increasing drag on tiagra 80?

[crackerman]

I got a killer deal on a very lightly used tiagra 80 today. It is a beautiful piece of equipment and I cant wait to fish it. It is a 9.5/10. After finding the max drag is around 42lbs, and reading the tutorial, I need to figure out how to increase the drag safely. Has anyone done this and how do I do it?

[alantani]

42 at strike or full?  if it's 42 at strike, check full and see what you get.  not sure that changing the belleville configuration would make a difference. 

[Bryan Young]

You are pretty much at max.  I wouldn't push it any farther if I'd were you.

[crackerman]

35 at strike and 42 at full. According to shimano's  spec sheet.

Bryan, why would I not want to increase it? The reel is a hoss and overbuilt from the get go.  Other reels on the market are in the 50-60lb range max and 40ish at strike and just want it to be competitive to the market.
I am ok with losing free spool with drag backed all the way off.

[Bryan Young]

You will start to damage bearings.   Bearings for that reel is an average of $18/ bearing.  That's why.  Most marlin and ahi are caught with 20-40# of drag.  I cannot see why you would need more.

[crackerman]

I will be using it for land based shark fishing, 95% ofthe time it will be under drag, it will be reeling a weight in, 4.85% will be a fish of any size, and .15% might be something that will walk away with 40lbs and take my line. I want to be prepared for that... Even though i may never use it.

[Bryan Young]

I believe at about 45# the bellevilles are fully compressed and all the pressure will be on the bearings.  I suppose that damaged bearing as a result of catching a shark of a lifetime is worth the $30-60 bearing bill.

[Rothmar2]

I believe at about 45# the bellevilles are fully compressed and all the pressure will be on the bearings.  I suppose that damaged bearing as a result of catching a shark of a lifetime is worth the $30-60 bearing bill.

+1 with Bryan on this one. When compared to a Penn International 80W, the Tiagra's bearings are no where near the same size as the equivalent Penn's. In fact, a 4/0 Avet Pro EX has bigger bearings than a Tiagra 80W. I've had all three reels on my desk (the Penn was an 80STW) opened up at once for comparison. Unfortunately I didn't take photos. Same for bellevilles, the Penn's are huge compared to the Tiagras. Are Penn's possibly overbuilt? Not in my opinion. And these $18 "CRBB's" Shimano markets, are not very "CRBB's" when they are fitted practically dry from the factory. I went through a bunch of Tiagra's 2 years ago, that were all 5 years old or less and the left and right plate bearings were all dry, and completely shot to pieces. We should for every reel we are going to use around salt water, pre-service them, but particularly the Tig's. They are adequate when properly pre-serviced though, but I wouldn't be trying to get more out of them beyond their stated specs.