Fin Nor FST60 Tutorial

Started by Porthos, November 09, 2015, 10:02:06 AM

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Porthos

After years of living with the frame flex of my Okuma Coronados (don't get me wrong, I've fished the CD65 on both the 2014 and 2015 SOA trips), it was time to find replacements. Two years ago, the Penn Spinfisher SSV6500LL and SSV8500LL would have been the front runners BUT that would have demanded a $350-$400 replacement cost. The law of diminishing returns promised no possibility of getting $225-$325 of ADDITIONAL utility over my $75 Okumas. The only other all metal baitfeeders were the recently discontinued Fin Nor, but a tad smaller, Sportfishers FST60 and FST80. Vigilance on eBay since the beginning of 2015 finally paid off with a $50 + $8 shipping FST60.  ;D



The seller said it was "new," but that awaits to be seen. There are scratches on the spool, some seen here above the silk screened "Mono":



First, the spool. The drag stack had the characteristic red grease that I've seen on other reels in the Shakespeare family. I wiped off as much as possible and re-greased the three CF washers with Cal's.



Drag stack rebuilt; the spool side of the drag knob's silicone disk got Cal's, while the opposite side got Yamaha blue.



Spool was set aside, and attention as turned to the body.



The rear cap:



...and the bait teaser lever:



Both were remove before proceeding to the four plate screws.



With the four screws AND the bait teaser lever and screw off, only then can the cover plate be removed. It took a bit of nudging because the internal bait teaser lever pin is attached to the body and the pivot is attached to the plate. Even with the lever screw out, the two parts were still snugly connected together. The four cover screws each have a washer—a nice touch on the part of Fin Nor.



Rather than have parts from both sections out at the same time, I did things modular and dealt with the cover side first.



The top parts:



As can be seen, sections of the inner surfaces are bare while others have gobs of factory grease. I spread-ed them out and added Yamaha to cover all the inner surfaces.

The bottom parts:



Done and set aside with the spool:



To remove the bait drag assembly, the main shaft needs to be extracted. Off comes the slider retainer.



Main shaft is out.



The bait drag assembly then comes off.



Separating the shaft from the bait drag stack.



Bait drag clicker.



Laying out the drag stack. I honestly don't recall the Okuma bait drags having this many pieces. The drag washers are NOT CF but there's only between 1-2 lbs max drag out of this part—I'm not concerned enough to chase down CF replacements.



I wiped off every washer and re-greased with Cal's. Rebuilding the stack starting with the clicker end:



Everything went back in reverse order of how they came out...and done:



With the factory grease still holding the guts of the body, I turned my attention to the rotor and clutch.



Main shaft bushing:


Main shaft bushing, rotor nut, and rotor off.



Popping off the retainer ring and clutch seal.



After removing the clutch lock ring, I inspected the barrel rollers.



They looked pristine, so I made the decision to let sleeping dogs lie and went no deeper. Just applied a few drops of CorrosionX, reinstalled the retainer ring and clutch seal, and coated with Yamaha.



Before putting the rotor back on, I made the decision to remove the bail closing ramp.





Thought about putting just the screw back in but choose to leave it out and just fill that hole with grease.





Greased the underside of the rotor, and re-installed.







Afterwards, took the main gear and body side bearing out and popped the bearing shields off.



One side had a spotty application of grease, and the other side was dry.





Re-packed the bearing with grease and re-installed the shields. My rule of thumb on shields is simple: (1) if the shields came off clean, they were "meant" to go back, so back they go; (2) if the shields had to be pried off and damaged, they were "meant" to stay off.





A coating of grease and the bearing goes back in. The cover side bearing was found to be in a similar condition, and so the same was done to it.





Greasing the oscillating gear and slider.





Both re-installed.



Greasing the drive gear.



Installing.



Main shaft re-inserted and secured.



Bait lever went back on next...



Cover plate goes back on with the four cover screws. The rear cap followed.



The bail is unscrewed at the roller.



The roller assembly is removed and laid out. Instead of a hassle-free bushing, much to my disappointment, there was a small bearing whose shields I was unable to pop without damaging them. So, I applied CorrosionX and made a mental note to service this bearing after every trip.  >:(



Reassembling the roller.





After finishing up with the roller, I removed the c-clip of the joint of the roller side, and opened up the bail return spring cover. Decided to remove the kick lever since the ramp was already gone. Applied an even coat of grease and re-assembled.









Went to the non-roller side, opened up that joint, greased, and reassembled.





Greased the under side of the spool before re-installing...



...and done! Minus the three "extraneous" auto-close parts.



There were no signs that the reel was ever fished in saltwater. Freshwater possibly, but I'm not concerned if that's the case; will take the seller's word of "NEW" at face value. Will spool about 300yds of 40lb braid as main to be used with 20, 25, or 30lb mono top shots. The FST60 will replace my Okuma CD65.

Now, it's back on the hunt for the matching FST80. There are a few sources on the web that have discounted, "discontinued model" pricing on the FST80, but I have 7 months before the 2016 SOA trip. Can take my time.

Tiddlerbasher

Nice tutorial - thank you. For an 80 size reel you could do worse than an Okuma Cedros or RAWII 80 - It has been my goto large spinner for a couple of years now. Night time surf casting and fishing for big cats. If you need a baitfeeder option - fitting one of these does the job well:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OKUMA-BAITRUNNER-FEEDER-CONVERTOR-CAP-DISTANCE-SURF-BIG-PIT-DTS-MAX4-FIXED-SPOOL-/161794880551?hash=item25abb9f427:g:gXAAAOSwrklVL51z

This spool knob fits just about all of there 60 - 80 size reels - Making just about all of them convertible :)

Porthos

Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on November 09, 2015, 10:57:01 AM
Nice tutorial - thank you. For an 80 size reel you could do worse than an Okuma Cedros or RAWII 80 - It has been my goto large spinner for a couple of years now. Night time surf casting and fishing for big cats. If you need a baitfeeder option - fitting one of these does the job well:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OKUMA-BAITRUNNER-FEEDER-CONVERTOR-CAP-DISTANCE-SURF-BIG-PIT-DTS-MAX4-FIXED-SPOOL-/161794880551?hash=item25abb9f427:g:gXAAAOSwrklVL51z

This spool knob fits just about all of there 60 - 80 size reels - Making just about all of them convertible :)

That's a cool upgrade...will check if they happen to have this at the Parts Dept in Ontario, CA...

Three se7ens

I have the regular fs60, and its a fantastic reel.  If you want an upgraded handle, the Lethal 100 handle is a drop in.  And its cheap, and very well built, far stronger than the regular fs60 handle. 

http://www.tackleservice.com/Consumer/Product_detail_m.aspx?ProductID=5420


Those drag caps are a great idea!

johndtuttle

very cool, thanks for that!

If you take care of it like that it should last for years.  ;)

Rivverrat

This reel has rear support for the shaft....Wow !  I'm really getting schooled looking through this spinner section....Jeff