the drag stays locked when you back off the star......

[alantani]

Hi Alan. Many thanks for providing excellent advice for all us Reel fanatics.I have a couple of questions regarding the anti reverse and drag performance on the above reels which I have not seen covered so far,and wondered if you could help. When fighting a fish,or with the line tied to a tree with a good bend in the rod,I can back off the star drag wheel with no noticible effect.The star becomes loose on the shaft,not up against the belville washers.It seems to me that the "anti reverse bearing" is doing its job and locking up,But once in this position it is impossible to alter the drag.If one moves the reel handle forward at this point the bearing unlocks and the rod springs back as the drag releases and the spool spins! Both my TQ 300's do this and it's a problem when a fish goes under the boat and you want to give line! My 113HN has very similar internals to the Torque but no "anti reverse bearing" and works perfectly,as does every other star drag reel I have ever owned! The Fin Nor seems to increase drag pressure by at least 50% when a fish runs fast.I have never come across a reel that ramps up so much!I have tried Cals grease,and also cleaned the washers with brake cleaner and run them dry,but no real improvement.I wondered if the big drag washer under the spool was at fault,but can't understand why. Your thoughts would be much appreciated,I keep a small boat in Cabo and fish there over the winter.The gear has to be right as you guys know-those fish dont take no prisoners!

here's what i think is going on.  i think that metal washer is stuck up against the drive shaft.  to check that, you would look for burrs or indentations into the drive shaft where the keyed metal washer sits.  it would lock in under a load and then release when you crank.  what you'd do is pull off the gear cluster and file off any burrs that you find on the drive shaft. then put it back together again and see if it works. 

regarding the finnor, i would tie off the ROD to a scale, set the drag on the reel to the number of pounds that you want, then have a local 12 year old start running with the line and watch the scale.  that way you can measure the drag during an actual "run."  let's see what the number actually is first.  alan