Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Greetings.

I just bought a used Daiwa Slosh 30. Unfortunately, it has a slightly tweaked spool. I did notice a little noise when I was buying it, but thought it had a good chance of being corrected in a service. However, after servicing and studying the situation, I found that the spool was rubbing on the frame. This really inhibits a smooth free-spooling. I verified the wobble by chucking up the spool post/axle/staff on my watchmaker's lathe. I checked it from both sides, and there is definitely a bend or warp somewhere. I somehow doubt there's much that can be done for this other than getting a new spool, or used one that isn't tweaked. But I'm all eyes if someone has another suggestion. There's obviously not a lot of tolerance for wobble there.

The other issue, and one that may be easier rectified, is that I messed up the little felt/fiber washer that sits on the bearing on the handle side. It was the second time I had it apart, and when I verified the wobble, and I didn't see the little bugger when I started rubbing the grease off the washer it sits under. Rats! I do see that the part may be available, but the source is in Britain. I'd rather not pay the overseas shipping if I can locate the part here in the states. Is there a decent source for such vintage Daiwa reel parts? Has anyone found a substitute for the part number below? Does it need to be fiber/felt? What happens if it is left out?

The part number appears to be B68-4402, FWIW. Many thanks. Cheers.

Welcome to the site MrRoundel. I have a Sealine 30SH. Do you know what year yours is? Mine's one of the aluminum 1-piece frame models(original design?). A big improvement IMO on the Jigmasters.
Don't have a box or paperwork for mine and don't remember that washer. Suggest a parts reel to fix yours. eBay could have something.

Found one.
https://shop.fishingreelparts.com/b68-4402-drag-washer-c.html

Very very legit source I love these folks.

Greg, he has the graphite surfcasting SLSH, different aminal.

Thanks for the welcome, input, and parts source. I'd like to find a few other things to order so it's worth it to ship/mail. I'll look at my other reels. If not, I'll just order the $1.00 part. Thanks again. Cheers.

Good day, folks.

I ordered a couple of those bearing washers from Platinum. I suspect I'll have them by the end of next week. Fingers crossed.

This morning I spooled 40lb braid on top of 50lb mono on this reel. Of course now I see that I may have been better off putting smaller diameter mono underneath the braided. I also read that fishing with braid my foster more backlashes, especially at first uses. Now I'm wondering if I've set myself up for trouble with backlashes on a reel that has a rubbing spool. That little hesitation that will probably take place seems like it might bring on backlashes upon backlashes. Hmm...Does that 40lb braid on this SL30SH sound like a bad idea? Input is appreciated. Many thanks.

Note: I'm not new to baitcasters and conventional reels, but it has been quite a few years since I did much fishing. And I never fished with braided line.

50lb mono on a Slosh is, erm, not going to be very useful. Other than for maybe taking up space on the reel if you don't have enough braid to fill it.

Thanks for your input, Boon. Well, that's pretty much what I did. Earlier in the week I had made the mistake in allowing a sporting goods store guy to fill a spool on a Penn 555GS with 50lb mono. Long story, relatively cheap lesson. What I did is take about 100 yds off that freshly spooled reel, and transfer it to the Slosh 30. That filled me about 1/2 way. I tied an Albright knot from 50lb mono to 40lb braid that the 200yd spool filled to the top. 

I then filled the rest of the 555GS Penn with 330 yds of 50lb braid, FWIW.

Before I go out on the boat, I'll practice casting with the braided. If I don't like what I'm feeling/seeing, I may put mono on the Slosh and/or refill the Penn with mono. I'd hate to spend my first day out fishing in many years untangling bird nests of braid. Thanks again. Cheers.

Ah, that all makes good sense. 200yd of 40lb braid is likely plenty for that reel.

They are probably best fished as a 20-30lb mono reel, but are quite capable of fishing braid. They have a configurable centrifugal brake system on the left side of the spool, from memory you slide the little sleeves outward to enable them, more sleeves enabled = more braking. For a first outing I would set it to the maximum, and if you're still finding it wants to backlash I'd wind on a little bit of spool tension as a band-aid until your thumb undergoes some 'education'. Yes, you'll sacrifice some freespool and casting range, but better to lean that way than spend half your day picking out birdsnests. Especially if you're new to fishing with braid! A good braid tangle makes the most fearsome mono tangle look like a walk in the park.

If you're looking for distance in the surf, that reel excels with 20lb mono and a shock leader.

ah, forgot.  on some reels with graphite frames, if you over tighten the side plate screws, the soft graphite frames will warp a little and cause a rub.  that was the case with the penn graphites.  not sure about these. 

Thanks for all of the additional input, suggestions, and friendly warnings, gents. I appreciate it very much. And I did receive a couple of those bearing washers from Platinum/fishingreelparts.com. Thanks for the source, JasonGotaProblem.

Oh, another question popped up on this particular SL30SH reel. Everything looks good inside (Slightly wobbly spool excepted.) and I cleaned and lubed the gears, yoke, etc. I used tan Cal's drag grease on the soft leather(?) drag washers. The issue is that the drag doesn't seem to let off to the type of light feeling, barely there drag, when I loosen the star all the way. It takes some turning of the spool before it lightens up. But it's still not as light as other reels I have. Is this a common situation on these reels? If not, any thought on what could be causing the delayed drag release? Many thanks. Cheers.

Couldn't the bent spool shaft (spindle) cause that?  I'd say to fix the spool shaft problem first.  After that look at the drag stack and washers which would be an easier fix.

Thanks for your input, oc1. It would seem to me that if it was the spindle it wouldn't loosen up by turning the reel handle a few times. Doing so wouldn't straighten the spindle, right? But I'm new to this so I may be missing something.

I think I'll end up trying the reel as it is, and see what happens during actual use, and hope I avoid any hard lessons. The star adjuster does loosen the drag, but surely not as it should. I may see if I can check out just how much drag it drops to immediately after backing it off. While it's not instantaneous, it does decrease. Is it enough that I get broken off or something? I don't think so, but I could be wrong.

As far as the spool goes, I can see it quickly getting to be throwing good money after bad, as the spools for these reels are nearly half of what I paid for the reel. But I have read that these Sloshes can cast really well when firing smoothly on all cylinders. Thanks again. Cheers.