Questions regarding drag washers and bearings

[strato-caster]

Hi Alan,

I'm a new member here and have found the tutorials you have written very helpful. As an owner of older Sealines, Newells, and TLD Stars, I was quite surprised to find how highly regarded these reels still are in light of the current crop of higher end Avets, Shimanos, and Daiwas.

A few quick questions-


When available, are Smooth drags a better choice for the Sealines over the Penn washers you install in your tutorials? 

Are carbontex drag washers currently available for all of the above reels I own? (30H, 50H, 400H, 450H, P220, 338, TLD 1530,TLD 2040)

Do ceramic bearings make the reel cast that much better, are they worth the added expense, and are they available for said reels?

Alan, again thank you for providing such a valuable service online.

[Bryan Young]

Welcome to Alan's Fishing Reel Repair site.

I'm a new member here and have found the tutorials you have written very helpful. As an owner of older Sealines, Newells, and TLD Stars, I was quite surprised to find how highly regarded these reels still are in light of the current crop of higher end Avets, Shimanos, and Daiwas.

We all have these old reels in our possession.  They are good reels that have served us time and time again.  Unless you can afford the new reels, these reels will continue to catch fish if we take care of them, and even when we don't (you should have seen some of my old reels before I met Alan).

When available, are Smooth drags a better choice for the Sealines over the Penn washers you install in your tutorials?

I believe greased carbon drag washers are similar in performance, but believe that the smaller, tighter weave will give you a more consistent stack height and less high points in comparing drag washers.  SMOoOTH DRAGs, Carbontex washers are small weaved patterned unlike Penn, Shimano, Abus, etc. Depending on the pressure you are exerting on your drags, I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but definitely Carbontex washers are nice.

Are carbontex drag washers currently available for all of the above reels I own? (30H, 50H, 400H, 450H, P220, 338, TLD 1530,TLD 2040)

Please contact Dawn at SMOoOTH DRAG at info@smoothdrag.com directly and share the information with us.

Do ceramic bearings make the reel cast that much better, are they worth the added expense, and are they available for said reels?

Probably not worth the extra money for these type of reels.  May make a difference in low-profile bass reels, but for the reels you are proposing, stainless would be the best option.

I know that I'm not Alan, but I hope this helps.  We are a group of individuals who help each other by sharing information about reel maintenance and reel repair.  Of course, most better than myslef.

[franky]

Are carbontex drag washers currently available for all of the above reels I own? (newell P220, 338)

Do ceramic bearings make the reel cast that much better, are they worth the added expense, and are they available for said reels?

I can't speak for the other reels that you have, but for the newells, I can certainly say that the greased carbontex drag washers are worth the upgrade.  For the two series that you have above, I believe the "jigmaster" size carbon washers are available and they will fit the p220 and the 338 reels.

As far as the ceramic bearings are concerned, I (just my opinion ) would not do it.  As Alan has often preached "open the bearing, give it a good and thorough cleaning, and you may re-seal or just leave it open and grease it.  For me, since I am using the newells for distance casting from shore, I use speed-x on my bearings.

Hope this helps...    

Oh, and welcome to this wonderful Reel Repair Site.  Awesome site...great resource...

 

[Dawn]

Hi

The Carbontex are available for the Newell's and the TLD Star reels.

The 30H, 400H and 450H are Smoothies only.  The washers are very thick and the carbon fiber is not available for them.  At least not at a price that anybody would want to pay.
The 50H I have the Xtreme Smoothies only.  Same deal with the thickness and carbon fiber.

Thanks
Dawn
www.smoothdrag.com

[alantani]

oh, so THAT'S the reason!!!!!!!!!   

i was wondering why you did not have a drag set for thrse older daiwa sealines!  dawn, the old sealine reels are GREAT reels.  the big drawback is the drag stack.  they are set up for only 3 drag washers.  remember the drag set for the 900/910h?  i had metal washers cut by a friend of mine.  i ordered up penn drag washers and had to cut one of them to fit underneath the main gear.  all total, i put together 100 sets.  um, they're all gone and i'm getting more made. 

the reason for bringing this up is to point out that there is a market for a "1+5" stack of carbon fiber drag washers with 5 thinner metal washers for this line of reels.  perhaps you could again take a look at providing such a drag set.  the performance of the reel will be dramatically improved.  i could continue to do this, but cutting drag washers is not a line of work that i want to be in.  that's why we have you!  alan

[Bryan Young]

Thanks Dawn.  I have to save this info somewhere...nah, it's on your site already.

[slip tip]

oh, so THAT'S the reason!!!!!!!!!    

i was wondering why you did not have a drag set for thrse older daiwa sealines!  dawn, the old sealine reels are GREAT reels.  the big drawback is the drag stack.  they are set up for only 3 drag washers.  remember the drag set for the 900/910h?  i had metal washers cut by a friend of mine.  i ordered up penn drag washers and had to cut one of them to fit underneath the main gear.  all total, i put together 100 sets.  um, they're all gone and i'm getting more made.  

the reason for bringing this up is to point out that there is a market for a "1+5" stack of carbon fiber drag washers with 5 thinner metal washers for this line of reels.  perhaps you could again take a look at providing such a drag set.  the performance of the reel will be dramatically improved.  i could continue to do this, but cutting drag washers is not a line of work that i want to be in.  that's why we have you!  alan

Alan, if you ever get around to it and have the metal drag washers "1+5" made up for the smaller, old Sealines, please let us know! Dawn, the sweet angel that she is, can probably find Carbontex that would be the proper dimensions. I have several of these old faithful dogs and that would breathe new life into them!....

Regards,
David

[Norcal Pescador]

I have a Sealine 350H that I would love to change over to a 1+5 drag system and would order 1 or 2 extra drag washer sets just so I would have them for future need. Eventually Alan and the rest of the guys (and gals) who do the serious reel repair gig are going to say, "Heck with this, I'm goin' fishing, FOREVER!"



Rob

[strato-caster]

Thanks to everyone for all the help. It is greatly appreciated.