Avets SX5.3 MC -Locking the drag problem

[SoCalAngler]

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?[/quote]

They do get 15lbs of drag at full like I stated, the 9-10 lbs is at the strike setting not all the way to full. I have seen from your other posts your kinda new to lever drag reels. When you set your lever drag reel at the 25-33% of the lines breaking strength this should be set at the strike possition which allows you some head room (added drag pressure) by moving the reel past strike or all the way up to full if needing more drag than the 25-33%. To be fair Avet was one of the first reel manufactures to list the correct drag pressures for their reels. Now other manufactures like Penn and others also list them while others like Accurate do not.

[Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B]

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

x2 agree 100%. i have a MXJ and not experiencing any binding at all when drag is setwithin specs. as a matter of fact bought an SX because of design simplicity.

[dobrobill]

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 do get 15lbs of drag at full like I stated, the 9-10 lbs is at the strike setting not all the way to full. I have seen from your other posts your kinda new to lever drag reels. When you set your lever drag reel at the 25-33% of the lines breaking strength this should be set at the strike possition which allows you some head room (added drag pressure) by moving the reel past strike or all the way up to full if needing more drag than the 25-33%. To be fair Avet was one of the first reel manufactures to list the correct drag pressures for their reels. Now other manufactures like Penn and others also list them while others like Accurate do not.

[/quote] I did learn early about setting the drag correctly so no problem there.  When I read the post I mis-read it so I apologize. If the reel gets the stated 15 pounds then user error can break it by going over the stated drag. It is not hard to do with a spring scale...  

[Keta]

.............................. It is not hard to do with out a spring scale...   

If you don't have a drag scale PM me, I still have one or two left and for a good price.

[Bunnlevel Sharker]

To be fair Avet was one of the first reel manufactures to list the correct drag pressures for their reels. Now other manufactures like Penn and others also list them while others like Accurate do not.

Thats cause Accurate dont wanna scare nobody