Daiwa Millionaire 3H Hop Up

[mo65]

   These Millionaire reels are very interesting. They are so close in design to an Ambassadeur it makes me wonder how they avoided patent infringement. I had never owned one of these reels until recently, I bought a near mint Millionaire II and was bitten by the Millionaire bug.
   This specimen was another buy from the big auction site. It was advertised as being in "good working condition". Hmm...I guess the seller didn't need a functioning anti-reverse... Oh well, I think we can fix it.


   
   Upon taking the reel down I was happy to see I had a 3-stack drag to work with this time.



   The original drag washers are a hard phenolic board material that looks just like DAM Quick's Resistex.



   I searched the far reaches of the galaxy for Carbontex to fit this particular model Millionaire. I think I saw drags for every version but a 3H. The photo below shows how Penn's #6-60 HT100s are a drop in replacement for this reel. Only the top carbon fiber washer had to be trimmed...about 1mm taken off the inside diameter so it fit within the "top hat" metal washer. Also note that plating on the main gear, some type of Cadmium or Zinc.

 

   Those phenolic drags were only about 20 thousandths thick, so as this pic reveals, the HT100s push the eared washer out of the main when uncompressed. I bent the ears down a little to make sure they don't pop out of their slots.



   OK Nelz, before I go any farther, I remembered to break out a magnet this time. This main gear is definitely steel. Most of that plating is worn off the back side...eh...I don't think we'll miss it. No ball bearings here either, but I've had great results with these old bronze bushings when polished to a mirror surface.



   This bushing looks clean...I used solvent and wiped dry...but some tooth paste/baking soda on a Q-tip will reveal the truth.



   Spinning the Q-tip in the bushing polishes it to a high shine. The darkened residue left behind is the proof. Spinning the bushing on the spool shaft before polishing yielded 2 or 3 rotations. After polishing the bushing will spin for 4 or 5 seconds. I don't believe high performance bearings are a wise investment for these older levelwind baitcasters. The levelwind mechanism drags down the spool trumping their effect. Good 'ol bushings work as well as anything in these reels.



   Now comes the tough part...that busted anti-reverse. The photo below shows the problem. That AR dog's post is tweaked. It looked like if I could re-peen it I'd be back in business.



   I placed this 5mm socket over top of the post and rested the set plate on an anvil. The yellow arrow points to the dimple left by the socket. It sure feels like it's set fast again.



   I tested the AR assembly and it seems to function just fine. I left the phenolic under gear washer in place. That material will perform as well as any under a gear. It's hard and slick, won't compress, perfect for the task.

 

   And here is the full gear stack, ready to rock. I greased the HT100s with Cal's, the main and pinion got Penn blue, and just about everything else got a thin synthetic oil. I've found greasing the clutch mechanism on this type reel just collects a bunch of debris, oiling seems to work better.

 

   I used an aftermarket power handle intended for light catfishing. The finished reel feels like a well tuned Ambassadeur, and the drag feels really smooth too. I think these Millionaires are a great Ambassadeur alternative...but parts are elusive.

[Alto Mare]

Nice tutorial and pictures Mo...good job!

[George6308]

It's one in a million!!  Nice job

[nelz]

Gotta love those old Millionaires! The 6 stack drags and later the one-piece aluminum frames out-classed the Ambassadeurs. But I believe Daiwa did get sued actually, if I'm not mistaken, for copying Abu.

You are too nice not demanding a refund! Btw, you know sometimes you can negotiate a partial refund if you really want to keep it as is.

[philaroman]

I worry about over-cleaning brass bushes to the point of "increasing the gap", however minutely
what's too abrasive / too often
toothpaste/soda is certainly mild enough for a thorough after-purchase tear-down,
but what would be even gentler, for yearly maintenance
...jewelers' polishing compound, maybe?

[mhc]

Great tutorial Mo, you do a really good job of bringing these old baitcasters back to life.
Nice work saving the dog post on this one.

    
I think these Millionaires are a great Ambassadeur alternative...but parts are elusive.

I wonder if any of the parts are interchangeable?

Mike

[Ron Jones]

I love the way you put that together. Need to ditch the level wind.
Ron

[ReelClean]

Great tutorial Mo, you do a really good job of bringing these old baitcasters back to life.
Nice work saving the dog post on this one.

    
I think these Millionaires are a great Ambassadeur alternative...but parts are elusive.

I wonder if any of the parts are interchangeable?

Mike

There was a legend going around that ABU was having a bit of a disagreement with a manufacturer (It could have been Daiwa or Chinese knockoff) and allegedly ABU rocked up to the negotiations with the two makers reels , broke them down, threw the parts in a bag and mixed them up, then reassembled them with random parts.  They both supposedly worked perfectly. 
cheers
Steve

[oc1]

I worry about over-cleaning brass bushes to the point of "increasing the gap", however minutely
what's too abrasive / too often
toothpaste/soda is certainly mild enough for a thorough after-purchase tear-down,
but what would be even gentler, for yearly maintenance
...jewelers' polishing compound, maybe?

I've used the red jewelers rouge a lot.  It works well but gets all over everything and has to be cleaned off with a solvent.  Now, I just run a bamboo skewer or piece of soft wood chucked into a cordless drill through the brass bushing.  If the wood is a tight fit it will get rid of any baked on grunge and shine it up a bit.
-steve

[philaroman]

I've used the red jewelers rouge a lot.  It works well but gets all over everything and has to be cleaned off with a solvent.  Now, I just run a bamboo skewer or piece of soft wood chucked into a cordless drill through the brass bushing.  If the wood is a tight fit it will get rid of any baked on grunge and shine it up a bit.
-steve

thanks, just what I needed to know

sounds like rouge is worth the mess for my rare encounter w/ spool bushings

& toothpaste or skewers will do the trick for spinners

[mo65]

There was a legend going around that ABU was having a bit of a disagreement with a manufacturer (It could have been Daiwa or Chinese knockoff) and allegedly ABU rocked up to the negotiations with the two makers reels , broke them down, threw the parts in a bag and mixed them up, then reassembled them with random parts.  They both supposedly worked perfectly.  
cheers
Steve

  Interesting. All you'd have to do is determine which model Ambassadeur you particular Millionaire was copying...probably not a fast task...both manufacturers have umpteen gazillion models of these reels.

   Thanks everyone for the compliments and interest!

   

[Robert Janssen]

Like a lot of legends, there was a bit more to it.
Len B told me this story himself, and wrote more about it in his book. It was in 1963, the name of the company making knockoffs starts with D and ends with aiwa. Len went to a meeting with the company execs in Japan, pulled the mixing parts trick, and told them he would be happy to do it again on live TV show he was guesting that evening. Luckily, he didn't need to.

[mo65]

It was in 1963.

Did the millionaire come out in '63 Robert? I read on an Orca Reel Talk post the first Millionaire (the green V) came out in '73. That same post said my 3H came out in '76. Whatever the dating actually is, it's good to hear the parts are so interchangeable. I need a few bearing parts...retainers and o-rings and such.

[Robert Janssen]

I don't know; I wasn't there. But upon closer inspection, the book says, shortly after 1963. Feel free to interpret thereafter.

[nelz]

Mo, just curious, what's inside the other side-plate?