saltist 40

[alantani]

i'll admit it.  it's never as easy as you see in the posts.  sometimes i have to take a reel apart 3 or 4 times before i get it right.  the problem i always have is the height difference between the stock drags that i'm throwing away versus the carbon fiber drag washers that i'm installing.  the height of the drag stack always has to taken into account.  case in point is the daiwa saltiga/saltist 30T/40/50 line.  i used to install penn ht-100 drag washers, but the ht's were so thick that i could only used three drag washers inside the gear instead of the 5 drag washers that come stock.

enter carbontex (thank you hara-san!).  these woven carbon fiber drag washers are just as thin as the stock drag washers.  i mention these specifically, because they are that good....



i cracked open this saltist 40 yesterday.  i opened it up, switched out the drag washers, and bolted it back together on the first try.  total time was 30 minutes.   it was a nice change of pace to nail one on the first try!   the schematcs are not available anywhere online. i had to call daiwa and they e-mailed one to me.  i hope you saved the one that came with the box.  here's the link for the saltiga schematics, which are fairly close.

http://mikesreelrepair.com/schematics/schematic.php?url=Daiwa/Daiwa%20Saltiga%2030T,%2040,%2050.pdf

here's the reel.





first, let's zip out the left side plate screws (key #21), open up the left side plate, lube the bearings and grease the screw holes.  then back together it goes. 



off come the handle and star.



carefully line up all the pieces in order, including the handle nut screw (key #58), the handle nut (key #57), the handle assembly (key #56), the spacing sleeve (key #55), the star drag (key #54), the bearing washer and click spring assembly (keys # 53 and 66), two drag spring washers (key #52) oriented in a "()" position and bearing washer (key #51). 



back out all of right side plate screws (key #49).  don't forget the one hiding under the lever! 



the right side plate lifts off cleanly and easily.  set it aside. 



remove and line up the main gear (key #34) and all the drag washers. 



leave the anti-reverse ratchet (key #31) and the anti-reverse pawl (key #32) in place.  if they come off when you remove the main gear, make sure the pawl "grabs" the ratchet and does not just sit underneath it. 



here is the carbontex washer on the left, and the stock saltist washer on the right.  funny, the stock washer has the look and feel of paper.  it also tears like paper. 



so i slopped on some shimano grease....



and put the drag stack back together exactly the way it came apart.  i was amazed at how easily the stock drag washers tore.  just like paper. 



the right side plate dropped into place easily and i greased the screw holes.



in replacing the spring washers, note that the orientation is "()".



a little grease around the star.



now for the handle.  yes, about that handle.  here's a close up of the rivet that holds the spindle on.



i ground it down with a bench grinder and punched out the spindle.  this separated the arm from the spindle and grip.



i bolted on one of my own grips....



bolted the handle assembly back onto the reel and i was done.  total elapsed time was 30 minutes.  in and out and done in 30 minutes!



i took it down to the local shop and had it loaded with 350 yards of 65 pound power pro.  and like a dummy, i forgot to check on the maximum drag.  the carbontex upgrade for the last torium 16 that i did had maxed out at 24 pounds.  this one should easily exceed that.  i will get the max drag later this evening. 

so with a stack of saltiga/saltist "5+1" drags versus the trinidad/toriums "3+1" drag stack, the saltist should hit 25 pounds easily, maybe even more.  so does this make the saltiga/saltist reel better than the trinidad/torium line?  not really.  who would use more than 15#'s of drag anyway?   i'd say the carbontex washers pretty much level the playing field.  to me, that's what greased carbon fiber is all about. 

[alantani]

Alan, I was wondering if you've encountered some Saltist 20h's or 30h's
coming in with stripped thread star drags?  I've had 2 30h's drag stars with
stripped threads so far.  I've only had the reel for 3 weeks and when I try to
tighten the star drag, the threading strips!  I've not overly tightened
them either.  I love reel but that problem boggles me.  Any input would be
appreciated!  Thanks, Eric, Honolulu, Hawaii

yeah, i've only seen one.  it does happen.  metric threads are always problematic.  the drive shaft and star have to be replaced.  you can't just replace on or the other.  you have to replace them both.  sorry.  alan

[alantani]

i'm not intentionally picking on daiwa. honest! sometimes things just land jelly side down.
 
the daiwa saltist is a perfectly good reel for the price. there are things that i do to any reel, even straight out of the box. the daiwa saltiga/saltist and the shimano trinidad/torium are no exception. i grease the screws, open/clean/lube the bearings, install greased carbontex drag washers, and bolt on a larger handle grip. i am no fan of these stock drags, nor am i a fan of the anti-reverse system used in these reels. when drag washers get sticky, the drag pressure surges and can cause the anti-reverse system to fail. the anti-reverse roller bearings simply slips at drag pressures of 15-20 pounds. once that happens, the "ambassaduer-style" anti-reverse dog has to catch. if it fails, the reel goes knucklebuster on you. you've all seen the photos of the shimano trinidad dog that failed. here's a daiwa saltist dog that also gave up the ghost.
 
this is a daiwa saltist that was shipped to me because the anti-reverse failed. note that the frame is not machined from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum. the frame is precision cast. as part of the frame, there is a small stub that sticks out from the right-side base plate to support the anti-reverse dog. well, it's gone.
 

 
actually, it's not gone. it sheared clean off leaving the stub and the dog to rattle around inside the reel.
 

 
here's what the stub looks like, and here's the proper placement and orientation of the dog.
 

 

 

 
to replace the stub, i drilled out a hole, tapped it and screwed in a 10-32 hex head cap screw from the back side. i thought this was pretty darned clever of me!
 

 
and it almost worked! i ended up damaging the spot weld on the dog and the "spring" came off, so i had to add a sleeve under the dog, then place a round spring in place. under pressure the whole stupid thing came apart at 22#'s of drag.
 

 

 
finally, i replaced the daiwa anti-reverse roller bearing with a shimano trinidad bearing (they're all the same) and the daiwa anti-reverse dog with a shimano trinidad dog (they're close enough) and benched it out to 22#'s without failure. the spool bearings were cleaned out, lubed and re-installed open. the stock drags were replaced with grease carbontex. the stock handle was replaced with full-sized kolekar grip and we're back in business.
 

 
so here's the take home message. sticky drag washers are the most common cause of structural damage to a reel. greased carbon fiber is the only system that offers 100% reliability. it will never fail. ask your local shop for carbontex and cal's grease, or go to smoothdrag.com. regarding the daiwa saltiga/saltist and shimano trinidad/torium in the 20/30 size, any drag setting over 15#'s carries a risk that the anti-reverse roller bearing will fail. if the the back up dog also fails, you're toast. upgrade your reel to carbontex and set the drag to 15#'s at most and you should not have a problem.
 
i think it was clint eastwood that said, "a man's gotta know his limits...".

[alantani]

I have a Saltist 30T that I took apart and put back together. I only took apart the drag part of the reel. After I put it back together, it is now grinding very bad when I reel and tighten the drag. As far as I can tell, everything is back in the same order, and I see nothing out of the ordinary. Does anybody know how to fix this? 

ouch!!!!!!! i think you missed getting the ambassaduer-style pawl back on to the ratchet gear properly. if you do that, it grinds like crazy when you crank the handle. sometimes you can bend everything back into place and it will work ok, but i would strongly recommend calling daiwa at 562-802-9589. ask for part #E48-9001. this is the pawl for the saltist 30T. please let us know how this works out. good luck! alan

It was the anti-reverse pawl that was bent. It was able to be bent back, and it's working fine now. I think I'll still order another one just in case though. Thanks for the help!

[alantani]

Alan, Well, after your motivational speech today I could not wait to get home and take that reel apart.  I ordered the drags grease and lube that you suggested.  Even though I don't have all the parts I figured I would open it up and take a look.  You were right in that it does not seem that difficult of a reel.  I managed to diagnose what is going on and I will try to explain it to you the best I can.
 
It appears that the yoke has too much pressure on it from the two springs making it difficult for the yoke plate to move.  When I push or pull the clutch lever, instead of the reel going in and out of gear, the clutch lever pin (or screw) just turns and nothing else happens inside.  Maybe the correct lube and grease will help, but I don't know.  Maybe the clutch lever screw is defective.  Do you know how to get that thing out of the clutch lever?

ahhhhh, this makes more sense!  i think you have a bad clutch lever.  call daiwa and ask them for a new one.  i have several in the box because of just this type of problem.  should of thought of it immediately.  call daiwa at 562-802-9589 and ask them for a new lever.  for individual orders such as this, they will typically send them out for free.  after all, it is a "known" problem.  alan

[alantani]

I purchased a Daiwa Saltist 30H approx. a year ago. I was fishing with it today,and when I went to rebait,I tightened down on the drag,and felt a faint "pop". The reel no longer has any drag pressure. When in gear, the spool will only turn with zero presure. Any pressure and the spool won't turn. The star is turning,but it won't tighten down. I'm now wondering if the star or main gear is stripped. Do you have any ideas??? Any info. is greatly appreciated.

yeah, seen this one before.  usually it's the drive shaft, but you often have to replace the spool shaft and the star at the same time.  it's the star that is so expensive.  you can try to replace just the drive shaft it you can clearly see excessive damage to it alone, but you always run the risk of some left over damage to the stat then damaging the new drive shaft.  just like the main and pinion gear, if you replace one, it really would be best to replace the other.  sorry about that......  alan

[alantani]

Hi Alan, Enjoy your tutorials very much, I do most of my own servicing where I can.

Had a problem with my Saltist 40 by where the reel when under heavy drag the anti reverse pawl would disingage resulting in whacked knuckles. Just finished servicing the reel and could not find any problem with pawl, put the reel back together and tested drag under pressure still the pawl wont engage properly have you any clues as to why, perhaps there is too much grease surrrounding the pawl and this is having an undue affect???.

Much appreciate your thoughts. Cheers, Craig

the springs on the pawl have to be squeezed together more tightly. that still might not be a 100% fix. basically, it needs a spring loaded dog. that's the best way to go and there is no easy way to accomplish it. alan

Thanks for reply, pulled reel apart again and on closer inspection the pin that the pawl sits on had some dried crap on the base of the pin that was very hard to see. It wasnt much but just enough for the pawl to wedge itself, once scraped off the pawl is now able to move more freely.

glad it's working!  alan