Zebco Cardinal 4 - Spinning rotor feels unbalanced

[jtwill98]

Not knowing anything about the Zebco Cardinal series spinning reels, I saw a Cardinal 4 at our local auction site and bought it for a reasonable price.

Upon receiving it, I noticed that when the rotor spins it feels unbalanced. It it missing some paint, but I don't think that would make that big of a difference. Is there something I should check when I break it down for service? 

[foakes]

Tom is the North American expert on these —- however, I work on some also.

Finished a couple up last week.

The rotor counterweight is not separate in these 4's. 

So the unbalanced rotation issue may be related to something worn, bent, or missing.

These are not hard to work on, Tommy gives us a lot of tutorial information.  The hardest thing if you have never been into one of these —- is removing & reinstalling the drag stack.  There is a systematic, kind of un-intuitive process that needs to be followed so that things are not broken, bent or in the wrong order.  The screw that holds the drag knob on is a counter-clockwise thread.  The fulcrum and fulcrum spacer need to be in a certain reassembly order which involves rotation and doing a couple to get the game down pat.

Shouldn't be any vibration or imbalance, whatsoever.

Very well made and smooth reels.

I should have any parts needed —- outside of spools.

I never recommend the factory plastic spools for these —- unless it is going to be a shelf-plinth princess.

Aftermarket aluminum is the only way to go —- if one intends to fish the reel confidently.

Post some photos of the reel and the inside of the rotor.

Best, Fred

[Midway Tommy]

Fred is pretty much on the money with his comments, other than me being the North American expert. 

About the only time I've ever seen a balance or wobble issue is if there's a worn part or the rotor cup has a bent side or has worn so much that one side has flattened on the outside. Usually if the rotor is bent it will rub on the spool. The drag stack can be a little tricky but the tutorials explains the process well. Make sure you get the small washer on the correct side of the connecting link block.

[jtwill98]

I have it currently opened and other than dirt inside the rotor cup and some wear near the bail release, I haven't noticed anything bent or out of the ordinary. 

With the main gear not installed, if I spin the rotor, it will always want to rotate with the bail release down.
 
This to me this means the rotor is heavier on the bail release side. It may be normal and it might be that I'm sensitive to it as I have several Mitchell 308s or 408s where I saw something similar.

On the Mitchells, I was able to remove some material off the internal counter-balance weight inside to balance the rotor.

I just don't have any experience with this reel to know if its me or the reel.  It's not really horrible, it's just something I noticed and wanted to know what to look out for.

I will finish the cleaning, put it together and take it from there.

[Gfish]

Seems like 1/2 the stuff I get from da Bay, has issues that might make the seller(or even the person they got it from) wanna get rid of it. Dealing with a worm gear drive reel right now that has no apparent way to adjust the spool height for relatively even line lay. It's way off. Did they replace it with a taller spool from a larger model? Who knows? Cause it sure fits right. Or maybe a slightly longer spool shaft? Could the bail arm be tweaked? I just godda research it, then fool around with the parts until I find out. Kinda my fault. I didn't pay attention to the picture which would have indicated that issue as it had 3/4's of a full spool of very angled line.