Tierra 4000

[kenwahoo]

Had a need for a 4000 size reel and saw this on Ebay at a reasonable price so bought it. Lucky I do my own servicing as the first thing I did was to check the drag washers. At this level they are oiled felt but this one was dried out!! It's a brand new reel from a dealer, so how old is his stock?! Anyway, I oiled the washers and given they were dry I thought I better open it and check everything including bearings. I'm still coming to grips with the various oils and grease available but used Cal's for the gears and a lighter grease for the bearings. Reel felt a lot smoother. Didn't touch the anti-reverse though as from past experience too much oil here stops it working properly. I must have made a little mistake putting back the anti-reverse as now the switch makes no difference. I can't wind handle back to let line out so I now have permanent anti-reverse. No detriment to my style of fishing. Anyway, top of the range Saltigas are permanent anti reverse. So moral of the story is that no matter how new your reel is it needs to be serviced before your first fish!! 

One aspect of reel disappoints me and that is the reel knob. It came with a rubber T but the size is the same as that on Daiwa's 1500 reel. I know this as I have a 1500 Certate with the same T handle. For goodness sake this is a 4000 size reel, why is Daiwa putting on such inadequate handle on a bigger reel. Wrote off to Daiwa to complain but no answer. Anyway I resolved it by shaping one of the champagne corks. Had to sand overall shape by hand first and then slowly dig out. Not as easy as you may think as the T handle is tapered and I had to guess how much to dig out. No tool to make adequate measurements. It's all done and handle feels comfortable. The good thing about this is that should the cork knob deteriorate I can easily make another one.