Alan;
I notice that after my reels have been rebuilt and have been sitting around (say six months or so) or after they were used occasionally (say once or twice) one season, the drags won't tighten up as much as they should.
I have been told that this is because I used too much oil on the bearings and that one of the biggest problems with people working on their own reels is over-lubing.
I use Cals' grease on the drag washers and only lube the bearings lightly (usually with Corrision -X but I have bought the Extreme Lube after reading your posts) but the drag pressure usually goes down after time, especially on star drags.
Do you think this is normal?
Do you usually wash your drag washers in brakleen or carb cleaner?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts,
Lady E
Bill Benrath
bill, i've had (um, and probably still do have) stuff that's been sitting around for years. the drags are still ok. which reels do you have? alan
Mostly star drag reels. Abu Garcia 5000 & 6000 series, Penn 310, 320, 330, 113h; I don't mean to imply that I can't take the washers out and clean them in white gas or brakleen and reapply drag grease and they are fine. Fine that is for a season; next year the drag won't tighten up as tight unless I take apart and clean the washers. I would say I loose about 20 percent but that is totally subjective. I haven't measured it with a scale, it just seem like I really have to reef on the star to get acceptable drag.