation off the inside of the hole and sand the pivot so this part could freely move and rotate, and that small spring needed more umph to it so I had to bend the spring in a couple of places so it had more force to move this lever into place when needed.

I also replaced some bearings in this reel, cleaned the oil out of it and replaced with grease and reassembled it.

***Don't put oil inside a spinning reel!

My opinion of this reel is it is junk.

[LgMouthGambler]

Its funny you mention your dislike for the Abu reels, but liked your old BPS reels. I would tell you that they are made by the same company, but im sure you already knew that. Lol.

<")))>{

[FloridaFishinFool]

You don't have a point here.

It does not matter if they are made in the same place or same company. That is irrelevant and does not bring anything to the table. The difference is in reel design and function.

I don't like reels that make the line guide go back and forth during a cast. And I also don't like how cheap the aluminum side plates are on the abu which bend and distort way too easily. I have no use for abu round reels any more, but I can get more use out of the other reels mentioned.

So what was your point?

[LgMouthGambler]

You don't have a point here.

It does not matter if they are made in the same place or same company. That is irrelevant and does not bring anything to the table. The difference is in reel design and function.

I don't like reels that make the line guide go back and forth during a cast. And I also don't like how cheap the aluminum side plates are on the abu which bend and distort way too easily. I have no use for abu round reels any more, but I can get more use out of the other reels mentioned.

So what was your point?

Point is, they are made by the same company and same materials and parts. So the fact that you dont understand that and think one is better than the other is quite humerus. They both come from a Korean OEM called Doyo. So yeah, I do have a point. Lol.

<")))>{

[FloridaFishinFool]

Point is, they are made by the same company and same materials and parts. So the fact that you dont understand that and think one is better than the other is quite humerus. They both come from a Korean OEM called Doyo. So yeah, I do have a point. Lol.

<")))>{

How can you sit there and say they are made of the same materials when the abu clearly has aluminum side plates and BP reels have plastic side plates.

You have no point and are not contributing to the overall usefulness of a forum created for sharing information, not BS.

[LgMouthGambler]

How can you sit there and say they are made of the same materials when the abu clearly has aluminum side plates and BP reels have plastic side plates.

You have no point and are not contributing to the overall usefulness of a forum created for sharing information, not BS.

Depends on the models. They are both made by Doyo. You clearly know nothing about reels. Maybe you should ask one of your techs while you juggle around customers reels that paid money for you to repair their reels, but you feel you are too good for Woking on their junk.

<")))>{

[Oldfart9999]

Quit picking on my BPS reels, they're what I can afford and you're giving me a complex!!!
Rodney

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Ambassadeur reels, the design is obsolete, even I won't deny that.
Muscle cars from the 60's and early 70's are obsolete too, but I'd still take a '69 Chevelle SS 396, even in pretty rough condition, over a brand spankin new Corvette any day of the week and twice on Sunday.


My Ambassadeurs were made in Sweden. I personally won't own any of the newer ones made in Korea. You can tell the difference in quality almost as soon as you touch them. They simply just feel cheaper. I noticed this before I even learned they were being made in Korea. Hell, Connie noticed it. She picked one up in BP and immediately said "This isn't like yours."
"Whatcha talkin bout? They're the exact same thing. Actually, that one should be a lot nicer."
I held it for about 3 seconds and my stomach turned. I was disappointed.

[FloridaFishinFool]

We recently got three of them in that had been used in saltwater and the big discussion was should we even bother with them??? Everything was so corroded up they were at a point where everything had to be replaced and it would be better to just replace them and move on...

Reels do reach a point of no return... and the cheaper they are made the quicker that point gets.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Quit picking on my BPS reels, they're what I can afford and you're giving me a complex!!!
Rodney

Rodney I actually liked my old BP reels. I still have 3 of them including one top of the line Johnny Morris I just have not let go of even though I no longer use it, it is a decent reel and built to last for the most part. I have never had one break on me, but I have seen some come through the shop people seem to break some how.

The ones I used to concentrate on were the Rick Clunn reels. I could get those real cheap off ebay and then upgrade them internally with the Johnny Morris gears and triple carbon fiber drag washers and up the speed.

I sold them all off to my local fishing buddies who are still using them to this day without problems too. That says something.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

It's dead easy to set up an Ambassadeur for salt water and a child can maintain them at home. I know because I was a child when I learned how. That's not a problem with the reel, that's a problem with the owners.
Good grease, grease the screws, add plastic washers to the screws, rinse, clean and lube after each trip if it's a once or twice yearly charter fishing trip. I know regular saltwater fishermen do a twice yearly maintenance.

I had a gun come to me, owner complaint was "constant malfunctions". Beretta M9, more specifically, failure to feed after the first round. Couldn't find a problem. It was pretty clean, properly lubricated, did have a few marks on the breech face from incessant stove pipes (where the next round from the magazine, or ejected casing gets jammed pointing straight up). There were also some very minor marks in the chamber from the rounds that would chamber. Owner did say the first rounds from the magizines chambered rough. Neither of these were bad enough that they should cause a problem, because the gun was so unreliable that the owner couldn't shoot it much. So I was looking for burrs on the feed ramp, breech face, chamber edges. Found none. Looked at the magazine springs, appeared new, nice and strong. Looked for burrs on the mag lips. Nope, nada, zilch, this was now a mystery malfunction.
Ran some ammo through it from my own stockpile. Not even a hiccup.
Called the owner, discussed a possible ammo related problem. Turns out he'd been using .380 ACP and 9mm Mak because he already had several boxes on hand and didn't see the need to spend money on actual 9X19 ammo. Both .380 and Mak have shorter casings, meaning the OAL of each are also shorter.
This, after he'd mentioned "I paid $500 for an unreliable gun!"
I get my range fodder 9mm ammo for $11 per box of 50.
I hung up the phone. He tried calling back several times. After a smoke and cup of coffee to calm me down, I answered and pretended my battery had died.
Told him to come get his gun and use the proper ammo in it.

Moral is, lots of times... hell, MOST times, it's the end user who's messed something up. You know this.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Moral is, lots of times... hell, MOST times, it's the end user who's messed something up. You know this.

See it all the time SHC. But for some reason most of them like paying someone to tell them something was wrong other than them! 

Hey SHC do you ever use lefties??? Or, are you a switch hitter casting with your right and then switching the rod over to your left hand to reel in on a righty?

I am just curious if you fish this way and had ever considered using a lefty and keeping the rod in the casting hand, or do you cast with your left arm?

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I've tried all different ways, casting with my right and then switching hands is just what works best for me, even more so now with both hands about crippled.
In my left, lots of nerve and tissue damage. Limited use of my fingers, lousy range of motion in most of them, very little strength, lot of times it simply won't do what I tell it to. It's like everyone's least favorite drunk friend, just does whatever the hell it wants no matter how much you try to make it see some reason. My right's not much better, has a bit more coordination and strength, and even lets me boss it around.

So, way I do it is; I cast, then place the rod in my left hand and use my right hand to wrap my left fingers around the grip. If I squeeze my left hand tight enough around the grip, I can mostly count on it staying there.

Can't squeeze the clutch on a motorcycle normally anymore either. Instead of reaching out with my fingers and pulling the lever back, I take my whole left hand off the bars, hook it downward in front of the lever and pull it to the rear with my palm. Then if I need to hold it there, like if sitting at a stoplight, I slightly adjust to hook my thumb behind the handlebar grip and hope like hell the rest of my hand doesn't suddenly decide to dump the clutch. Whenever I get another bike, I'm gonna see about reversing the clutch lever, where I can reach back with my thumb and push it forward, rather than rely on my fingers to hold it back.

[FloridaFishinFool]

SHC I am sorry to hear about your physical disabilities that affect many aspects of your life.

I am glad that you can still fish and do most of the things you want to do.

Keep on truckin' !

[FloridaFishinFool]

This comment is a general suggestion...

Today I got a reel on the workbench needing repairs and parts.

The problem is the owner did not say exactly what model reel it is and so on the ticket all it says is Abu Revo and nothing more.

All of the paint, graphics, and markings are worn off this reel. I have no idea what it is. As a guess we think it is a first generation Abu Revo S.

How am I suppose to identify part numbers if we can not determine precisely what model reel this is?

So my point is, keep a record of what reel models you have so when repairs are needed you can provide the correct information to repair facilities.

So to repair this reel, with no model number, and no part numbers, I had to manually search through parts boxes for matching parts.

A pain in the rear!

In my opinion this type of information should be the responsibility of the reel's owner.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

You're very much right on that point. I keep gun logs, recording make/model/serial, what generation of a particular model, rounds fired, ammo manufacturers and ammo lot numbers, accessories purchased for each, identifying markings, alterations, and maintenance performed.
I do also have all the info I can find for my reels, except my newest one, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Several reasons. First is exactly what you mentioned. My 44 mag is a second generation of a model that has 4 different iterations. Mine, my son's, and my dad's 22 rifles are all technically the same model. Except my dad's is a Western Auto Revelation model 120 with no serial number (made before serials were required) mine is a Glenfield 60 made in the 70's, and my son's is a 2016 Marlin Model 60. All the same rifle, but have a few differences a few of the parts.
Dad's also has an old Tasco scope, mine has a '72-'73 Weaver Classic 400, and my son's has some cheapo from Academy that seems on par with my Weaver.
Other reasons are that it helps me keep up with needed maintenance, and will help identify them in case of theft.

The most common jobs I do are cleanings and spring replacements. It's amazing to me, the number of rednecks round here that don't even know how to disassemble their firearms. Had an old Ithaca 1911 someone brought in several months ago. "Doesn't work". Quick look, filthy. Slide felt like it was stuck in a cold river of molasses. "When's the last time you cleaned it?"
"Yesterday!"
"Um... how do you clean it?"
Turns out he cleaned the bore of the barrel, not very well either, and would every now and then squirt some oil on it.
He had no idea how many rounds had been fired through it, and no idea how to even take it apart.
This turned out to be a Mil-surp gun made in the early 40's. The military is pretty notorious for "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Side note, that's what got me interested in working on guns, having to build springs from safety pins in the field for my machine gun while in Afghanistan.
A quick scrub revealed a few small parts that needed replacement, replaced all the springs, lubed it, and it was back to it's former glory of an old rattle trap warhorse.

[FloridaFishinFool]

SHC let me ask... when you work on a gun are you paid by the hour or by the job?

Working on reels we are paid by the job. Some are quick and easy and some take more time, but you know trying to research a reel to figure out what it is, is very time consuming.

And what makes it worse is that some brands do not put out info information on their websites or in literature to make identifications even possible on some of the reels. I got lucky yesterday that one reel technician actually recognized the reel from its physical shape and features which got us close enough to know what area of the parts bins to dig around in.

I am gonna have a little chat with our counter person about making sure to find out the correct information as they take in reels.