Avets SX5.3 MC -Locking the drag problem

[JCfish]

Avets SX5.3 MC
I have got a couple of the above and overall find them excellent . The only thing I don't like is that I find you cant lock down the drag without making the handle stiffer to wind. When fishing rough ground I like to screw the drag all the way up (so that it gives no line) so I can drag the fish off the bottom quickly away from the snags. With star drag multipliers this is easily done with no side effects but the lever drag it makes the handle stiff to turn. Is there a way of locking up the drag without impacting on the winding in? I 'm basically looking for free spool for casting and locked spool for winding in. I would happily modify the real to lose the drag functionality to keep the winding in resistance the same. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[akfish]

This happens on **all** lever drags and there is really nothing that can be done about it. If you increase the drag too much, you crunch the pinion (side plate) bearing and cause handle bind. With the SX that occurs at about 9 pounds of drag at strike. If you need more drag than that, you need a different reel.

[SoCalAngler]

All non Raptor Avet SX, MXJ and MXL's have the same drags and were designed to fish up to around 9-10 lbs of drag pressure at strike which will increase to around 15 lbs at full. Any more drag pressure than that and you will blow out the right side/pinion bearing sonner or later, more sonner than later. A star drag is a different desing than a lever drag and does not put "side load" on this bearing when buttoned down. So long story short, nope there is not much can do about it other than upgrade to a Raptor which will give you much more drag pressure but will develope side load if you go over the drag rating for those reel. The "side load" issue is not just a Avet thing it is a issue with all lever drag reels.

Edit: Opps it looks like AK beat me too it......yep what he said.

[Bryan Young]

A thrust bearing combination with the pinion bearing may solve the issue. I haven't found an affordable option yet.

Bryan

[Keta]

Angular contact mini bearings.

[alantani]

that would solve all of avet's problems immediately.  either that, or a pair of thrust bearings and a pair of standard ball bearings. 

[JCfish]

Thank you for your responses - I must admit i'm not entirely clear - would the 2 solutions suggested (thrust bearings and angular contact bearings ) actually stop the stiffer winding in when the the drag is set very hard or would they just prevent damage to the reel when it is set hard?

[akfish]

The problem is that you won't be able to find thrust or angular bearings for that reel. They simply are not available. It's a great little light line, light drag reel, nothing more.

[dobrobill]

All non Raptor Avet SX, MXJ and MXL's have the same drags and were designed to fish up to around 9-10 lbs of drag pressure at strike which will increase to around 15 lbs at full. Any more drag pressure than that and you will blow out the right side/pinion bearing sonner or later, more sonner than later. A star drag is a different desing than a lever drag and does not put "side load" on this bearing when buttoned down. So long story short, nope there is not much can do about it other than upgrade to a Raptor which will give you much more drag pressure but will develope side load if you go over the drag rating for those reel. The "side load" issue is not just a Avet thing it is a issue with all lever drag reels.

Edit: Opps it looks like AK beat me too it......yep what he said.

IF what you say is true all the companys are lieing about their specs which is wrong, just plain wrong. If they advertise full at 15 it should be able to work properly at the full 15.  I have not seen the inside of the Raptor but doesn't it use the same plates and drags?

[Keta]

No, they are different.  I haven't had one apart yet but from the schematic it looks somewhat like the EX drag.

[akfish]

The Raptor is entirely different and has an extra bearing so that there is much less pressure on the pinion bearing. You can easily get twice the drag on a Raptor as on the comparable non-Raptor Avet. Great reels, but not cheap.

[day0ne]

All non Raptor Avet SX, MXJ and MXL's have the same drags and were designed to fish up to around 9-10 lbs of drag pressure at strike which will increase to around 15 lbs at full. Any more drag pressure than that and you will blow out the right side/pinion bearing sonner or later, more sonner than later. A star drag is a different desing than a lever drag and does not put "side load" on this bearing when buttoned down. So long story short, nope there is not much can do about it other than upgrade to a Raptor which will give you much more drag pressure but will develope side load if you go over the drag rating for those reel. The "side load" issue is not just a Avet thing it is a issue with all lever drag reels.

Edit: Opps it looks like AK beat me too it......yep what he said.

IF what you say is true all the companys are lieing about their specs which is wrong, just plain wrong. If they advertise full at 15 it should be able to work properly at the full 15.  I have not seen the inside of the Raptor but doesn't it use the same plates and drags?

They will perform correctly when set at their specs. It's when you exceed the specs that trouble starts, like stiff winding etc. Use a drag scale and stay within specs. My Avets all work fine that way. One point. Once you have exceeded specs, you have probably damaged the pinion bearing already. In other words, once you "locked the drag down" and turned the handle, the damage was probably done. BTW, not "all" lever drags have this problem, just most

[Ron Jones]

By design, a thrust bearing operates while side force is applied, so, assuming you can find one, it should improve the situation.

Ron

[day0ne]

By design, a thrust bearing operates while side force is applied, so, assuming you can find one, it should improve the situation.

Ron

As Akfish posted, they simply aren't available. It's sort of the holy grail for Avets.

[Keta]

A flanged angular contact bearing will cure the problem.