Reminder...Service your Tiagras regularly... 130 case study

[Tightlines667]

I often tell my customers that Tiagras are great reels, but you need to maintain a rigerous maintainance scheduel (especially when being used heavily), and try to stay attuned to any signs of wearing parts.  Tollerances are tight enough, where a rough/worn ARB bearing can quickly lead to a cascade of other parts failures when contined use persists.  Also, parts cost can escalate quickly on these reels.

I just recieved a Tiagra 130 that is a case-in-point.  

The reel has occupied the long-rigger location on one of Oahu's top charter/tourny boats for its entire life.  The reel was always brought in for a regular service annually. Unfortunately, it missed the past 2 service intervals and after 3 years of heavy use, it finally made its way to my bench.  The mates knew the reel was 'screwed' (their words) and had been for some time, yet they continued to fish it.  It looks good on the outside.  It still retrieved line, shifted gears, and the drag still worked.  When I cracked it open, I immediately recognized the grease as the INOX red that Butch at Hobietate uses.  His date in the grease confirmed my suspicions, he had last serviced the reel nearly 3 years ago.  To the credit of INOX the grease had stayed put, and despite being somewhat dry, it still offered some lube.  

Bad news, all 6 bearings were completely shot.  The inner drive shaft, pinion, and left side plate bearings were frozen (total failures).  The continued use following these bearing failures, put undue stress on the gear set, which was obviously worn unevenly *some wear on all 4 gears, worst was on the high speed main). Thankfully I found a complete gear set for $76, as oppossed to over $200 for a Penn International.  The drags had been greased with Shimano drag grease, and although worn, were still in remarkably good condition.  Overall parts cost came to $300...ouch!  

Service your Tiagras regularly.

[NovaSS]

thanks for the info. $300 for parts isnt bad considering the reel is around $1300 new. But i guess if they just would have continued with the yearly shop visit it wouldnt have needed all the parts.

I was wondering have you seen any cracked or warped spool on these reels? When using straight mono.

[Tightlines667]

Good point.  The bearings, drags, and drive shaft&retainer are expensive, but the gears are actually reasonable.  I have never seen a cracked or warped spool on these redls despite some of my customers fishing very heavy mono (150-250lb), and running high drags (fishing outta the gunnels/shotguns).  The ratchet plates wear quickly, and the bearings are great bew, but do not function when worn (they fail).  Heavy fishing usually results in replacement of ratchet, pinion, and 2 drive shaft bearings annually, maybe left side plate bearing every 2 years, and spool bearings will go 3+ years of heavy use.  Typically, on charter boat type use.

[NovaSS]

I seen in a older post you talked about the plunger problems with these reels. Did they fix that on the newer reels? I seen you replaced it on the reel you was working on with a stainless plunger. Who makes them?

[Tightlines667]

I seen in a older post you talked about the plunger problems with these reels. Did they fix that on the newer reels? I seen you replaced it on the reel you was working on with a stainless plunger. Who makes them?

Yes all of the more modern 50 and larger sized Tiagras now come with Stainless plunger holders and the smaller model's appear to have plastic that is less brittle then I observed the older plastic ones to be (not sure if its the same material, that just becomes brittle with age?).

[FatTuna]

I can't believe the price for the gears on these reels. Shimano Parts are actually really reasonable a lot of the time. I'm thinking about stocking up on some extra sets of these gears. I just serviced one of these the other day and it is the ultimate offshore monster. I love everything about this reel.

I will be sure to keep up with the maintenance on them.

Tightlines, do you use the same grease on these larger reels as you do on everything else; or do you have premium stuff that is reserved for the heavy duty stuff?

[Tightlines667]

I have been using Penn Blue and Cal's on all the reels I service.  One local shop uses INOX exclusively, another uses Penn Blue, another uses Shimano on Shimano reels, Penn on Penn.  Of the 3, INOX seems to last the longest, and stay put the best.  I like the Penn Blue because it is readily available, at a very reasonable cost, it is thin enough to keep fully packed bearings spinning smoothly, and 2 speed mechs working, I know it has good anticorrosion properties, I like the color, and the fact that it changes color when exposed to qater, so I can see where there was water intrusion.  I think I did one or 2 Tiagra 130s exclusively with Cal's just becauae I was outta Penn at the time, and I have played around with using a thin coat of Corrosion X HD to protect the metal surfaces inside of the drag chamber.  The type of grease is less important then servicing regularily, and keeping everything lubed up properly though.

[FatTuna]

Thanks for that. I have been using the Penn too because it's what I have and I like the price. I've seen a few Internationals come greased with some other type of grease before though. It's really thick and a darker color. I'm not exactly sure what it is. I'll take a picture the next time I see it.

What are you guys fishing for in HI with the 130s, marlin?

[Tightlines667]

Thanks for that. I have been using the Penn too because it's what I have and I like the price. I've seen a few Internationals come greased with some other type of grease before though. It's really thick and a darker color. I'm not exactly sure what it is. I'll take a picture the next time I see it.

What are you guys fishing for in HI with the 130s, marlin?

Interesting, wonder what they are using. 

Personally, I wouldn't bother on stocking up on gear sets for these reels.  They rarely need replacing (Usually felt roughness is due to bearing failure..Drive shaft and pinion, and they are likely to remain available into the forseable future.

Here in HI, when you are trolling just a few miles offshore, you are in deep blue water, and could get a knockdown on any number of large Pelagics including Ahi (Yellowfin and Bigeye Tuna), Marlin (Striped, Blue, Black), Shortfin Makos, or others.  For this reason, most guys fish heavier gear (esp from April- Sep).   

[FatTuna]

Damn that sounds like paradise . I've only been fishing in HI once on a charter and we didn't hook into anything memorable but the scenery was incredible.

Thanks for the tip. If I do get a set, I will just get one. I was thinking that in the foreseeable future, the price might increase. It seems like the price of a lot of things made with commodities these days is getting out of control. Just a thought.

[Tightlines667]

I just finished up a complete service of 3 old school first gen Tiagras 1-130, 2-80 s & they were a prime example of how long these reels can fish if properly serviced.  The reels belonged to 1 owner who took care of his gear.  He typically had them serviced every 1 to 3 years, depending on how much he used them.  Despite not having been serviced last since April, 2013, and being older reels..they were in remarkably goid condition.  There was good quality marine grease in all the right places, and the drags  were greased with a drag grease.  Although several bearings were showing some wear, most were not rough, and the gears were in the same boat... some wear, not in need of replacing yet.  The worse part was trying to remove the stand nuts which were throughly frozen.  There was the typical light damage under the ratchet plates, and a few minor specs of lost annodizing#minor corrosion, and some moisture trapped in the plastic bridge.  The dogs on one had also gotten 'sticky'. 

I spent around 13hrs on a complete breakdown, sonic clean, standard scrub, relube, assembly, and finsl shimming.  I replaced all 3 ratchet plates due to normal wear, 5 of 14 bearings, 7 of 10 stand bolts&nuts, and all bellevilles (some compression was noted).  Total parts cost was under $200.  They are now ready for the Ahi season.

[UKChris]

A quick question.

As the reels in the photo have the chrome plate with the holes that allows the lever knob to 'click' and has also the newer handles, I'm wondering if they've been upgraded 'cos my old Ti 80W has a plain plate and an old hard plastic handle (though I've changed that for a handle from T-Bar).

Also, what are those unusual 'rods' behind the reels, please? They seem to have one double roller guide and the tip roller only and are very short.

[Tightlines667]

Chris,
Good point on the handle, and quadrant.  Now that you mention it, these can not be the first gen. reels, but they are older Tiagras.  Smaller Tiagras (50 or smaller), are easy to recognize as being older based on the cooling shield (threaded vs. Screws).  The first gen oldest larger Tiagras can also be dated based on the bronze clicker pawl retainers.

Those short rods you noticed in the photo are simply known as 'Stubbies' and are very popular here in Hawaii.  Many guys use swivel tips (origionally designed for trolling wire line), on them as well.  Local 'Hawaii Style' is to fish large reels spooled with heavy 150-300lb mono, mounted on these stubbies, fished from above-gunnel shotgun swiveling rod holders.  When a fish gets hooked up, the boat does not slow down, and the other lines are left out.  This gives the fish's buddies a chance to grab the remaining baits.  The fish is then fought from the shotgun rod holder whereby one guy cranks thevreel, and a second hand lines the heavy mainline.  This puts maximum pressure on the fish , and in the case of Tuna, keeps their head pointed at the boat, and commimg in quickly.  These are valuable fish fir the local sushi market and the fishermen want to preservebthe quality ofbthe meat, by landing them as quickly as possible.  Some guys use stubbies all around, some use them on corners only, and ithers only use them for deep drop electric, or paired with a greenstick setup.

[UKChris]

Many thanks for the info on the 'stubbies'. Fascinating and makes perfect sense though I guess it needs good teamwork to handline and reel in a co-ordinated fashion. And I thought that 'stubbies' referred to those little bottles of beer!

They look a little like the 'deep drop' rods that I have also now seen having done a bit of research.

Also, thanks too for the extra details about identifying Tiagras from the inside. Didn't know that. I will be taking my 80W out for a boat ride in a few weeks - can't wait. Hope it gets a good workout 

Cheers,