I picked up a used Spheros 14000FB to use as a jigging reel. I changed out the drive gear bushing for a bearing, and i seem to have messed up the alignment between the drive gear and pinion gear. It sounds horrible when I crank it. I hooked up to an amberjack a few weeks ago and could feel lots of grinding/resistance as I cranked the fish in. Unfortunately I've thrown away the bushing, so I'm stuck with the bearing arrangement. Do you think that if I order a stack of drive gear shims that I can shim this thing into alignment and salvage this project?
I got the reel for such a good deal, I want to see it work, but at the same time, I won't have lost much if I can't make it work. I'll just throw in the towel and get a new Saragosa.
Have a look at Alan Hawks review:
https://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/spsw.html
Not identical? but might give some ideas.
Mid page is a picture of the bush vs a bearing. From what I can see the bush has a dished inner race that would not locate the maingear shaft as would the "flush" inner race of a bearing. You may find the the bearing has shifted the mesh of the gears due to that difference?
It looks like Alan subbed a bearing identical to the other side, so it must be possible. Some shimming will prob still be required, but the way he explained it, it seems pretty straightforward.
Cheers
Steve
Ockham's Razor solution:
number of shims on a Shimano schematic (esp., older/cheaper)
has no relation to how many were actually factory-installed at given location
they like to stick to greasy gears/bearings & escape... most likely, you missed one
less likely: allegedly, Shimano gears are designed not to develop an uneven wear pattern that requires you to mark the main & pinion before separating them... maybe a worn plastic bushing on the main, negates that design feature & you DID need to mark the gears
if you cranked aggressively, while gear alignment or shimming were significantly off -- prob., more damage :(
I've always changed the plastic bushings to bearings without any issues.
I hate to say it but you may have ruined both gears. Once they are turned like that it ruins the soft pinion gear.
Quote from: handi2 on July 26, 2021, 07:10:42 PM
I've always changed the plastic bushings to bearings without any issues.
ditto, here... always makes things better
I forgot to add that I have installed new gears since last fishing with the reel. But i can still feel the light grinding when cranking the reel under no load. I have seen the Alan Hawk bushing-bearing measurement. That was in the spheros SW, newer model than the FB. Maybe there is some gap that i need to eliminate. Last ditch effort - just ordered 3 3-packs of shims on eBay.
I had a similar issue on a spheros 3000FA that I fixed up to give to a friend. Noticed a very slight grind after I swapped bushing for bearing, it may have been more significant under load. I do suspect its a shimming issue. After all, it is a SHIMano.
He hasn't fished the reel yet so I've been able to completely forget the issue til just now. I kinda wanna take it back and try to shim it now.
I guess my real question is would I want to place shims to push main and pinion closer together, or separate them further? Forgive me if that's a dumb/obvious one.
if you're shimming a reel that you, yourself, "wore down"
you compensate for the wear w/ shim(s) to bring main closer to pinion
I can only remember one occasion, while compiling 3 bad partial old Stradics into one "good" one,
when I actually needed to shim the main AWAY from pinion
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general thought: modern Shimano plastic bushings have ears that act as a flange, while the bearings do not
if the frame is sufficiently worn/corroded where the bearing/bushing is seated (handle openings -- magnets for salt & grit),
you might be able to push the steel bearing farther into the frame, than an eared/flanged bushing would go
in that scenario, you'd have shimming issues that are much more drastic than just compensating for wear