Avet LX 6/3 Sticky Drag

chasilberry · May 06, 2014, 03:38:07 AM

I bought an LX 6/3 on Ebay, and it had a sticky "pulsing" drag. It is the newer rounded body type. Using the tutorial on this site, I rebuilt it. My problem came when I tried to remove the drag disc from the spool. The 4 slight indentations where you remove the circlip was probed with a dental pick and there doesn't seem to be a clip. As i probe, it just tears up the edge of the drag washer. The edge of the spool is beveled down towards the drag washer, different than the spool in the tutorial. Is my reel an earlier version? It seems as though the drag washer is glued to the spool. Not wanting to bugger it up, I left as is and just cleaned the outer side of the drag washer and greased it. When the reel was back together, The sticky pulsing remained. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance, Charlie

Keta · May 06, 2014, 03:51:01 AM

Avet foolishly got rid of the replaceable drag washer and are now gluing them in place.

Bryan Young · May 06, 2014, 06:24:20 AM

Is it sticky when you hold the spool and crank or are you pulling line off the reel?

chasilberry · May 06, 2014, 03:23:45 PM

Bryan,
It is doing it with the spool empty, being held and then cranking. It seems to become more pronounced as I increase the drag setting. Should I spool it up and then try it by pulling off line? If I do replace the drag disc, does Avet sell them separately, or is it easier to buy a new spool with the drag attached?
Thanks, Charlie

Keta · May 06, 2014, 03:38:47 PM

Is the CF surface flat or is it humped up from corrosion behind it? You can buy just the Brake Pad, item #LX6/3-012.

http://www.avetreels.net/uploads/LX_2-SPEED.pdf

Bryan Young · May 06, 2014, 04:34:34 PM

Quote from: chasilberry on May 06, 2014, 03:23:45 PM
Bryan,
It is doing it with the spool empty, being held and then cranking. It seems to become more pronounced as I increase the drag setting. Should I spool it up and then try it by pulling off line? If I do replace the drag disc, does Avet sell them separately, or is it easier to buy a new spool with the drag attached?
Thanks, Charlie

Holding the spool will give you the feeling that the drag is sticky, even after greased. This is a common issue when testing lever drag reels no matter what brand. I believe that this is due to the fact that you are holding the spool and by nature, could be applying undue side forces to that would affect the drag washer and pressure plate contact pressure. With an Avets, try resting the reel in the palm of your hand with the drive side up. then curl your fingers around the frame to hold the spool. Then take the lever out of free spool and apply the drag and crank. It should smooth out the drag. If that doesn't work, you may have some high and low spots. Before changing the washer, I would put line on the reel. Then pull line out under low drag and reeling in the line about 10 times, then increase the drag, and repeat until I'm at 10# of drag and repeat. This should seat the drag system. You should feel the drag system get smoother as you go. If not, then you may need to replace the drag washer...but note that the same issue may be present if you replace the drag washer because of the imperfections in the drag washer and also the cleaning and gluing process for the removal and installation of the new drag washer.

chasilberry · May 07, 2014, 04:11:06 AM

Keta, the CF is clean and is flat. The drag plate is flat also. I have ordered a new drag washer and will install it as directed by Alan's post on the subject. Before I do that I will spool it with hollow core and try Bryan's suggestion about pulling line out at increasing drag settings to seat the drag. I'll keep you guys posted on how things turn out, and thanks for the suggestions.
Charlie

alantani · May 07, 2014, 09:03:25 PM

sometimes there are high spots in the weave of the carbon fiber. at light drag settings, you hit those high spots and you feel the drags stick. USUALLY, that goes away at higher drag settings because the high spots are mashed down. what to do is grease the drags, load it up with line, then set the drags to your normal fishing level and then pull. if the drag is smooth, you're done. if the drag still sticks, then you likely have alot of corrosion under the drag washer. at this point you have to chisel out the old drag washer, clean out all the corrosion underneath, and then use epoxy to glue on a new drag washer. you have to make sure you glue it on with no air pockets or gaps and that it is totally flat, straight and true. otherwise you will still have the same "hop" in the drag. usually it works ok, but it is a very tedious process.

like lee said, we were better off with drag washers held in with a retaining ring. the problem is that avet stubbornly refuses to grease their drag washers and this was the only way for them to avoid corrosion under the drag washer. $:-\$

chasilberry · May 08, 2014, 06:03:52 AM

Thanks Alan, That is looking like the best course to take. I will follow up when I find time to do it. thanks to all who gave help, great web site, lots of great advice.
All tHe best, Charlie

chasilberry · May 12, 2014, 06:16:46 AM

I put the reel back together to spool it with line and " seat in" the drag as suggested, and regreased the drag and found that the bellville ()()() curved washers were out of sequence and corrected that. And voila! the reel works just fine now. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
Three weeks til my 8 day,
Charlie

Bryan Young · May 12, 2014, 08:49:19 AM

Always good when a plan comes together.