Hey guys I have a calcutta 400b that I love. Im setting it up to pitch live bait to big snook and around structure. I have already changed out the drags to greased carbontex. I also switched out the paddle handle to a live bait handle. Im thinking about loading it up with 50# mamoi diamond braid. Its on a lamiglass tri flex 7030.
What else can I do to really beef up this reel? Would Boca bearing switch be worth doing? Any fragile parts in the reel I should switch out? Thank you
I don't fish the newer calcutta, still going strong with the original gold series. Other than your drags and power handle the next in line is replace the spool bushing with a bearing. If the 400b didn't already do that. I found that the plastic bushing that centers the spool into the bridge plate allowed just enough room that under extreme loads (kayak thrashers and yellow tail) that the shafts flexes and starts to chew up expensive gears. The addition of the bearing did solve that but interestingly enough reduced freespool as you now have three spool shafts bearings.
Other than that buy a back up level wind pawl, for the day will come that it's gonna fail under higher loads.
I still have a bunch of the bearings so if you want a few pm me your name and address.
Quote from: JRD on October 09, 2017, 11:42:06 PM
I don't fish the newer calcutta, still going strong with the original gold series. Other than your drags and power handle the next in line is replace the spool bushing with a bearing. If the 400b didn't already do that. I found that the plastic bushing that centers the spool into the bridge plate allowed just enough room that under extreme loads (kayak thrashers and yellow tail) that the shafts flexes and starts to chew up expensive gears. The addition of the bearing did solve that but interestingly enough reduced freespool as you now have three spool shafts bearings.
Other than that buy a back up level wind pawl, for the day will come that it's gonna fail under higher loads.
I still have a bunch of the bearings so if you want a few pm me your name and address.
Awesome thank you. Im not sure if it has a bearing or a bushing now Ill have to look. It is a gold calcutta not the newest ones with x ship. that would be awesome if you dont mind JRD I will send you a pm now. I will also order another pawl to have on hand. would changing the factory bearings to high end sealed ceramic help make up for the somewhat loss in freespool from adding the bearing?
I just sent PM> im not sure if it worked Ive never sent one here and it doesnt show up in my outbox
clean out the stock spool bearings and lube them with TSI 321, same for the AR bearing. put a light coat of grease on all the metal surfaces, switch out the stock drags for greased carbon fiber, load it with braid and go fish. you'll be fine. no need for anything more fancy.
Quote from: alantani on October 10, 2017, 12:31:02 AM
clean out the stock spool bearings and lube them with TSI 321, same for the AR bearing. put a light coat of grease on all the metal surfaces, switch out the stock drags for greased carbon fiber, load it with braid and go fish. you'll be fine. no need for anything more fancy.
Thank You! I know sometimes we can over think things LOL
My original 400 has Carbontex washers and the wood knob power handle. It's good to go.
Quote from: MarkT on October 10, 2017, 12:57:21 AM
My original 400 has Carbontex washers and the wood knob power handle. It's good to go.
Nice. Ive done the drag and have a rubber knob live bait handle coming tomorrow. going to at least clean and lube the stock bearings but may switch them out to abec 7's not sure yet.
I wouldn't go with 7's. As the abec rating goes up the tolerances get closer. That's not necessarily a good thing for a saltwater reel.
Quote from: MarkT on October 10, 2017, 01:08:26 AM
I wouldn't go with 7's. As the abec rating goes up the tolerances get closer. That's not necessarily a good thing for a saltwater reel.
Didn't think about it like that. That makes a lot of sense. Sand can be a pain lol
Stainless Abec 3 or 5 will be fine - use TSI321 or 301 for best free spool ;)
My little 400b is one of my favourite reels, carbontex drags and bearing conversion plus 400BSV power handle.
To me it's a (very nice) 20lb reel though. For a start I wouldn't trust the gears cranking against the kind of loads you can put on 50lb braid, also I would start to worry about the level wind mechanism.
Last of all I feel like it wouldn't be a great balance on a rod that's built for that kind of fishing. This reel has landed yellowtail before, but I wouldn't deliberately target them with it.
Quote from: boon on October 11, 2017, 02:00:28 AM
My little 400b is one of my favourite reels, carbontex drags and bearing conversion plus 400BSV power handle.
To me it's a (very nice) 20lb reel though. For a start I wouldn't trust the gears cranking against the kind of loads you can put on 50lb braid, also I would start to worry about the level wind mechanism.
Last of all I feel like it wouldn't be a great balance on a rod that's built for that kind of fishing. This reel has landed yellowtail before, but I wouldn't deliberately target them with it.
I agree a lot. Im mainly using 50lb for abrasion resistance and so it doesnt dig into itself on the spool.
I have the reel on a lamiglass triflex 7030 so I won't be putting crazy amount of torque on the reel. With snook really the first 30 seconds is the battle to turn them away from structure after that its all stamina and not force