carbontex on Torium 30 is getting thinner

[Marko]

Okay... this torium already upgraded with trinidad pawl and spring from Mr. AT.

using carbontex drag washer, it's been already one year with very minimum usage of this reel. maybe only 5 trips until now with two or three strike only -but not  trolling, only with dead bait rigging.

last night, i checked all my gears as next week i'm having trip to Sunda Strait and indian ocean. i measure using scale and i found out maximum drag was only 3,5 kg or approximately 8 lb. i said WT?.......

so i opened my reel today, check everything- which was okay, but i noticed that the carbontex drag washer was only 0,74 mm thick. i compared with a brand new carbontex and it was showing 1 mm thick. where the 0,26 mm go? is it over compressed?

anyway i also noticed the two spacer ring plate between the star drag adjuster and bearing is getting a bit flattenned. i decided to add 1 sheet of carbontex a bit smaller than what is used after the first carbontex on the bronze drive gear. is it ok? i re measured max drag and i made it over 13 kilogram of drag for now (almost 30 lbs). but at low drag, it's heavy to turn the handle. at high drag it's much lighter.

any other ideas? i really appriciate it.

thanks

[Keta]

Did you leave the drag compressed?

Shimming with a piece of Carbontex is better than having a lot off clearance but SS shim washers are better.


I hope you have a fun and productive trip, photos photos.

[Marko]

Did you leave the drag compressed?

Shimming with a piece of Carbontex is better than having a lot off clearance but SS shim washers are better.


I hope you have a fun and productive trip, photos photos.

leaving the drag compressed? nope- as i remembered. but ya know, the reel was in the office... perhaps some guys just playin with it....

okay.. i'll try to get the SS shim washer also... but this is temporary patch... but i'll try it for 1 trip. sure, foto's will be posted later... to make everybody interested to came fishing here hihihi......

[Eatmycatch]

I am by far no expert in this area but what Keta asked you was going to be my question...

if you leave the drag in the torqued position and store it away... in time the fiber washers will become "that size".. if you wash out your reel with a little fresh water after the use to get off the salt,,,,then back all the way off of the drag, it should expand back to it's normal size as it dries. Also Alans suggestion of a very light drag greasing keeps these drags from drying up into smashed pieces of crud  & will allow them to come back to their normal size...If you only used your reel 3 times and didn't have many strikes that seems like a lot of amount of drag to lose in such a short period of time.

PS- Tell your workers... you can look but no touch!