Ambassadeur 12, upgrading drag washers, but with what?

[Mandelstam]

So I took out the box with my disassembled Ambassadeur 12 to go over what I need to get before reassembly. I want to upgrade the drag stack but not sure with what. There are three washers out of some kind of fiber material and then one that looks to be made out of leather or some kind of fabric coated on one side.

The "leather" washer looks to be in ok shape but can I upgrade it to something else?



Parts #4565, 4567, and 4569


Part #4565, washer out of leather?
One side


Other side

[mo65]

The "leather" washer looks to be in ok shape but can I upgrade it to something else?

   I'm not familiar with that model, but Smooth Drag makes carbon fiber kits for most of the popular Ambassadeur models. More than likely you can find a fit...if not...you can always trim a carbon fiber to replace that leather washer. To be honest, I think those stock hard fiber washers work about as well as carbon fiber, BUT, they perform better for me when left dry. Grease tends to increase the "start up", and oil makes them chatter.

[Mandelstam]

The "leather" washer looks to be in ok shape but can I upgrade it to something else?

   I'm not familiar with that model, but Smooth Drag makes carbon fiber kits for most of the popular Ambassadeur models. More than likely you can find a fit...if not...you can always trim a carbon fiber to replace that leather washer. To be honest, I think those stock hard fiber washers work about as well as carbon fiber, BUT, they perform better for me when left dry. Grease tends to increase the "start up", and oil makes them chatter.

Thanks for the reply!

I've checked Smooth Drag's list and they don't have any washers for this model (Ambassadeur 12/NINE/TEN). I totally get that because I don't think the demand would be very big.

I might get some carbontex sheets and make new ones.

Since I made this post I found another post discussing replacing the under gear leather washer with CF and the vote was devided but most seemed to be for replacing it with CF. So I might do that.

[Gfish]

Those 3 hard fiber drag washers look just like ones from a mid-80's Ambassadeur Ultra Mag I have. I think the quality of materials from Abu has been for the most part good in the reels I've gotten into. Even the graphite composite materials. But these washers, seemingly durable, I was unable to get "smoothness" out of. I'd replace with carbon-fiber.

[Mandelstam]

Those 3 hard fiber drag washers look just like ones from a mid-80's Ambassadeur Ultra Mag I have. I think the quality of materials from Abu has been for the most part good in the reels I've gotten into. Even the graphite composite materials. But these washers, seemingly durable, I was unable to get "smoothness" out of. I'd replace with carbon-fiber.

Yes, they are very smooth.

I'll replace them all but save the original just in case and just to preserve them.

Thanks!

[Gfish]

You betcha!
I beat my Ultra Mag 1/2 to death, fishin' it hard(outside damage), rebuilding it several times when I was unknowledgeable and impatient(stripped screws, etc.), but I never got over how technologicaly cool the levelwind system and several other features were. So, now I have a smaller version comming from eBay.

Also, my focus on collectiong is moving towards "new in box" vintage[sic] reels(very slow and expensive way to collect) and I have an early '60's Amassadeur 5000A that's comming from the bay as well(pretty cool---a leather case for a box!). I already have a "for fishin" '73 version that impresses me as being technologically advanced yet tough.