Hot Roding Daiwa 300H/50H Drag To 23-25lbs

[Ishman 306]

I picked up a used Daiwa 300H for snapper/grouper bottom fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.  I liked the size and the open aluminum frame/side plates.  With the factory drag in place I managed to see 10-11lbs of drag...VERY jumpy and sticky above 5 lbs.  It was clear that I needed higher and smoother drag numbers to do the job I intended it to do. 

I was inspired by Gary's work:  http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=7454.0 as well as Alan's work on a 50H (same drag):  http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=18.0

I wanted to use a carbon fiber 5+1 stack but space is very limited.  There is a variety of ways to accomplish fitting a 5+1 configuration and in hindsight; I might not have taken the easiest approach.

Bill of Materials:
-(Quantity 1 kit) Penn part number 6-114SP
-(Quantity 2 washers) Penn part number 6-855
-(Quantity 1 washer) Penn part number 86-60


Factory 3+1 drag stack = .450 inch thick




Using lathe, turn down 1 eared washer from Penn drag kit 6-114SP, all 3 factory Daiwa washers and Penn 86-60 washer to approx .028-.030 inch thick. De-bur and hone surfaces, I used a very fine sharpening stone.





Using keyed Daiwa washer trace key dimension over top of Penn 86-60 washer.  Using mill, remove material indicated by marker.  File key and de-bur to fit.






Now we have the 5+1 stacked laid out.  6-855, gear, 6-114, keyed, 6-114, eared, 6-114, keyed, 6-114, eared, 6-855, keyed 68-60, thrust washer.




The 2nd metal eared washer sat just at the edge of the ear-grooves, so I cut the depth of the gear cavity about .015 in deeper and cleaned up the walls a little (maybe .004).  I used the mill to extend the ear paths down closer to the bottom of the cavity.





Now we have the stack thickness of .486 inches.  It will work with this thickness; however you can't back the drag down to zero.



Instead of removing thickness of the top thrust washer, I used a medium thickness washer (.055 inch) and opened up the hole to match the factory washer.  The stack is now .457 inch, which matches the factory thickness almost perfectly.




Testing on a 25lb max scale, the drag was very smooth throughout the range, no more jumpy action. I was able to hit 23-24lbs on the scale at full drag (I didn't want to push much more than that for the scale and reels sake).  I'm not sure of limitations of the other components within the reel, so I plan to use the reel around 16-20lbs and know there is more left.

[Shark Hunter]

Solid Work Ishman.
I think the only weak point will be the sleeve rounding off at the handle.

[Tightlines667]

Nice work!

I love seeing the lathe  and mill being put to work on fishing reels.

I do wonder if one of the versa drag inserts could be made to fit these reels?

[gstours]

Great work, You made the parts, and made it work.  Thanks for posting this,  great pictures too.  I,m jealous of the lathe, and mill.   Now  go fishing and catch something.......gst.

[Porthos]

20-25lbs drag is pushing into the 80lb setup range once the line friction from the rod guides under load is factored in. Could probably get 400+ yds of 80lb braid on...but I don't know if I'd wanna to fish the 300H as a 80lb setup. 60lbs might be the max I'd go.

The 400H would be the smallest I'd feel somewhat good about pushing up to 80lbs

On another note, didn't Bryan have a 5+1 50H kit in the works?