Curado 201b rehab

Started by Tagged, January 06, 2019, 11:38:28 PM

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Tagged

New guy here, first post, first question, sorry it's so long.

I'm rehabilitating an old Curado that my dad gave me as an unexpected gift 15+ years ago. It was my first $100+ reel, my first left handed baitcaster, and it blew me away after years of Mitchel and Ambassadeur (And Zebco, and...).  He passed away a few years later. Needless to say, the reel has a lot of sentimental value.

I've not maintained it well, but I recently discovered I love rebuilding reels, and I recently discovered AlanTani.com!  So I've got ambition.

I want it to be the best it can be. Better, if possible than the $45 KastKing Spartacus Plus my wife gave me for Christmas. That reel is better than it should be. And it's better than my Curado, by far.

So far I've done a thorough cleaning, and Carbontex drags. New spool bearings are on order.

Two questions so far:

1.  I botched the drive gear trying to polish it. Now it has some rough teeth. Definitely went backwards in terms of quality. Replacements don't seem to be available. What do I do?

2.  There's a lot of forward-backward (rotational) play in the spool. Maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch at the lip. I've tracked it to the pinion gear; the slot seems to be too wide. Can anything be done?

Thanks for any suggestions. I've been reading this site obsessively for weeks now.

Tag

Tagged

Third question:  do Carbontex washers usually make the drive side of the reel tighter?  This is the second reel I've done, and both were too tight until the drag was tightened down. Then they were fine.   Is that normal?


oc1

Since you are going to replace the main it would be good to replace the pinion at the same time. 

You can lap the carbontex, temporarily remove a drag spring washer (BNT0015), or just wait for the carbontex to become compressed and worn.

Upgrading the spool bearings to hybrid or, better yet, full ceramic worked wonders for me.  If you run them dry they are even better in terms of performance, albeit a bit noisy. 

After the bearings, you would be looking at a whiffle spool.

It is not impossible that a Kastking right out of the box is going to be better than a used Curado for a while.  The test of time may sort them out.

-steve

Tagged

#4
Ahh, EBay!  I didn't think of that.

There's another listing of the main gear and pinion for $31.  Is that a good price?   The reel model listed in the sale is 201bsf.  I don't think mine is a super-free model.  (I think that's what the SF designation is;  I think they came out with perforated spools a year later).  Does anyone know if they'll fit?  The main gear number is the same, but I don't know about the Pinion.

Tag

exp2000

#5
Quote from: Tagged on January 07, 2019, 09:59:02 PM

There's another listing of the main gear and pinion for $31.  Is that a good price?   The reel model listed in the sale is 201bsf.  Does anyone know if they'll fit?  The main gear number is the same, but I don't know about the Pinion.

Tag

The pinion for the BSF is a different part number and judging by the schematics is physically a very different beast.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Shimano-Bantam-Curado-201-201b-Brass-Pinion-Gear-Reel-Repair-Part-BNT1518/1401559804
~

Tagged

Thank you. That's a good save. Yes, different parts number. Once I got home and checked the parts diagram, I ordered both the gear and pinion.

Today I also ordered TSI 321 from Dawn.

I think I'm well on my way to rocket launcher!

GORDASKIPPER

I am doing same to CU-201 I don't see physically or on drawing, a anti-reverse pawl like my never reels? Is that accomplish by the one way roller clutch bearing? Also 1207 roller clutch bearing on Ebay has 2 listings one half the price what's better choice?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=CU-201+BNT+1207+roller+clutch+bearing&_sacat=0

philaroman

Quote from: GORDASKIPPER on January 14, 2019, 01:39:13 PM
I am doing same to CU-201 I don't see physically or on drawing, a anti-reverse pawl like my never reels? Is that accomplish by the one way roller clutch bearing? 

YES

Also 1207 roller clutch bearing on Ebay has 2 listings one half the price what's better choice?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=CU-201+BNT+1207+roller+clutch+bearing&_sacat=0


if cheapest is OEM, like others -- good deal...  looks real

Tagged

Here's where I stand on the bearings:

I did not wind up replacing the roller bearing. I was able to service it, and it wasn't in bad shape.   You can press out the ARB, or just pull out the guts. There's  a thread somewhere on AlanTani on how to service the ARB without removing the ARB housing from the reel. I just stuck a pick into the gap behind one of the rollers and pulled toward the inside of the reel. It came apart with some persuasion. It is a simple little device. As long as you don't lose a roller, it's easy to clean and service.

Once I cleaned it, I could see that the minimal corrosion inside the housing wasn't contacting a roller, so it didn't need  replacing.

The ball bearing at the base of the drive shaft got cleaned and repacked with blue marine grease. No replacement necessary. It had removable shields, so I cleaned, repacked, and replaced the seals.

The three spool bearings need replacing. Some of them had removable shields, some did not. I opened them all and discarded the shields. I've cleaned them twice and they're still gritty, so I'm replacing them, even though casting performance is superb.

The two on the end I ordered through amazon. I just searched "3x10x4 Abec 7" and found a Chinese seller offering 10 for $11.59.  They haven't arrived yet, and I'm not patient enough to recommend that.

The middle spool bearing is a larger size and was not available through Amazon, I ordered it through onlinebearingsupply.com. It also shipped very slowly. When it arrived, I discovered I had ordered the wrong size (entirely my fault), so I still don't have the right one.

If I had to do it over again, I would clean each bearing before ordering, and then order them individually from Dawn at Smoothdrag. She has been great to work with on carbon drags (do it!) and TSI 321 (also worth it)

I no longer think I need the Abec 7. These clean/gritty bearings already cast so very far that I can't imagine any improvement from Chinese ABEC 7.

Tagged

#10
Victory!

The Curado 201b is finished, and it's awesome!

Thoroughly cleaned and fully rebuilt:

  • all broken parts replaced with NOS,
  • modern synthetic lubes,
  • Carbontex drags,
  • hybrid ceramic ABEC 5 bearings,
  • new brass gearset,
  • & 30lb braid
.

It's back to being the best reel I've ever owned. And it makes the Kastking feel like a $45 Chinese reel. (Which it is)

For the record, I ordered bearings 3 times, and never got what I expected. The Chinese Abec 7s were a joke. See the separate thread on those. http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=27428.0 The  bearingsupply.com order sent me some industrial flange bearings that had the same part number but were bigger than my spool. Dawn's Abec 5 bearings are hybrid-ceramic, not stainless. (No worries, Dawn, I Love them.)

Right now, I just can't wait to get it back out on the water.

Thanks to everyone here for the awesome help!!

oc1

Way to go.  Those are easy to get attached to.
-steve

jon_elc

#12
i have one of these reels, that i started using with my dad, over 30 years ago, too.  i probably used it for a few years and then stopped fishing until recently.  Thinking about pairing it up on my dad's (he passed away a a few years ago, before i started fishing again this year) old G Loomis 1025C.  probably needs a service after all these years.