shimano Bantam Magnumlite 2000GT drag and handle upgrade & spinning reel bro

[steelfish]

I recently repaired an old Bantam MagPlus for a good friend, I got surprised of how the reel was made and its internal metal parts, its steel cage, metal handle sideplate, SS on the Driveshaft, etc, etc, I ordered a similar reel I found to butcher it and take some parts and complete my friend's reel but after getting the broken part of my friend's reel (thanks Gfish) I cleaned his reel and checked the rest of the parts and bearings and found out all the parts were in good shape after all these years of use, they just need it a deep clean up to be in really nice working order, my donor reel ended up intact, so, I'll kept it for me.

this reel was working and in good shape, practically I just wanted to do a deep clean job and check the drags, bearings and change any part if necesary.

the reel is pretty straight to open and service so, I will jump a lot of pictures, pretty much focused on the drag upgrade.
I checked online and found some carbontex drag washer kits for these reels, but there are a lot of bantam models and many drag kits as well I didnt knew which I needed to order and since I have some drag washers from different reesl on hand, I wanted to check if any of those fit the main gear before ordering a new drag kit.


Shimano Bantam Magnumlite 2000GT with magnetic cast control




Steel rigid cage, pretty sure for the amount of drag this reel make on factory specs, this cage
offers zero flex


the stock drag system is made with two drag washers, same size and shape, one under the main gear and one inside of the main gear, one of the drag washer sits on the SS base of the sleeve shaft and under the main gear and the other sits inside the main gear and sandwiched with a metal washer.




ON MY FRIEND'S BANTAM, I remember I could fit a drag washer from the penn 309/500L inside the main gear and a smaller drag washer under the main gear
But those same drag washers didnt fit this bantam model they were too small  

checking my available drag washers, I found out that the drag washer for a 113h were same size of the base of the sleeve shaft so, it was perfect fit for under the main gear washer, but I needed it something bigger for inside the main gear because the stock drag washer was 27mm large which is the size of a penn 114h drag washer for reference, its really big sized drag washer for such small reel, for my luck one drag washer for the peen Baja Special was right fit after cutting the drag washer "ears".





this is the stok under the main gear drag washer


and this is the 113h drag washer in place with some Cals grease



those are the Stok main drag washer and the Baja Special Drag washer without ears and file out down to make the cuts smooth


with the new HT-100 Baja Special washer installed in place, perfect fit



then I replaced the short handle for one for the Shimano Calcutta 400TE, tons of difference on size and grip/comfort







Im not particulary fan of those small old lowprofile reels but the Bantam magplus gave me a nice surprise when I serviced with the way it was built and now this magnumlite 2000GT surprised me again with those really big drag washers, plus the steel cage and metal handle sideplate I think this reel should have a place in my personal arsenal when fishing for spot bay bass or triggers with 14#mono or 30# braid+15lb mono leader.

So, far I havent measured the drag of the reel with the new drag washers, but if I can reach 8lb to 9lb of drag Im golden.
as soon as I have some drag numbers I will update this post.

******  UPDATE  **********

I checked the drag today with the spool full of 14# mono line, it reached 9# of drag with the star kind of tight, I think it has room for tighten the star a bit more but that would be almost locking the spool, so far with 9# drag I calling it done with this reel, now just wait for a real world test.

[mo65]

I checked online and found some carbontex drag washer kits for these reels, but there are a lot of bantam models and many drag kits as well I didnt knew which I needed to order and since I have some drag washers from different reesl on hand, I wanted to check if any of those fit the main gear before ordering a new drag kit.

   It is a nightmare ordering drag washer kits for Abu Garcia and Shimano reels. There are a million models, and the dealers have so much labeled incorrectly, most times it's faster and easier to just make your own. Great job bringing that baitcaster back Alex!

[steelfish]

I checked online and found some carbontex drag washer kits for these reels, but there are a lot of bantam models and many drag kits as well I didnt knew which I needed to order and since I have some drag washers from different reesl on hand, I wanted to check if any of those fit the main gear before ordering a new drag kit.

   It is a nightmare ordering drag washer kits for Abu Garcia and Shimano reels. There are a million models, and the dealers have so much labeled incorrectly, most times it's faster and easier to just make your own. Great job bringing that baitcaster back Alex!

Thanks Mo, it had happened to me few times already as you said with some old models abu garcia ambassadeur, so this time I wanted to check the drags take some measures and check if I have something that could work before ordering one drag kit and hope for the best.

my friend use his bantam on a boat casting spoons for sierras (spanish macks), corvinas and croakers and his bantam has jigmaster sized drags, so, Im pretty sure this one would fish as good with the 113h sized drag washers without taking the reel to the limit.

[steelfish]

Found the spinning brother of this reel

the Magnumlite GT-X 2100 wondering if any of you guys have any experience with this little and tiny reel.
it has many features for its small package, as the "quick" trigger, rear drag BUT here please pay attention, it has another lever that says "fighting drag", looks like it add micro adjustments on the selected drag by the normal rear drive knob.

I dont know if I will ever use it on the saltwater, no rivers, chanels or any other kind of freshwater to fish it

[steelfish]

it belongs to the speedmaster family

[Ron Jones]

As much as I hate rear drag reels, I really miss fishing with a fighting drag. It is used sort of like a lever drag, you set the main drag appropriate for the line and then push the fighting drag to the right for the strike. You can modify the fighting drag setting easier than the main drag, by backing off in order to not horse the hook out of the fishes mouth for example. All in all it worked really well, at least I thought so. I had your reels big brother and caught everything from halibut to flat head catfish with it.

Ron Jones

[steelfish]

As much as I hate rear drag reels, I really miss fishing with a fighting drag. It is used sort of like a lever drag, you set the main drag appropriate for the line and then push the fighting drag to the right for the strike. You can modify the fighting drag setting easier than the main drag, by backing off in order to not horse the hook out of the fishes mouth for example. All in all it worked really well, at least I thought so. I had your reels big brother and caught everything from halibut to flat head catfish with it.

Ron Jones

Thanks for the explanation Ron
Seems like a cool feature in this small package

[philaroman]

that lever nudges the drag in either direction, in small precise increments, without changing the main drag setting...  very convenient, for those who like to fuss w/ the drag while playing a fish

it can also be used as a poor-man's kinda' sorta' UL pseudo-Baitrunner

[philaroman]

P.S.,
I have a bunch from later generations 1000-4000 size (yours is 1000 body w/ shorter spool)
wouldn't CHOOSE any for S/W -- not the best reel bottom/rear for salt, sand, dust, mud, etc.
additionally, smaller sizes' capacity & max drag are too puny for S/W
great drag control within their range -- I really like 'em on long L/UL rods protecting light line

[steelfish]

wouldn't CHOOSE any for S/W -- not the best reel bottom/rear for salt, sand, dust, mud, etc.
additionally, smaller sizes' capacity & max drag are too puny for S/W

yep, thanks for comfirm my thoughs on the reel, I had the same worries on the too many small working parts on the rear drag and figthing lever to take the reel to the salt and sand.
for Ultra light duties on the beach I have a mitchell 305 and some cheapos abu garcia cardinal s30 and shimano sonora 2500.

[Ron Jones]

I HAVE fished them off jetties before. I really liked having light enough drag to not pull the bait out of a lazy halibuts mouth but having a hiherdrag to keep a bass out of the rocks, but it certainly wasn't ideal.

Ron Jones