Older Daiwa spinning help

[Ncstatefisher]

My dad has fished a Daiwa Regal-Z ia 3500 spinning reel for the past 14-15 years. His idea of reel maintenance while I was growing up was to hit the inside of the spool with some reel magic and give it a rinse with freshwater usually the NEXT DAY when fishing saltwater.

SOMEHOW this reel has never failed and it has caught thousands of fish, from a 12lb largemouth to tons of false albies spanish trout flounder, this thing has seen some work. I finally got ahold of it recently and would really like to be able to restore it. When you turn the handle it sounds like a cheese grater.

Did a full breakdown last night and a decent amount of the reel was in surprisingly good shape. Drag stack could stand to be replaced but wasn't too bad, not a ton of corrosion in the gear box just lots of old oil, and then I opened up the main compartment. The entire pinion assembly had a coat of rust eminating from the main bearing. I dont understand how the thing still turns honestly. The rust had spread a little to the bottom of the rest of the assembly but most of it rubbed off and the pinion gear rubbed up clean.

I did what I could before reassembly and got a good amount of the rust out of the casing and greased everything thoroughly. How hard do you guys think it would be to find a bearing to fit the reel, and would it be possible to get the rest of that rust residue out of the frame. If I can't get the rest of the rust residue out would it even be worth throwing a new bearing in there to give it a few more years of worth. Would like to fix this thing up for him for christmas, but if you guys think its a lost cause I may just buy him a spheros or something else borderline indestructible. Thanks

[Bryan Young]

Should be fairly easy.  What are the ID, OD, and width of the bearing and look to Boca Bearing in Florida.  You may want to pack that bearing with grease to help protect it for the next 5 years.

[Ncstatefisher]

thanks for the quick response bryan. good to hear that it should be a fairly easy restoration. looking at boca bearings website looks like they have quite a few different varieties, what would you recommend for this application? will definitely pack it with grease. fairly new to ordering parts for repairs, just starting to get in to it. up till now its been basic maintenance for the most part!

[Ron Jones]

I would say a good old SS ABEC 5 bearing with removable shields would be in order. I would get after that rusr with a small toothbrush and some reel grease. Depending on the construction, it might not be a bad idea to soak the body in vinega and water  overnight.

Any reel with that history is worth restoring, and honestly yours doesn't look all that bad.

Ron

[Ncstatefisher]

Thanks Ron its looking like this should be much more feasible than I first thought. Will look in to that bearing

[LTM]

Looks very salvageable to me also. Another area to pay attention to is the line roller and the bail spring mechanism. Weither the line roller has a bearing or not, grease whatever it is up real good. Take the cover plate off the bail mechanism and clean that area up and apply generous grease. If anything looks threatening to you (aka complicated) take pictures. Dont forget to go to Daiwa's web site and get the schematics for the reel as well. If you can, find something to strain your cleaning solution through do so, for small parts may be in the debris which you may overlook and you can toss out parts with the used cleanng solution and spoil your project. I did this and the parts are no longer available from Daiwa, now I have to go to some repair shops and see if anybody has them. Dont forget to grease all internal surfaces with a light coat of grease. The reel should last many more years with routine maintenance after this. Just be systematic and orderly in your disassembly and you should be fine.

Leo

[Ncstatefisher]

hey guys, hate to dig an old thread up but life kinda got ahold of me and a christmas surprise turned in to a birthday surprise for my dad. Got the parts I needed last week and finally sat down today to fix everything up. Switched out all the old drag washers and the drag retainer clip, was able to get most of the rust off of the housing and swapped the handle and that cheerio bearing, but I have one problem left. I have the bearings for the handle assembly and need to switch them out because the originals are rusted. Well, it seems that the old bearing is rusted in to the housing on the side plate. I can't seem to get it out and would like to avoid needing a new sideplate because I do something dumb and crack this one. the part # is 46 on the schematic, if you guys have any ideas to get this joker out that'd be very much appreciated! been trying to pop it out with a screwdriver and feel if i continue im gonna crack the plastic..

http://daiwa.com/Documents/PartsDiagram/RG-Z3500-4000IA.pdf

[MFB]

Try soaking it in white vinegar for couple of days, then put penetrating oil on it should free it up....

Rgds

Mark

[Ncstatefisher]

thanks mark. had soaked it in warm water for a good hour before posting, was able to pop it out 

[Ron Jones]

Great,
We get pics before your dad gets the reel!!
Ron

[saltydog]

Good deal it's funny what just plain old water can do.

[Ncstatefisher]

welp I had taken some pictures, knew my camera was on the way out but it finally died halfway through rebuilding  next time he comes up I will have to take some pics I do have a couple pictures of the rod I built for him to put it on that I took with my phone

[surfcaster]

I like the marine corps logo on the rod.
Semper Fi