Okuma Polar Bear 300L

[Mandelstam]

I have this old Okuma reel that I bought many years ago really cheap as I was a student at the time with very limited funds. Now it's just collecting dust in a box. But I'd like to have it as a backup reel and Was thinking of taking it a part and at least clean it and put on some grease.

Is there anything you can do to update it a little? I don't even know what the drag stack looks like in this reel.

I can't seem to find schematics for the Polar Bear. Anyone know exactly what the difference is between the CL300 and the former Polar Bear and Sea Bear?

[Bryan Young]

Haven't heard of this model, but I'm sure the drags can be upgraded. Older Okumas had these rubbery Teflon material. . . At least in my reels.

[Mandelstam]

On gofishing.co.uk I read that the Okuma CL300L is an upgraded version of the older Sea Bear and Polar Bear models. On the surface they look very similar. I will take some pictures when I open her up and hope that the tutorial on the CLX 300L can help me along the way.

[Mandelstam]

Well... I took out my screwdriver and opened the reel. It looked very clean and well greased to have never been opened and cleaned before for maybe fifteen years.




Here's the main gear and the drag stack which were made up by three washers. I couldn't figure out how to remove the stack though.. Those two black plastic things didn't seem to come off easily and I didn't want to pull too hard..


After looking around for a while without doing any real work I put the reel back together again. Then this happened..

The screw that holds the handle and screws down into the shaft just snapped as I was tightening it. And I wasn't tightening that hard..

So much for upgrading that reel. I guess I have to be grateful that the handle came off at my kitchen table and not out at sea. I haven't tried removing the screw yet but I think it's not going to be easy. And to find a new screw that fits? with my luck that screw has threads measured in inches. I live in a country where you measure things in millimeters.

[Bryan Young]

Try contact Okuma.   You might be able to get a new handle shaft and screw.  Looks similar to the CLs.  Might be the same part.

[Mandelstam]

I've just sent an email to Okuma here in Sweden. I hope for a nice ending to this story!

It's not an expensive or for that part a very good reel but I hate throwing things out just because one little screw broke.

[alantani]

you will likely have to extract what is left over from the screw and find something with a matching thread.  i understand that european metric threads and asian metric threads have a different pitch, so you many not find a matching thread locally.  this one could be tough.