Underspool washer

[kenwahoo]

Whatever reel you have the typical configuration is that there is an underspool or under gear washer in addition to the drag washers. I am trying to find a scientific explanation of the effect of this washer and the part it plays. Does anyone know of any article which has discussed this aspect?

Those of us who replace washers with carbontex typically do the spool washers but seldom spare a thought for the one under the spool or gear. Yet this one is part of the whole drag system and in my mind ought to be replaced as it is commonly either a fibre or teflon.

[Snagged2]

I try and always replace the "Under Gear" washer with carbon drag.. greased.. as,, as you mentioned, part of the system..

Scientific,, I dunno,, but, I feel better about having it there!!!

[Pro Reel]

Thats a tricky question. The reason is that the very bottom washer, under the main gear, is important in that it controls the height of the main gear. For that reason, most reels use a very dense material for that washer so that it can't be compressed which would allow the gear to sit further down and might casue a misalignment of the main gear to the pinion gear. Some reels that don't use that dense material for that washer compensate by using a very thin washer there so there isn't any room for movement with compression.
If you replace a thick washer, made with the dense material, with a washer of the same thickness in carbon fiber, then it may compress and cause the gears to not be properly aligned. One cure for that would be to use a thin carbon washer there and ad a plate with a square hole on top of the rathet gear to take up the extra space. If the pinion gear is wide enough that they will stillalign good enough even if the main gear does move a little lower with compression,then it shouldn't be a problem to just use the proper thickness of carbon fiber to replace those hard washers.

Now, is there a benefit of replacing it with carbon fiber? I think so, but it's close call. You might think that the drag will only work as good as it's weakest point, but thats not true. each part of the drag system works independently of the other parts. When a fish pulls line against drag, the main gear has to be able to slip. Therefore the main gear has a round hole so it can spin on the crankshaft. The ratchet gear which is usually the bottom plate will have a square hole so that it can't turn forcing the drag washer there to let the gear slip against it. At the same time though, the top side of the gear also has a drag washer and it's being compressed by a plate thats also fixed to the crankshaft with a square hole. In that situation, even thogh the bottom washer might be slipping easily, the top washer will be doing most of the work to control slippage. If you have a multi disk drag, then you have several aternating plates fixed to the shaft or keyed to the main gear so that each one of them is slipping against there own drag washers. In this situaltion, even if one, in this case the bottom washer, is slipping easier than the others, the others are stiill working as they should and controling the slippage. The benefit though of upgrading that bottom washer if you do so while maintaining the height of the gear is that you have one more carbon washer helping to share the load.

[Alto Mare]

I found out something interesting when my drags failed. Check out page #4
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=6517.msg55685#msg55685

[Fish-aholic]

I would of thought replacing the stock teflon/fibre washer below the main gear with a greased CF washer, would be of greater aid when considering 'start-up'?

A stock teflon/fibre washer can't be saturated with grease like a CF washer can be. There must be a reason why Alan changes the washer below the main gear to CF when he works on star drag reels?

Personally, I take more comfort in knowing my drag is operating on a full carbon fibre drag stack, of which, is greased! 

[Alto Mare]

I'm with you Fish-aholic, all of my reels have carbon fiber under the main gear, and I have a few .
That washer didn't add any drag to my reel, but it is still a good upgrade as for keeping the gear moving smoothly , especially under load.
All carbon fiber washers is the way to go....to me anyway.