Hey guys, I have a pair of 1st gen torium 20s, that I primarily use for tarpon fishing. I have torn them down several times. Alan hooked me up years ago with the Trinidad spring and pawl upgrade, and I also installed carbontex drag washers. Recently I've been experiencing a problem with the drags on both reels, but one in particular. The drags are getting weaker I rebuilt them this spring. Cleaned and regreased the drags, even bought new belleville washers, to no avail. In fact the weakest of the two, is unusable at only 5lbs of drag or so locked down. Do carbontex drag washers wear out? Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this problem? I'm considering just picking up a few new reels, but thought I'd ask here first. Thanks!!
My Torium 16 and 20 would make 20lb+ drag without too much effort. I would pull the drag stack apart and make sure everything is nesting into the gear correctly and that the eared washers still have their ears.
carbon fiber never wears out. you don't have braid that is slipping on the spool?
No, I did respool them with fresh braid, but covered the bottom of the spool with 30lb mono before tying in the new braid.
I'm 100% sure I assembled the drag stack properly with schematic in hand...is it possible to over grease the drags? I used just enough to cover both sides of each drag washer???
Could it possibly be the anti reverse bearing? Sounds like it to me.
josa1
Quote from: josa1 on June 08, 2020, 03:17:38 AM
Could it possibly be the anti reverse bearing? Sounds like it to me.
josa1
I thought that too, the ARB on these isn't that strong, and if something went wrong with the sprung dog conversion that would do it. But then the handle would go backwards, surely? Which would make it an easy one to diagnose.
ok, then there is one last thing. there is a carbontex drag under the main gear. at the beginning, it was just a hair too thin and would not allow you to get full drag out of the reel. it's possible that the drag washers has become compressed and now the problem is worse. one option would be to get one of the new drag washers that smooth drag now uses. what i used to use was the penn ht-100 #6-113h. that did the trick. if you have one available, give it a try.
if needed, i can drop them into the mail to you. send me a pm and let me know.
Another thought. Remove the handle, drag star, and bellvilles off the reel. Look and see how far the inner sleeve protrudes above the clutch bearing. If its just a tiny bit I add bearing thrust washers to the top of the inner sleeve.
Once the inner sleeve is pushed flush with the clutch bearing that all the drag you can get.
Quote from: alantani on June 08, 2020, 03:04:21 PM
ok, then there is one last thing. there is a carbontex drag under the main gear. at the beginning, it was just a hair too thin and would not allow you to get full drag out of the reel. it's possible that the drag washers has become compressed and now the problem is worse. one option would be to get one of the new drag washers that smooth drag now uses. what i used to use was the penn ht-100 #6-113h. that did the trick. if you have one available, give it a try.
if needed, i can drop them into the mail to you. send me a pm and let me know.
That makes a lot of sense. I must admit, as much as I try to remember to back the drags off I have occasionally forgotten and left them tightened for a while. I will send you a pm Alan thank you for the very generous offer.
Handi thanks for that suggestion will check that when I pull them apart. Thanks to all for your suggestions I appreciate it!!
Alan I sent you a pm, not sure if it went thru. Can you confirm?
got it. the drag washers are greased and in the mail!!!
Fantastic!! Thanks Alan.
Just an update guys. The thicker washer under the stack did the trick. Went from 4lbs of drag to just below 18lbs. Thank you all for your suggestions, and a special thank you to Alan for the washers!! Cant wait to get some baits in the water with these!!! Happy fishing guys.
it was a problem that we found with the first sets of carbontex drag sets for the torium's. that problem must have been fixed, because i now use the currently available full sets and have no problems.
My friend last week had issues with his torium 16 hg. The drag pressure kept backing off while fighting a bft.40 lb. I'm going to take it apart to find the problem. It's only been used a few times and never been opened up. What is causing the drags to back off?
I just opened up the reel. I don't see anything that isnt normal. The belvilles look ok but thin. Should I replace all the drag washers as Alan mentioned? This is a left handed model. I don't think that matters?
Torium HGA or original HG?
If it's an original with the "dartanium" drags, they're trash, replace with carbontex. If it's a modern one with "Dartanium 2" they're woven CF and essentially no different to Carbontex.
Can you describe the symptoms a little better? A fish pulling on your line is a poor way to measure drag performance.
The way it was described to me as the drag pressure kept backing off during the fight. Had to constantly tighten the drags. This has the cf drags and like I said it's only a year old and used a couple times.
usually it's because the metal drag washers are out of order...... :-\
Is the spring (2063 Star Drag Spring) under the handle missing?
The little mini one? No it's there . it's never been worked on. I'm thinking that he left the drags buttoned down since last year and their compressed. I like the idea of adding a shim on top under the star?
A friend of mine brought his sons Torium 20 to me with the same complaint. I replaced the existing drag washers with Carbontex from Smooth Drag and cleaned up the mess left behind from the old washers. I didn't see anything else that appeared wrong. I guess I need to follow up and see if the problem still exists.
Tight lines, Brendan
Brendan did that reel have carbon fiber drags ? I guess I will replace also.
it was a gooey mess. I cant find pictures but I replaced with Carbontex. I have not heard the results. I will try to contact him as i'm sure he has got a few fish on it by now.
Tight lines, Brendan.
So I replaced with smooth drags. I did mic the old against the new. New we're thicker and it appeared that the weave of the washer is more pronounced. Maybe the old ones were just compressed. I g@ve the reel back. Hopefully that does the trick. I think it will.
So you pro. repair guys don't test stuff before you get a repaired/maintenanced reel back to 'em? That'ed be like them car repair mechanics: "you come down here on your time, p/u your vehicle, pay the bill and the test drive is all on you, including the time you spend bringing it back if it ain't right"
I didn't take it fishing but I did pull line off repeatedly. And by no means a professional. Favor for a friend.
Haven't heard results from son As we don't have each other's contact information.
Brendan.
Quote from: alantani on June 08, 2020, 03:04:21 PM
ok, then there is one last thing. there is a carbontex drag under the main gear. at the beginning, it was just a hair too thin and would not allow you to get full drag out of the reel. it's possible that the drag washers has become compressed and now the problem is worse. one option would be to get one of the new drag washers that smooth drag now uses. what i used to use was the penn ht-100 #6-113h. that did the trick. if you have one available, give it a try.
if needed, i can drop them into the mail to you. send me a pm and let me know.
Alan your suggestion ht100#6 . What does the #6 mean?
the part number is 6-113h. that's the drag washer that goes in the 113h penn senator.