REPLACING AVET 50 CARBONTEX DRAG WASHERS

[josa1]

Today, I completed changing out the carbontex drag washers on my Avet 50 fishing reel.

I use this reel, almost solely, to troll big lures for wahoo.  On my last trip (too long ago!) I was trolling a 220 gram Nomad lure that has very high resistance as it is pulled through the water at trolling speed.  I discovered that while I was trolling, the Avet 50 drag was worn to the point that I could barely keep line from being pulled from the reel spool.  This even with the drag buttoned down as tightly as I could get it and the lever pushed completely into the maximum drag position.  This Avet is a great reel, and even with the drag problems I was experiencing I hooked and landed several nice fish on it.

Though I thought that the greased carbontex drag material was pretty impervious to wear, I decided to change it to see if better performance could be obtained.

As you may know, the Avet 50 has two rotating drag washers that are permanently affixed to metal backing plates.  These washers are pushed against a stationary drag plate with varying degrees of force to obtain the amount of drag required.

Before the thought occurred that this project would make a decent post on Mr. Tani's site, I had removed the drag washer from the inner drag plate and installed the new washer.  The drag plate on the left has the new washer applied.  Note the difference in appearance of drag material between the old and new.  The weave of the new material on the left is much more coarse and the interceding valleys are deeper.  The 0ld drag washer on the right is much more "slick" and the valleys are nearly nonexistant.  The drag on the right has been used since the reel was new and, to me, displays signs of normal wear.  This drag washer has caught many fish over its lifetime.



Here is a picture of the "worn" drag washer which was removed from the inner drag plate.  Note that glazing and wear are evident throughout the washer.  I believe this deterioration is conclusive evidence that if proper drag performance was to be maintained, replacement of the washer was necessary.


Now, I will document the procedure I used to replace the drag washers. Please remember that these drag plates/drag washers can be purchased at Avet.  But, as I've noted in other posts, I like to tinker with these things!

The first surprising discovery that I made as I began to remove the drag washers from the drag plates was that there were actually two drag washers on each drag backing plate.  The outer drag washer had a phenolic back and was attached to the inner drag washer with a lighter grade adhesive and popped off the inner washer in its entirety and with ease.  The inner drag washer was attached to the metal drag plate with a very strong adhesive and was destroyed during the removal.

This is inside of the outer washer...


Here I use one of the more rigid blades of my trusty knife to remove the inner drag washer from the drag plate.
 

I was able to remove the inner drag washer without much trouble.  Note there is still debris on the drag plate that must be cleaned prior to installing the new washer.


Here, the metal drag plate has been cleaned using the implements pictured.



I attached the drag washers to the metal backing plates using this twelve hour, slow cure, two part epoxy, which I purchased at Tru Value hardware store.


I applied the epoxy using a flux brush that I had trimmed down to about 1/3 of its normal length to get the extra stiffness needed to spread the epoxy around on the backing plate.


I only applied epoxy to the metal backing plate.  After installing the drag material on the plate I rotated the material back and forth to bond the two pieces together.  I then used a heavy duty C clamp, the fixed drag washer, and a wire brush handle to maintain LIGHT pressure on the assembly while the epoxy cured.  I let both drag plates set over night before removing the clamp.


Here, both new drag washers are greased with Cal's and are ready to install.


First step of the reassembly.  I think this drag washer looks great!

 

Here, the reel has been fully reassembled.


Testing:  Attached the reel to my drag test scale and found the drag performance to be vastly improved.  Total drag at the strike position, while just maintaining free spool, was approximately 39 pounds.  When the lever was pushed into the "FULL" position the drag was approximately 48 pounds.  At this point I was a little nervous because a lot of force was required to make the drag slip.


This seems very satisfactory to me and I'm quite happy with the outcome.  Now, I just need someone to take me wahoo fishing!

Josa1

[Keta]

Nice!!!

One thing I do different is I have 1" thick sections of steel shaft turned to the diameter of the CF washers I use when clamping the CF to eliminate any flexing and insure a flat surface.  It looks like it might be overkill, yours looks flat. 

So far the largest reel I have done are Avet JXs.

[sciaenops]

Good stuff! Just picked up a Pro EX 30/2 as a heavy duty reel for my buddy. Hope he puts it to good use.