Shimano parts - What's the status in your part of the world?

[Jon_Kol]

As the subject says - How easy / difficult is it for you to get hold of Shimano spare parts where you live?

There's been a lot of change in regards to Shimano here in Scandinavia, and the result is that spare parts and what's available of them, has changed, but not for the better.

I'm hoping to get hold of some parts to the previous model of the Torium 20, but I'm not holding my breath.. 

[happyhooker]

Here in Minnesota (US), I find Shimano parts for anything but the very newest reels impossible to get from Shimano.  Even reels that, in the past, have been described as having "never fail" parts, do not have any parts stocked, making the "never fail" moniker a real joke.

Frank

[boon]

Trivial for most parts. The local Shimano agent holds good stock for anything sold here for the last couple of generations. Pricing can be a little bit rough. For anything odd, Plat is fast and cheap.

Shimano has a LOT of overlap of parts between models. Their recent changeover of parts numbers has made things tricky if you're requesting parts from labels on old schematics, though.

[thorhammer]

You take your chance when you buy shimano. We can get Penn parts for Senators made in the 1930's.

[Cor]

Here in Cape Town this has forever been a problem.   Shimano seem to place area restrictions on their appointed agents and have here also changed their agents at least 3 times that I know of.   Often parts are just not available from wherever they need to order it.

I have source parts for my own reels from Netherlands, UK, & USA which becomes a very expensive mission.   Netherlands works the best for me as I go there from time to time but it forces me to keep stock of EUR250 worth of stock parts.

I am now fishing a lot less and am accordingly also needing fewer parts

I think I once asked you this before, but why can't you order parts from Netherlands or elsewhere?   Surely you have an efficient postal system which is something we can not boast of.

[foakes]

Imagine purchasing a spinning reel for $1000 to $1300 —- then very quickly parts are no longer available or manufacturer supported?

Shimano Stella.

And these are not easy reels to work on with 3 times the parts of other spinners.

If you just set it on a shelf and never fished it —- the parts would never be needed.  But few of us do that.

The blame lies in the mindset of the consumers who will put up with this type of "no-support" —- along with corporations that have done studies that show consumers don't care or expect as much as they have a right to have.

But this is true in many types of products in the world today.

Some new cars have transmissions that you cannot check the fluid on.  They are sealed and supposed to last forever...right?

Here is my personal opinion —-

For conventional reels —- Penn, Okuma, Accurate.

For spinning reels —- some of the new Penns, and also the vintage reels from the time when reels were manufactured to last a couple of lifetimes of fishing.  This would include Penn, Mitchell, ABU-Zebco Cardinals, and DAM Quick.

Of course, these don't cost nearly as much as the Shimano's —-

But the knowledgeable angler needs to figure this out for themselves.  And that is hard after spending a lot of money for a reel —- and not really wanting to toss it aside.  Instead, they keep trying to make it work and struggle finding parts quickly, easily, reasonably, as well as available.

I can buy 6 - 10 reels of excellent quality for what I might pay for an expensive Shimano.  And I don't need to buy 10 —- just 3 or 4 would cover my fishing for a lifetime —- with $$$ to spare.

Gone are the days when we used to hold Saturday morning repair clinics with the Shimano reps at tackle shops.  Folks would bring in reels for free repairs —- and if not repairable easily —- Shimano would just hand them a new comparable reel, at no charge.

Everything changes —- sometimes for the better of the consumers —- oftentimes for the betterment of the profit-motivated corporations.

Best, Fred

[Lunker Larry]

Shimano Canada Fish Shop went to hell in a hand cart after Covid when they changed their part numbers.
Go to a common popular reel like the Tranx 400 and at least half the parts listed on the schematic reads "out of stock" with an availability date that has proved to be completely unreliable or "Discontinued".
I waited 9 months for a AR pawl for a Tranx. That and shipping has gone up from $9.99 for even a .99 part to $14.99. Pretty brutal
Seeing the same on discontinued parts with Daiwa. Recently tried to get a pinion for a Lexa 300 HS-P but found out it is discontinued. Ended up squaring off the rounded edges on the bottom with my dremel and so far so good. 
Agree with Fred. You can still rely on Okuma and Penn.

[boon]

Imagine purchasing a spinning reel for $1000 to $1300 —- then very quickly parts are no longer available or manufacturer supported?

Shimano Stella.

And these are not easy reels to work on with 3 times the parts of other spinners.

You can still get parts (some, not all) for the original 2001 Stella. The previous generation SW (2013) is still completely supported, with all parts available, despite it being superseded in 2019. I guess I just have different expectations on manufacturers as to what is a reasonable level of parts support for a reel.

I'll consider buying a modern Penn when they exceed 50% of the fishing performance of their japanese competition

[jurelometer]

Hey Boon,

Looking at the OP's model:

Shimano USA has marked the spool and pinion for the Torium 20 as discontinued. These are probably two of the more common parts needing replacement due to the pinion getting corroded to the spool spindle. 

The independent USA parts suppliers that I am aware of basically offer a subset of the parts available from Shimano . So no joy here in the USA.

Are you able to order a Torium 20 spool and pinion in NZ?

-J

[boon]

I can definitely get a pinion (10AHD) and main gear (109DF) - they show in stock on fishshop.shimano.com as well?

I'll ask about the spool.

[jurelometer]

It would be interesting if Shimano's commitment to parts was regional.

[Midway Tommy]

Imagine purchasing a spinning reel for $1000 to $1300 —- then very quickly parts are no longer available or manufacturer supported?

Shimano Stella.

And these are not easy reels to work on with 3 times the parts of other spinners.

If you just set it on a shelf and never fished it —- the parts would never be needed.  But few of us do that.

The blame lies in the mindset of the consumers who will put up with this type of "no-support" —- along with corporations that have done studies that show consumers don't care or expect as much as they have a right to have.



Here is my personal opinion —-

For conventional reels —- Penn, Okuma, Accurate.

For spinning reels —- some of the new Penns, and also the vintage reels from the time when reels were manufactured to last a couple of lifetimes of fishing.  This would include Penn, Mitchell, ABU-Zebco Cardinals, and DAM Quick.

Of course, these don't cost nearly as much as the Shimano's —-

But the knowledgeable angler needs to figure this out for themselves.  And that is hard after spending a lot of money for a reel —- and not really wanting to toss it aside.  Instead, they keep trying to make it work and struggle finding parts quickly, easily, reasonably, as well as available.

I can buy 6 - 10 reels of excellent quality for what I might pay for an expensive Shimano.  And I don't need to buy 10 —- just 3 or 4 would cover my fishing for a lifetime —- with $$$ to spare.

Gone are the days when we used to hold Saturday morning repair clinics with the Shimano reps at tackle shops.  Folks would bring in reels for free repairs —- and if not repairable easily —- Shimano would just hand them a new comparable reel, at no charge.

Everything changes —- sometimes for the better of the consumers —- oftentimes for the betterment of the profit-motivated corporations.

Best, Fred

That's the exact reason why I never have and never will own a Shimano reel, and Daiwa is starting to become similar with part availability.

I've always found the old war horses from the '60s thru the '80s were much more reliable and, even though they are a little older, parts are much easier to find, if by some strange reason a guy needs to find one. 

[boon]

It would be interesting if Shimano's commitment to parts was regional.

Confirmed spools are available, somewhat expensive though to the point of approaching uneconomic to repair. A pinion, drive gear (to avoid a wear mismatch) and spool is approaching half the cost of a new Torium 20A. I'm actually refurbing one at the moment but I doubt the owner will approve the cost, it will probably go out with some fresh grease, a corroded spool and noisy gears.

They have a small number and it sounds like when they're gone there won't be any more.

This is the crux of capitalism though. Let's look at repair vs replace - as above, spool + gears is ~half the cost of a new Torium. Factor in labor to strip and service the reel, plus the inevitable couple of bearings and you're probably looking at close to 75% the cost. As a consumer it makes no sense not to just get a new reel unless you have a particular sentimental attachment to it, in which case buying donor reels on the second-hand market is probably your best way forward, and therefore it does not make economic sense for the manufacturer to continue holding parts. The inventory will just sit on the shelf (costing them money) because the vast majority of anglers choose to simply replace rather than repair once reels reach a certain age.

The "new" Torium is 9 years old already - man, where did the time go?

[Cor]

It would be interesting if Shimano's commitment to parts was regional.

That is indeed my perception and understanding.

I bought stuff from a UK concern, then suddenly I was told that they were not allowed to sell outside the UK.

[Jon_Kol]

A quick update on my part;

I've gotten some good info from a service tech in Sweden, who's been really helpful regarding updating me on the situation, when it comes to reel parts available.

A few things have changed since we had Shimano parts stocked here in Norway. The biggest difference is that back then (the arrangement ended 2 years ago), I could order parts as I needed them, and from one part, to as many as I needed.

Now quite a few of the smaller parts are arranged in bags that cannot be opened, to sell individual parts, so I have to buy the whole (small) bag. I really lost hope there for a while, because I read the Excel sheet in a way that the prices listed, were per item. Luckily, I had misunderstood, and the prices were for the complete bag per part. For me, it's actually not a bad deal - I am always in need of shims, washers etc for reel repairs.

I made my first order for the Torium 20 earlier this week, and I hope that it will arrive shortly. The tech wrote that he would also send me some reel grease and oil, which was a nice gesture. From what I read about a year ago, I believe that Shimano will stock parts for reels that are 5 years old or newer, but I don't know this 100% for sure.

So I hope that it will be possible to get hold of various parts after all