Hi Alan and everyone else. I messaged you about my torium losing drag out of the blue. The reel has not been fished hard. I checked if the spectra was slipping on the spool but it does not look like this is the case. I am wondering if i should change the washers and put an Ht 100 under the main gear instead of the carbontex? Does anyone else have any suggestions as to why its lost most of its drag? Also am I able to purchase the washers from you? Thanks
is the star tight or loose? check to see if the star and/or the drive shaft threads are stripped. if the star suddenly slipped back one whole set of threds, it would be loose and could explain what you are seeing. if the star is tight, then it might actually be the spool slipping on the spool shaft! button down the drag and let's see!
The star is turned down all the way. It's tight! It almost feels as if it needs an extra washer to make it tighter. It feels to me like when I turn the start It has to go pretty tight before the drag starts to engage.
maybe the bellevilles broke?
Hi Alan. I can't for the life of me figure out what's going on.. The spool is not slipping on shaft.. I just checked. Bevelles are not broken? I can't see that the shaft is stripped. I may have to send it in to shimano... Which I don't want to do as I have done all the upgrades and carbon washers etc and I have never had a problem servicing this reel.
try putting the gear, drag and handle stack together without the side plate and see if you can tighten down the star and put pressure on the main gear, the do the same with the side plate and see if the star bottoms out. a #6-113h drag washer under the main gear works best.
This might sound strange but, check to make sure the drag plate is orientated correctly. How do I know to check for this? While prepping for a tuna trip a few years back, I accidentally put mine back in upside down. It seemed fine, even when setting the drag with short pulls on the line. However, when the first tuna of the day hit my jig and ran, my drag went from 16 lbs to about 2 in nothing flat. I had to bring it in with thumb pressure alone. ;D
Thanks bucktail. Yes I made sure it was right as I have made that mistake before. The funny thing is it was fine and lost drag all of a sudden. Alan it does seem like the star is bottoming out.. Almost like it winds down alot further than it used to without much drag. I tighten it as much as it can and the drag is hardly anything.
sudden change, right? not after working on the reel, but it's working, then it's not? yeah, maybe something broke like one of the bellevilles, then the star bottomed out. but then the handle would be hard to turn...... :-\
Quote from: seano100 on February 04, 2014, 05:43:03 AM
I am wondering if i should change the washers and put an Ht 100 under the main gear instead of the carbontex? Does anyone else have any suggestions as to why its lost most of its drag?
Hello Seano,
Just by your question, it sounds like you have not changed your drags at all? ??? If so, I would not just focus on the washer under the main gear....I would change all of the washers both inside the main gear and under the main gear.
I just did a trinidad 30 and the drag felt weak just as you are describing. The guy had the stock dartanium drags and for some reason, they had some kind of thin runny oily substance all over the drag washers. I removed all the drag washers inside the gear box, cleaned the metal drag washers, and replaced the stack with carbon fiber washers with cals grease. Oh and the guy had the belleville washer configuration mixed up as well. Make sure it is like this...(). Also, make sure all of the washers are present when you restack the gearsleeve...including the tiny washer that sits on the bearing shield. And yes, just like bucktail mentioned, make sure the drag plate on top of the drag stack is oriented properly. Again, make sure you use the brown cals grease on the drag washers...not oil.
If all that is done, it should work...If it doesn't, I'm stumped. :-\ Give it a try and let us know.
Thanks guys. I have already changed the drag washers out to carbontex... Was working perfectly for 2 years. Now lost drag. Alan it just happened on a fishing trip while rigging up. I have taken reel apart and put it back together again but it's still the same prob. Maybe the drag washers have been compressed? Maybe I left the drag tight while storing the reel. The bevelles look fine and I have tried both configurations. I am completely puzzled. The handle turns perfectly with no resistance but no real drag....
Are your eared metal drag washers sitting down properly in their slots in the gear?
and the spool is not slipping on the spool shaft?
Yes the eared washers are sitting in their slot... And the spool is not slipping I checked it:(
I'd do a basic full check. Re-pack all the line on the spool because braid can compress and get salted after some use if it gets loose and has a long topshot through mono compaction. Sometimes, you'll lose drag when the line gets wet and the salt/crud loosens or is absorbed into water.
Pull the sideplate off and reassemble the AR sleeve to the handle without the sideplate there if it helps you to visualize it. Or, you could add another belleville, add the HT-100 washer under the main gear, or add a few washers before the belleville washers to get some more travel distance on the star before it bottoms out. If you use the original carbontex washer under the main, you will get a less max drag compared to the HT-100 in there. Alan and I don't use the Carbontex washer at all; just the HT-100.
You're bottoming out somewhere. Just figure out whether it's under the sideplate or if something is hanging up or if you've lost some travel outside the sideplate. You just need to add some thickness to the drag stack or shim under the bellevilles. Preferrably, it'd be in the drag stack since it's hard to find perfect shim washers or sleeves above the AR sleeve.
Then again, you'll set it aside, come back to it in a few days and find the simple thing you've missed. It happens all the time.
Thanks Jonathan. Makes sense. I may have to switch to ht100. But what baffles me is why it happened out of the blue? Why do I need to add things when it was working perfectly.... It's just weird how it lost drag. And it's bugging me that I can't figure it out hahaha. I will let you guys know if I find the solution. Thanks for all the help
i'm still betting on the spool shaft. it was working one minute, then broken the next. that means something broke. it was not one of the bellevilles and the star is not stripped. that leaves on the spool shaft.
What would cause the spool shaft to slip? And also what need to be replaced if it is the shaft? Do I need a whole new spool?
to install the shaft, they heat up the spool and then slip the spool shaft into the spool and let the spool cool down around the spool shaft. sometimes they slip. find a place to safely hold the spool shaft with vise grips, take care not to damage the round part of the spool shaft, and then twist the spool by hand and see if it slips. if that is the case, you might be able to drill a set screw in the middle of the arbor of the spool to lock the spool shaft in. or you can buy a new spool.
but before you do that, let's make sure that you have correctly identified the problem. i just can't think of any other reason that a reel that WAS working is now suddenly NOT.
I finally know what the problem is. I had to send it to shimano. All it was was a faulty worn out drive shaft retainer clip!!!! All of that trouble for a retainer clip. So annoyed. Thanks for all the help guys.
i took a look at the torium 16 schematic. the clip is TGT 0033 and the drive shaft is TGT 0939. i'm not sure how that could cause a sudden loss in drag unless the gears were not connecting.