Reel Repair by Alan Tani

This is my first attempt to measure drag strength on a Daiwa Sealine 300H with home-made 5 stack drag.  I put a rod butt into a bench-mounted vise and mounted the reel on the rod. Reel has 80lb orange coated braid.  My observations while tightening the drag and trying to measure with a luggage scale:

• I could only hand-tighten the star to about 12lbs. Started with vise grips after that.
• Though I thought the braid was tightly wound, as the drag got tighter, the braid began digging into the spool.  Had to pull it out and wind it back very wide on the spool to avoid that.

I had hoped to get about 25 pounds of drag - 5lbs per washer, but so far, have only reached about 20.
Questions:

• Obviously a bigger star would help with the hand-tightening, but what do others do? Think I need a short length of 1/2 inch steel pipe to put on the star.
  
• How will I know when I've maxed out?  The star won't turn? The strength will hit a plateau?

Thanks in advance for the advice. Don't mind the mess in the photo.

Good questions. I've had to tap the star, usually with something handy, that's wooden or hard plastic. After doing that, the drag is usually not very smooth anymore. I tend to call that point max drag on that star reel. Going to follow this post though as I'm probably wrong.

 Just know that with a full spool of line, you'll have less drag when reeling. If you're not reeling, and just doing hanging drag, thats a whole different ball game.

 Tightening the star with a tool, is something you're not likely to do when fishing. I think you'd be amazed at how big of a fish you can land with 15 pounds of drag. Realistically, getting 5# from each washer is likely not gonna happen.

 Side note: when I was a logger, one day we hooked up a turn of some decent sized logs, and blew the whistle for yarder operator to go ahead. He pulled, and pulled again a little harder, and no movement, then instead of pulling even harder, he stuck his head out the window of the yarder house, and yelled "somethin's gonna break". We slacked the lines and lightened the load and sent the turn to the landing. The yarder operator knew he had more power, but didn't want to go there, knowing breaking something would be inevitable, which likley would've shut down the operation to fix whatever broke. In retrospect, know your limits and stay within them

For me max drag on a star drag reel is as much as I can comfortably put on it with my fingers.  My arthritis is a "torque limiter" too.

You can up this with a larger star and/or a finer threaded gearsleve.

Quote from: Keta on October 28, 2026, 03:41:49 AMFor me max drag on a star drag reel is as much as I can comfortably put on it with my fingers.  My arthritis is a "torque limiter" too.

You can up this with a larger star and/or a finer threaded gearsleve.

Which means +-10# of drag!

Somewhere on here there is a post about using Delrin washers under the main gear and at the top of the drag stack, allowing for easier turning of the star at higher drag numbers.

Some will also experiment with different thicknesses and combinations of tension-spring washers. My 300-H with three CF washers hit the same 12lbs max hand-tightening; good enough for the 30lb mono being fished at the time.

As long as the star doesn't bottom out, the max drag on a star drag is whatever something breaks at.  I have stripped out stars by over tightening, and blown our gears and gear sleeves by winding (if you are fishing with a higher drag, you will probably also be winding against greater resistance).  You might be surprised amount of  drag you can temporarily get out of some of these reels before they fail.

There will be a max effective drag, which is sort of subjective, but for a given setting it includes how easy it is to tighten, how smooth the drag is, and how long the reel is going to last when you actually fish it.  Even the target species matters.  There is a big difference between stopping a grouper from making a ten foot run and a tuna emptying the spool at the same drag setting.

Torque is what you are working against as you tighten the star. You get more drag from more clamping load, which comes from applying more torque. You can decrease the torque to clamping load ratio in your favor by ensuring that the threads are clean and well lubicated.

A Delin under gear washer can help with drag smoothness under load, but it won't change the torque to clamping load ratio. Belleville  stiffness  will not change the torque ratio either, just the amount of turns it takes to reach a given clamping load.  But by the time you are getting into large drag numbers, the bellevilles are probably bottomed out.

But fine threads and more Belleville  travel will allow for more turns per lb of drag before you start really cranking down, which makes it easier to adjust as you ramp up in the more reasonable drag range.

-J

Are you absolutely certain the ears of the top eared gear are in their grooves and not resting on the rim of the main?

I enjoy these threads. Thanks in advance for the entertainment.

no braid slipping on the spool?

Quote from: jurelometer on October 28, 2026, 04:45:58 PMA Delin under gear washer can help with drag smoothness under load, but it won't change the torque to clamping load ratio.

Yup


When I was playing with 349H 7 metal drag stacks the ears were bending and sheering due to the thin metal and I went to a 5 stack.  The shearing was happening around 15 pounds.  I got 15# with the 5 stack but the star was hard to tighten down to get that much.  I tested Delrin and Carbontex underwashers and the drag did not change much. 

Isn't this reel designed to fish 30# line, 10# of drag?

Quote from: Decker on October 28, 2026, 02:47:02 AMThis is my first attempt to measure drag strength on a Daiwa Sealine 300H with home-made 5 stack drag. 

Since no one asked , what materials were used ?  drag washers material ,what metal drag washer , chrome over brass , brass or stainless steel ?  What finish is on the metal washers , silkly smooth or scuffed up a little ?  If you take it appart again ,shoot pictures .

Quote from: Alan M on October 28, 2026, 05:42:23 PMIsn't this reel designed to fish 30# line, 10# of drag?

This is a hot-rodded reel.  The upgrades have been done peicemeal over several months.  Here is the main thread, https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,40488.0.html and the thread on the drag stack build is below.  So far it seems to be going well. 

 

Quote from: oldmanjoe on October 28, 2026, 06:13:00 PMSince no one asked , what materials were used ?  drag washers material ,what metal drag washer , chrome over brass , brass or stainless steel ?  What finish is on the metal washers , silkly smooth or scuffed up a little ?  If you take it appart again ,shoot pictures .

Here is the link to the thread where the drag stack was put together:  https://alantani.com/index.php?msg=491505

Here's something similar to what I mentioned seeing in an older discussion about using Delrin underneath the star. Acetal bellvilles:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143869284998?_skw=acetal+bellville+penn+505&itmmeta=01M61W3JW5R4R07F1SBMG51J69&hash=item217f471286:g:d~IAAOSwcLRfxvew&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAABACHNgUiiE%2FjQhlDTaMiAde%2FsfJ35OoTKBYbByD6RbTZnhw%2ByWS4icO9RQk9SggnrmJhrDQYc37sKkQ2iaulBzRgoXr%2FiiPJm1QFV9PxkY1R9BlLpGxidJ4AgxQdnoDne6mBbif1RokAXFwtbCXTeep6dJjZcNI911OAljxhwh2mL9wQhfh34HybdPaOYdwpBww8qDoj39xowZ%2BHDoJlVWK8rnZgu9Wr1ueAYX9te4Us7B5w0yB25yeE%2B1EePVkah6VbGYt4aEzCxwbg1c4VeYxeYnWVJv1bsoQ21jPzymDpKWtRGiOMb3chA8dTQpqe%2FF0Vmi51KcpSLfWCfz5ePwYw%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR76vjrywaA

Will such a washer permit easier turning of the star to achieve a greater clamping force— thus allowing for higher hand-turned drag numbers? Thinking about ordering a few.

There were more comments that I didn't see initially. 

I do have a delrin washer under the main gear.  I don't think there is anything under the gear sleeve.  Yes, friction could be playing a part in the tightenting.  Thinkng about that...

The eared washers are the thinnest ones, and I should open it up to check them later.  Definitely the last eared washer was right near or up to the top of the gear, and I worried it might free itself.  But when I installed it, I used a rubber band to hold it down, so it may be okay. 

I don't think the braid is slipping.  I did use hockey tape on the spool arbor and tried to wind it tight. 

From all this, I'm thinking the two most important things to look at is any friction in the tightening, and that the washers are all properly situated and able to move as they should.

Thanks for the input!