Quantum Reel Problem

[DCrosen]

Sorry it has been a few months since I have been on here . I have been sick and had other problems. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New year. I am having a problem with a Quantum SS ES150 bait casting reel. Now first of all I have learned to work on reels myself from reading info on here and elsewhere as well as having a good mechanical mind and was an automotive mechanic for 15 years. There are many videos on you tube and the reel sites that I should have already watched though. It is a new reel and I bought it off of a sporting goods store on ebay and should be sending it back to Quantum, but I thought it would be a simple problem and accidentally sold it with some other reels like it on ebay so I need to fix it. I found the problem when I went to cast with it. When I pushed the thumb bar down it felt a little sloppy, but released the spool. When I started to reel the line back in, it was making a slight grinding noise like the pinion was partially meshed with the drive gear and the thumb bar would not release and the spool would not turn. It does it the majority of the time. I thought that the kick lever or release slider were just sticking and needed re lubed. I took it apart and they looked ok, but re greased them anyway and everything else looked ok. I checked all the gears, springs, release slider and kick lever, made sure nothing was binding and all the gears were put on in the right order according to the schematic. I tried it with the cover off and it worked fine and was solid so I put it back together and it did it again. I got it to act up again, took it back apart to try to see what was going on, but every time it was ok. That is when I noticed that it only does it when the side cover is installed. I have just installed the cover, got it to act up and then took it back off to try to see what is going on. Every time it is ok. If I could see what it is doing when it acts up would be nice. I think something is binding. The side cover has some ridges that look like they may go against the release slide spring. If this is true, I assume they are to prevent it from jumping out.(The spring does stick up a little and I may be wrong about this). Could it be a factory defect in the cover that is binding the spring not allowing it to let the release slider and kick lever move all the way? Believe me there can be one in a million of something made that is defective and I will get it. Could it be a bad release slider or kick lever spring? Could the pinion yoke springs not be going in the grooves in the cover putting everything on a bind. Whatever it is, it rights itself when the cover is removed which leads me to believe that something is binding. I haven't looked at it today and I need to make sure the ridges do go down over the spring. Maybe it just needs some grease on those ridges or they need to be filed down a little. I don't know. Any help would be appreciated and I will give updates.
Thanks.
Darrell

[alantani]

hard to say without having the reel in hand.  something is rubbing or binding up.  we have an avet with no free spool.  been working on it half the day, still can't figure it out.   

[DCrosen]

Alan. I was just looking at the ridges. One is longer than the other and it comes down in front of the where the spring curves and the other is right over top where the spring curves, but I can't tell if it actually is touching the spring. I would think they would want it to. I have other reels like this apart that are used that I am going through before selling. I don't have any other brand of reels partially together to see how they are. I guess the ridges are to make sure the spring doesn't pop out. I just installed the cover while checking this and it seems ok now! Pushed the thumb bar down and turned the crank and it disengaged and reengaged solidly. I had that thing apart 2 or 3 times the other night and couldn't figure out what was going on and was tired and wanted a fresh set of eyes to look at it. Hadn't worked on it today and now it seems fine! That thing has been on my mind all day and night. Sometimes you just need to quit when things aren't going right and sometimes things will then go smoothly for some reason. It is after 8:30 here so I will not work on it tonight, but work on it tomorrow morning and will leave updates on it. It will be interesting to see if I run into the same problem when I put the other reels like it back together that I know were working ok before I tore them apart. Maybe what I find will help someone else.

[DCrosen]

It also didn't look like that Quantum put much grease on the drive gear and not all of of the grease inside looked like Hot Sauce. I have a lubrication instruction sheet for Quantums and I know that Quantum recommends "Clutch Grease" for the anti-reverse bearing(They list the number 788 beside it, but don't know whether they make it or who makes it), but Hot Sauce for everything else. They also did not grease the Carbon Fiber discs or tell you to on the instruction sheet.

[johndtuttle]

Don't take a file to your reel or do anything drastic without talking to Quantum. They probably can answer your questions for you if you give them a call or email.

As far as the clutch lubrication goes, probably best is just a little corrosion-x. Light lube is fine for protection, too heavy and things can get sludged up in the cold etc.

[DCrosen]

I have an update on my problem although maybe I should have called Quantum. I didn't see the last post until now. I don't know if a reel tech will talk to you or just tell you to send it in. Anyway. I figured it out. I got to the point where I noticed that it would act up when you tighten the bottom screw near the kick lever. If you loosened it, it was fine. There was a ridge in the cover above the kick lever and I noticed rub marks from the kick lever on it. I looked at a couple of other reels like it and they had slight marks, but not quite as bad. I had noticed that sometimes that the Quantums didn't seem to reengage solidly like my Abus. I did lightly sand the ridge in the cover down some and that fixed it. Of course I soaked and cleaned the cover in Reel Kleen to make sure no grit or filings got into anything before putting it back together. I'll try to call next time. Maybe it is a common problem with these reels.

[johndtuttle]

I have an update on my problem although maybe I should have called Quantum. I didn't see the last post until now. I don't know if a reel tech will talk to you or just tell you to send it in. Anyway. I figured it out. I got to the point where I noticed that it would act up when you tighten the bottom screw near the kick lever. If you loosened it, it was fine. There was a ridge in the cover above the kick lever and I noticed rub marks from the kick lever on it. I looked at a couple of other reels like it and they had slight marks, but not quite as bad. I had noticed that sometimes that the Quantums didn't seem to reengage solidly like my Abus. I did lightly sand the ridge in the cover down some and that fixed it. Of course I soaked and cleaned the cover in Reel Kleen to make sure no grit or filings got into anything before putting it back together. I'll try to call next time. Maybe it is a common problem with these reels.

All's well that ends well!

Just being cautious, especially with something you want to retain the value.

[alantani]

glad you got it worked out!