DIY CT Conversion

[Breadfan]

Kurt, if my idea comes out decently, Imma shoot you a couple to try to break.

Love to try them!

[Breadfan]

Partially related, just because I know the abu folks who would know the answer are reading this thread:

Are there any higher ratio gears that'll fit in my '73 5000C? As i think about this more I'm not sure i wanna cast super far on a reel that retrieves at like 12" per turn.

I think they do Jason, maybe start a new thread with a schematic so we can figure it out. I've upgraded newer Abus so hopefully it can be done.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I found an older thread that described exactly the swap i wanna make. I am again blessed by the knowledge base that is this forum. It just took some effort because all the search terms are words that come up a lot in conversation.

Edit: meant to post the link
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=11068.0

[Bryan Young]

this is a very interesting topic.  I might try it.  One that kills me from doing this is I have damaged so many gear sets catching rock cod with 4-5# of drag to bring up them lines.  If the gears were stronger, I'd definitely give it a go.

[tincanary]

this is a very interesting topic.  I might try it.  One that kills me from doing this is I have damaged so many gear sets catching rock cod with 4-5# of drag to bring up them lines.  If the gears were stronger, I'd definitely give it a go.

Rocket Reel Company out of England makes a set of 5.3s with a stainless main gear and hardened bronze pinion.  It's a recommended upgrade I do for the king salmon and musky fishermen where I live.  Never had a set come back in feeling like a coffee grinder.  They are noisy gears, but smooth and tough.  https://www.therocketreelcompany.com/product/gear-set/

[funhog]

I'm enjoying this topic and understand what going on, but I can't figure out what the terms, CL and CT stand for.  Im sure its something obvious but its annoying me second guessing. A couple of quick searches produced nothing. Please clear-up this vocabulary problem I have, and Thanks for all the input on an interesting topic.

[Swami805]

There's a sticky with AbU nomenclature in this section

[Breadfan]

C= bearings
L= Level wind cage or frame
T= Non-level wind cage or "open cage", some say "Tournament Cage" or "Tournament Frame".
So, A CL is bearings and Level wind cage.
and a CT is bearings with an open cage, or non level wind cage.

I think I have this right.

[funhog]

Thank you, Swami805! clarity is a wonderful thing!I found the sticky page

[Breadfan]

this is a very interesting topic.  I might try it.  One that kills me from doing this is I have damaged so many gear sets catching rock cod with 4-5# of drag to bring up them lines.  If the gears were stronger, I'd definitely give it a go.

This has me asking questions not pertaining to this thread so I think I'll start another.

[Fish-aholic]

Have you considered replacing the LW cage with a designated CT cage rather than hacksawing a good LW one to fit aftermarket conversion bars?

The cost will be similar and having the ability to revert back to using a LW again for those times reel could be used for bait fishing where line guiding manually becomes tiring can be a good option to still have further down the road.

Sorry, but not even close. Custom CT conversion bar is 20 bucks plus shipping. CT cages are 4X that if not more, when you can find one, and billet frames are a hundred for Rocket and go from there. If you find good CT cages for 20 bucks I'll take 50 right now.

$80 plus for stock Abu CT cages? They are nowhere near such costs here in the UK where I reside. You could buy a excellent condition reel 2nd hand with a CT cage already on it for that kind of money and have change left over.

I did so a month ago having bought an excellent conditioned blue Abu 6500CT elite for $79 (£65 posted).

Different market here in the UK when small baitcasting reels are converted and used for tournament casting. Sorry to hear the availability and cost is not the same on your side of the pond

[Breadfan]

[/quote]

$80 plus for stock Abu CT cages? They are nowhere near such costs here in the UK where I reside. You could buy a excellent condition reel 2nd hand with a CT cage already on it for that kind of money and have change left over.

I did so a month ago having bought an excellent conditioned blue Abu 6500CT elite for $79 (£65 posted).

Different market here in the UK when small baitcasting reels are converted and used for tournament casting. Sorry to hear the availability and cost is not the same on your side of the pond


[/quote]

That's a damn good deal.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Looks like I forgot to take those threaded sleeves out of my shopping cart when I ordered some Christmas gifts. I guess I'll be making my own after all.

[thorhammer]

Have you considered replacing the LW cage with a designated CT cage rather than hacksawing a good LW one to fit aftermarket conversion bars?

The cost will be similar and having the ability to revert back to using a LW again for those times reel could be used for bait fishing where line guiding manually becomes tiring can be a good option to still have further down the road.

Sorry, but not even close. Custom CT conversion bar is 20 bucks plus shipping. CT cages are 4X that if not more, when you can find one, and billet frames are a hundred for Rocket and go from there. If you find good CT cages for 20 bucks I'll take 50 right now.

$80 plus for stock Abu CT cages? They are nowhere near such costs here in the UK where I reside. You could buy a excellent condition reel 2nd hand with a CT cage already on it for that kind of money and have change left over.

I did so a month ago having bought an excellent conditioned blue Abu 6500CT elite for $79 (£65 posted).

Different market here in the UK when small baitcasting reels are converted and used for tournament casting. Sorry to hear the availability and cost is not the same on your side of the pond

I think the CT, Rockets, etc. in general were a lot more available in UK than here. On the rare occasion a Mag Elite surfaces, it's 150 USD and has been fished. Haven't seen a Blue Yonder pop up in a long while that wasn't beaten down. Casting 8-n-bait and not using braid is sort of a niche market- some in the Northeast and some in Florida, but the majority are concentrated on the NC Outer Banks for drum fishing. While you're standing shoulder to shoulder at The Point in Buxton, it seems like a lot of people, but in reality, the numbers aren't that high for people throwing them vs. spinning reels which ware used universally. In the 80-2000's there weren't many magged reels readily available here besides the Magpowers and Magforce, plus centrifugal SLOSH. There were even still an amount of Squidders on the piers and beach 20 years ago.  When the 525 Mag came out a lot of people went that way, including me. Now you've got Omoto, Akios, Squall, Fathom, Siegler, and others besides the used market and people modifying their own like us.  I'd love to find them at your prices

[r_shackleford]

Looks like I forgot to take those threaded sleeves out of my shopping cart when I ordered some Christmas gifts. I guess I'll be making my own after all.

Please post updates if you get a change to try this out. I've have not been able to devote a lot of time to my CT conversions plans since I posted, but I do have a plan for a jig so that I can drill and tap stainless rod stock to make a heavy duty CT bar. I just got a great deal on a gently used, new style C3 6500 which has got me motivated to get it converted before the Pompano really start heating up here.