Shimano TLD 20/25

[erikpowell]

Hi Alan & gang,
In the last few months, i've seen 3 TLD 20 & 25's  that have the main gear seized inside the brass collar of the right side plate.
Two I've successfully dislodged by freezing the side plate for awhile then tapping the gear out with a plastic mallet.
One of those in question was a charter reel (65 lb braid) that a client hooked a big shark on, shark took a run, then the reel seized while the captain wasn't looking. That reel is fixed and still fishing.

The most recent reel (spooled with 20lb mono) belongs to an experienced friend who's son who had a mahimahi on...same thing..handle seized while the fish was running. This reel was out of the box new, freshly spooled and 8lb drag setting (unverified).

The freeze method didn't work for this reel though.... I tapped, and the entire molded-in collar popped out.  
...now it needs a new side plate.
Our friendly local shop is going to warranty this reel... but either way.....

What gives? I've been through heaps of these reels for people, I own 4 myself, & this seems to be a new problem to me.
I'm assuming these folks are reeling against the drag to achieve this...but not entirely sure, so I've come to the experts!
How common is this, and is there a reliable fix when it does?
Thanks!

[redsetta]

G'day Erik,
Like you, I've been through loads of these and not found this problem.
However, Alan's come across something similar with the Malaysian models, here: http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=317.0
On a side note, I've recently had two (Malaysian manufactured) 20s that had the short main shaft problem mentioned here: http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=4329.0
They'd both stripped out the bottom half of the square hole on the cam, as they only had a fraction of contact...
It appears some newer models don't have the same manufacturing spec as older versions.
It's a pity as these were great reels historically.
Hope that's of some assistance.
Cheers, Justin

[alantani]

sounds you got a reel that was assembled dry. 

30-40 years ago, when cars were not built by robots, i remember hearing that you should never buy a car that was built on monday or friday.  you might have gotten something similar. 

[erikpowell]

Thanks Justin, i hadn't seen that post about the main shafts.. interesting, i'll have a look at my spare shafts & compare... mine have all come from shimano.au as well..and i've got a few tld's in various states of repair i can check.

and yes...alan is right..again...the reel in question was bone dry inside...save for a tiny blob of grease right where its needed most....on the plastic side plate...

what a shame...they are ruining the TLD reputation.. for a lot of us who really like these reels.

Cheers
Erik