Drag Washer Retaining Wire Clip

[elnath]

OK...I admit it, I did something stupid.  I swapped the drag washers in a spinning reel the other day (Jap version of the Diawa Saltist 4500), and I managed to spring the bent wire "clip" that holds the drag stack in the spool into a rather "unorganized" part of my basement.

My choice is a rather lengthy search of the basement, or replace the wire.  I'm voting for replacing the wire.

I have seen this on many spinners, its just a piece of stiff stainless wire that is bent 5 or 6 times to form a hexagon that is slipped into a groove in the spool.

I'm not sure it's desperately necessary since it only really becomes functional when the spool is off the reel, I used the reel yesterday without it, and no problems.

Anybody (Alan?) know either 1. where I can get the specific part (Diawa won't sell me the part for a "grey market" reel and the Saltist diagrams aren't up on their website), or 2. where I can get the right kind of wire and just make one...

Thanks!

[alantani]

you actually do not need it.  i'd order one from the manufacturer.  chances are they will ship it out for free.  if it's a hassle, don't worry about it.   

[Bryan Young]

I think it is more to help you put the spool back on with the indexing washers when the washers are not aligned properly.  It's not a required item. 

On the other hand, if you are one that carry extra spools with different line strength, it will become a pain without the spring as you really have to watch when you are changing spools to make sure the washers are aligned and fling on the deck of a boat or in the sand on the beach.

You can probably bend one yourself in a pentagon or hexagon shape using stainless steel wire.

[Dave Bentley]

What about the correct sized internal circlip from your local harware or engineering supplier.

[elnath]

you actually do not need it.  i'd order one from the manufacturer.  chances are they will ship it out for free.  if it's a hassle, don't worry about it.   

Thanks Alan, That's what I figured, but wanted to check with the experts just in case there was something I was missing....Diawa for some reason is not real keen on supplying parts for reels that aren't (supposedly) in the USA...

I may buy a few pieces of spring temper stainless wire just to have around in the future.  For this particular reel I only have one spool anyway.

The circlip idea was a good one.. a bit fancy for this application, but certainly would be a good option on some of my spools that I change back and forth a bit.  I noticed McMaster Carr has some stainless ones in the right size.

Thanks!