Daiwa Coastal 153HL Service

[fishmeluck]

My last three ocean fishing trips, I regretted not having a true bass rod with me. Sometimes, a 20 lb rig is the lightest rig needed, but even a 20 lb rig is sometimes too heavy. So, I found the cardboard box in which I had squirreled away my old Daiwa Coastal 153HL. Purchased many years ago, the second time I used it, I dropped it in the surf at the beach and not being very good at servicing reels at the time, I took the end caps off, flooded it with WD-40 and shook out the excess 3 or 4 times. It felt pretty good again, but I never developed much confidence in the reel. Hence, its home in the box.

Not expecting much, I decided to give it a really thorough servicing today and take it on my next trip to Catalina. First, I found and read this review, http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwacoastal.html. I was encouraged by the fact that the reel was all die-cast aluminum. Jeez, my recollection was way off. I thought it was graphite or some such thing. All aluminum, that's good. Also, the Tackle Tour review people were able to get a maximum of 9 lb of drag after cleaning and greasing the drags. They dropped their reel in the water, too. Go figure!

At the time I got this reel, I was surf-fishing mostly and wanted a combo that handled like a spinning rig, so I bought the left hand version. So, keep this in mind as you read, because "left side plate" is the handle side, and "right side plate" is the non-handle side.
1) To crack it open, you need to back off the thumbscrew on the left side plate, turn the forward-end of the right side plate down about 30 degrees, and pull the right side plate off.
2) Take out the spool.
3) Take off the handle. (At first I thought, dang this handle nut is tight, before realizing it was a left-hand thread for a left hand reel!)
4) Take off the drag star and all the little bits underneath it.
   Note 1: The ball bearing that sits on top of the anti-reverse sleeve can be removed at this time. Don't lose or forget the position of the thin little washer that sits  
   between this ball bearing and the cup which is part of the drag star assembly. The inner race of the ball bearing is part of the load path from the drag star to the drag
   stack, and this washer keeps the cup from rubbing against the outer race of the ball bearing.
   Note 2: The anti-reverse sleeve can be left in place for the moment. (I found it interesting that both the anti-reverse sleeve and adjacent ball bearing inner race are
   part of the load path from the drag star to the drag stack.)
5) Remove the three right side plate screws.
6) The left side plate can now be pulled away from the frame assembly. The anti-reverse sleeve might stay with the gear shaft or might come away with the left side plate.

First observations:
The main gear is pretty large!. The drag washers are dry, appear to be Carbontex, and are exactly the same size as Jigmaster 500 drags (I checked) except much thinner. But, no wonder this reel can produce 9 lb of drag. Washers got the usual Cal's Grease treatment. [Note to self: I've got some unused thin drag washers from Bryan's Drag Kits leftover after upgrading drags in several Newells and Penn reels because I added thicker drag washers to adjust the stack height. They should work as replacement drag washers on this reel.]



Note the thin little shims(?) under the right side spool bearing. Be careful removing the snap ring; it wants to go flying.
This bearing was cleaned with carb cleaner, compressed air, and lubed with Corrosion-X.



The little gold knob and black post are for adjusting spool end play. The bearing and snap ring in line with them go inside the left side plate.



I do like to line things up as I disassemble, trying to leave parts with the side facing up that faced me when I disassembled it. Sometimes the orientation matters, and sometimes it doesn't.



And yet somehow, I still screw up. The thin Belleville washer in this photo actually belonged just on the other side of the handle between the handle and the drag star. Putting it back together, it made no sense. Why put a washer like that under the nut??? Obviously, I had gotten the order mixed up.



Now for some design observations:
1) The gear shaft is stainless, nice. Also, note that it is not a "gear sleeve". There is no post inside it. When the reel is fully assembled, the gear shaft is supported at both ends by bearings.
2) The posts that carry the yoke and springs are affixed to the frame assembly. I learned the hard way that means during re-assembly, to put the yoke on first, flat side facing me, and the springs on top of the yoke. I got it wrong the first time during re-assembly because I've done so many Penn reels where the yoke goes on top of the springs. But it is just the reverse on this Coastal reel.

And, servicing information.
I got a little lazy here, didn't feel like taking absolutely everything apart. So, I just drizzled Corrosion-X in some places and worked marine grease in other places with a toothbrush. I got plenty of Corrosion-X into the worm gear and the one bearing I didn't remove (at the end of the gear shaft), wiping the excess away with a Q-Tip.



The cross-pin in the end of the spool shaft did not want to move, and the shaft did not want to come out of the spool, so I serviced everything in place, with carb cleaner, compressed air, and Corrosion-X.



This side got the same treatment, except just the Corrosion-X.
The reel has centrifugal casting brakes. Turn the blue ring ccw for less casting brake, cw for more casting brake.



It feels really good now, smooth drag, and smooth cranking. I was able to get the same 9 lb of drag as the Tackle Tour review people got. And, it went from about 4 seconds of free spool to 20 seconds, not bad I think for such a tiny, light spool.

The reel is on a Quantum Great White 7' 6', 12-25 lb graphite rod for now, and the specs say it can hold 120 yd of 14 lb mono. I'm thinking of spooling it with 20 lb braid, and fishing a short 17 lb fluoro leader with about 5 lb of drag. A line estimator says it can hold 240 yd of 20 lb braid. So, it could work casting small MegaBait type lures to calicos and bonito, and still give me a fighting chance if I hook into a 10-15 lb yellowtail.

[swill88]

great report...thanks

steve

[Tightlines667]

Good work.

[fishmeluck]

Yesterday, I took the rig down to the lagoon near my house for a little casting practice and remembered one of the reasons why I never really got attached to this reel. Even at the least braking position, the centrifugal brakes really cut down the casting distance. With  1 oz Crocodile lure, I was only able to cast about 30 yards, maybe 40 on a really good cast. Also, my casting technique got really sloppy, since it was nearly impossible to backlash the reel.

So this morning, I removed the casting brake assembly entirely and took the rig back down to the lagoon. Big difference. I was able to cast about 50% farther. But, it was also very easy to get a backlash. With a little practice though, I was able to cast almost every time without backlash. The spool is so light that it must be thumbed the entire length of the cast, albeit lightly after the initial release. I tried casting a 1/2 oz swimbait and was able to get good distance with it too, but it took much more concentration to avoid a backlash.

[fishmeluck]

Pics restored after downloading all my pics from Photobucket and closing Photobucket account.

[Ron Jones]

I love hearing that someone removed the crutches and actually got the reel to cast the way God intended. How has it been working out the last couple years?
Ron

[fishmeluck]

I love hearing that someone removed the crutches and actually got the reel to cast the way God intended. How has it been working out the last couple years?
Ron

The reel in the post above has straight 10 lb mono paired with a Shimano Clarus, 7' 10", 8-17 lb rod. It's my surf-fishing rod. A second reel, same model except it's right-handed, has 20 lb braid with 17 lb mono top-shot paired with a Quantum GW, 7' 6", 12-25 lb rod. It's my boat rod for bass and bonito. Both have the casting brakes removed, and they work great. The only thing is, if has been a while since I used them, I have to remind myself to start slow and practice lightly thumbing the spool the whole way before trying to remove the thumb during the second half of the cast. Trying to rush into big casts for distance too soon is a big mistake.

[jplee3]

Awesome! I just tore my 153H down again to service I seem to be having issues with a 'sticky' drag when it's button down so I'm not sure what's going on there...

BTW: I think there's one more ear drag washer inside of the main gear isn't there?

[fishmeluck]

Awesome! I just tore my 153H down again to service I seem to be having issues with a 'sticky' drag when it's button down so I'm not sure what's going on there...

BTW: I think there's one more ear drag washer inside of the main gear isn't there?

Just one eared metal washer in a three drag washer stack, typically. Gear, friction washer, slotted washer, friction washer, eared metal washer, friction washer, slotted washer, is the way it usually goes. I don't use more than 5 lb of drag on mine, so I'm not sure how the drag feels when buttoned down.

[jplee3]

Awesome! I just tore my 153H down again to service I seem to be having issues with a 'sticky' drag when it's button down so I'm not sure what's going on there...

BTW: I think there's one more ear drag washer inside of the main gear isn't there?

Just one eared metal washer in a three drag washer stack, typically. Gear, friction washer, slotted washer, friction washer, eared metal washer, friction washer, slotted washer, is the way it usually goes. I don't use more than 5 lb of drag on mine, so I'm not sure how the drag feels when buttoned down.

BTW: I've confirmed it's two eared metal washers btw - if you look at your pic above of the drag stack, one of the eared washers is actually still inside the main gear (main gear is brass and the eared washer is metal). Was curious but are your eared metal washers completely *flat* (like if you put them against a true flat surface like a mirror or glass, etc)? Or do they slightly lift if you press the edge on one side of the washer? I noticed this on mine - they are slightly convex/concave to where if I turn on the convex side I can press one edge and the opposite side will lift. I'm guessing this isn't how it should be.


I lost a really big hali on this reel because of that slight 'stickiness' - it made a long run on me after I buttoned down on it and broke me of. I could feel the bumpiness in the drag as I was fighting the thing, so was afraid of something like that happening

[fishmeluck]

Awesome! I just tore my 153H down again to service I seem to be having issues with a 'sticky' drag when it's button down so I'm not sure what's going on there...

BTW: I think there's one more ear drag washer inside of the main gear isn't there?

Just one eared metal washer in a three drag washer stack, typically. Gear, friction washer, slotted washer, friction washer, eared metal washer, friction washer, slotted washer, is the way it usually goes. I don't use more than 5 lb of drag on mine, so I'm not sure how the drag feels when buttoned down.

BTW: I've confirmed it's two eared metal washers btw - if you look at your pic above of the drag stack, one of the eared washers is actually still inside the main gear (main gear is brass and the eared washer is metal). Was curious but are your eared metal washers completely *flat* (like if you put them against a true flat surface like a mirror or glass, etc)? Or do they slightly lift if you press the edge on one side of the washer? I noticed this on mine - they are slightly convex/concave to where if I turn on the convex side I can press one edge and the opposite side will lift. I'm guessing this isn't how it should be.


I lost a really big hali on this reel because of that slight 'stickiness' - it made a long run on me after I buttoned down on it and broke me of. I could feel the bumpiness in the drag as I was fighting the thing, so was afraid of something like that happening

I've been away from Alan's site for a few years, just fishing, because all the reels I wanted to upgrade were upgraded.

You were right about the 2nd eared washer. Since I didn't take the one inside the main gear out for the pictures, I miscounted. The drag stack goes: main gear, eared drag washer, drag washer, metal washer, drag washer, eared metal washer, drag washer, metal washer. See
schematic

I don't know if my metal washers are completely flat. They're supposed to be but I've never checked them the way you checked yours. The way you described it, where you turn one on the convex side, press one edge, and the opposite side will lift - yes, that sounds like they're warped.

[Gfish]

I went to the "tackle tour" reference in your first post. Haven't read that one in years. Pretty useful, if not overly positive. The solid advertising strips on each side reminded me of why I like Allen Hawk's site; no advertising and he "seems" to pull NO punches. Too bad he don't do all reel types.

[zoner]

I had the same problem as the OP with my 153h.....terrible freespool even with the anti-backlash device turned all the way off. I also completely removed the anti backlash and it had good freespool but your thumbneeded to be really "smart"to keep from backlashing badly. I eventually passed it off to a fishing buddy who had a particular fondness for that specific reel. My day in and day out baitcasting reels lately are the Penn Squall low-profile reels