Collecting B-Grade Spinning Reels

[philaroman]

Ryobi took over for Shimano, as Lew's OEM
then, went out on their own, like Shimano

[festus]

Does anyone know if this Roddy 820-A is pretty much the same size reel as the Heddon 230? I've been curious about these, seen both on ebay, but not found one in my price range yet.

These are worm gear driven.  It's doubtful they were built with metals the quality of the Penns, DAM Quicks, and Royal Maroons, however.

Most likely candidates for B-grade.

[mo65]

   It sure looks like the same reel Chester. I don't recall for sure...the deeper I get into reels the harder it is to remember it all. I've been prowling for a 230 but all the listings lately have been pretty trashed.

[Gfish]

Ok, my entry to the "B" list party. A Diawa GS3. GS= Gold Series. Birthdate 1977. There are SS-Silver Series, a slight downgrade from the GS and then ~'79 or '80 or so confusedly, the SS= Super Sport. The Super Sport's had the fancy wood handle knobs and some fancy spool engraving. Better internally-I don't know? The next versions were the very popular BG's(1980- present)

This is a B reel to me cause they are very heavy/size, probably have some kinda alloy main gear and I'm prejudiced against 1970's metal and other materials used on Japanese products. I tell you what though, the design engineering is excellent, IMO. Accorrding to a thread from Stripersonline,  Diawa spinners from this era are sturdy, longlasting workhorses.

Great features: spring-button fold down handle; silent dog-ear style anti-reverse located on top of the gear box and underneath the rotor. It engages a seperate ratchet on top of the pinion gear; metal covers over both the bottoms of the bail arms; a heavy-duty click spring system oppsite the anti-reverse(engages only in anti-reverse mode); a 4.8:1 gear ratio; and besides the pinion ball bearing, only 1-b.bearing for the main gear shaft. Switching it to right side cranking will put mosta the load on a brass bushing for that side, which is fine with me---one less b.bearing to service.

"How come?" Why not engineer it with a spring loaded AR pawl to get the anti-reverse "clicking" sound? Why have a whole other system to produce the AR click? The reel's heavy enough, why add more parts($) and weight?

[The Fishing Hobby]

Does anyone know if this Roddy 820-A is pretty much the same size reel as the Heddon 230? I've been curious about these, seen both on ebay, but not found one in my price range yet.

These are worm gear driven.  It's doubtful they were built with metals the quality of the Penns, DAM Quicks, and Royal Maroons, however.

Most likely candidates for B-grade.

I have one of the Roddy worm drives, not a big fan of it. If you get one, watch out while disassembling for the ball bearing, it is an open bearing and the balls will spill out everywhere if you aren't careful!

[Gfish]

A few more pictures. Also note the tiny diameter of the drag system. Looks like teflon and an unknowen bottom washer for the friction discs---another B reel aspect for me. Ok, one more B reel part: a plastic drag click pawl.

[The Fishing Hobby]

Ok, my entry to the "B" list party. A Diawa GS3. GS= Gold Series. Birthdate 1977. There are SS-Silver Series, a slight downgrade from the GS and then ~'79 or '80 or so confusedly, the SS= Super Sport. The Super Sport's had the fancy wood handle knobs and some fancy spool engraving. Better internally-I don't know. The next versions were the very popular BG's(1980-?).
This is a B reel to me cause they are very heavy/size, probably have some kinda alloy main gear and I'm prejudiced against 1970's Japanese metal and other materials. Oh, but the design engineering is really excellent, IMO.
Great features: spring-button fold down handle; anti-reverse up underneath the rotor that engages a seperate ratchet on top of the pinion gear; metal covers over both the bottoms of the bail arms; a heavy-duty click spring system oppsite the anti-reverse(engages only in anti-reverse mode) and only 1-b.bearing for the main gear shaft(1 more for the pinion). Switching it to right side cranking will put mosta the load on a brass bushing for that side, which is fine with me---one less b.bearing to service.

I like a lot of those older Daiwa reels. They are all built similarly. BG, GS, SS, X, D, C and some other series of reels were all very similar and very good reels

[mo65]

   Thanks for the look inside that Daiwa G, I've been curious about those. I see it has a bearing on the main, and a bushing on the side that sometimes gets no love. That main looks machined rather than cast...that would be a plus too. Bonus points for that AR system also. The drag system may fool you. I've learned there are no rules when it comes to drag systems. On paper, large surface area and multiple discs is the ticket, but I've sure seen real world results prove otherwise. All in all...that's a high scoring B-grade!

[George6308]

Question would the Penn 100 series silver reels qualify as a "B" grade?

[happyhooker]

Nice breakdown on that Daiwa, gfish.

Frank

[festus]

Ok, my entry to the "B" list party. A Diawa GS3. GS= Gold Series. Birthdate 1977. There are SS-Silver Series, a slight downgrade from the GS and then ~'79 or '80 or so confusedly, the SS= Super Sport. The Super Sport's had the fancy wood handle knobs and some fancy spool engraving. Better internally-I don't know. The next versions were the very popular BG's(1980-?).
This is a B reel to me cause they are very heavy/size, probably have some kinda alloy main gear and I'm prejudiced against 1970's Japanese metal and other materials. Oh, but I tell you, the design engineering is really excellent, IMO.

Those GS models are nice reels.  Worth at least a B+.  If it weren't for the alloy main gear, it would definitely deserve an A.  I have a couple of silver series and a bronze series, imho they deserve a B or B-minus.

Question would the Penn 100 series silver reels qualify as a "B" grade?

I've never owned on of the Penn 100 series, but from talk I've heard, maybe a B-minus?

[Gfish]

Alright, then, sorry for messing up the post sequence, but I couldn't get to the bail on the GS-3 till now.

I can see a weight issue if holding the reel/rod for several hours while standing in the surf. I'd say it's a medium-large freshwater or light saltwater reel.

The bail system is not as heavy duty as the rest of the reel. Note the rather flimsy single spring. It would be pretty easy to work on, however. There's good and bad with most things in this world. The bail arm bangs against that projection on the stem to close(bad) when cranking, but it also can be flipped back over by hand(good). The deal would be to get used to hand action, except for those rare times when you gotta stop the line quickly.

[mo65]

  I picked up this Zebco 620 a while back, and I've been researching it, but there just ain't a lot of info out there for this reel. As can be see in the pics below, it's a dead ringer for the more common model 3020 from the late 80s 3000 series. Aside from a few cosmetic differences, the only other difference is the 620 is marked Japan, while the 3020 is marked Korea. I'm guessing Zebco made some parts before the move to Korea and just used them to make the 620.



  The reel cranked pretty smooth...and after opening it I see why...it was packed with a nice soft grease. I'm not sure what kind it is, but I'm sure this will make someone grit their teeth, I scraped it off the side plate and reused it!



  Although there was a complete lack of plastic parts inside the reel, there was also a complete lack of bearings. The red arrow points to what I thought was the only brass bushing.



  Dang...fooled again...it's just a thrust washer. How can a reel with no bearings or bushings feel so smooth? There is no slop in the rotor/pinion fitment either. Usually a build style like this wins a "C" grade. Nice sorcery Zebco!



  The drag was another story. It was barely functional. I was expecting to see some cheezy set up, but it's a nice leather 3-stack. The only reason it worked so poorly was because it was rusted and crusted. I polished the metals and oiled the leathers. It's now an impressive drag.



  I ended up with a nice clean spread of nuggets.



  All in all...I like this reel. Who knows, maybe after a few big fish it might not feel so smooth. I have to compliment Zebco though, for using metal oscillation blocks and drag clickers when so many more respected manufacturers opted for plastic.

[Crow]

I suppose you'll put some line on it...for some testing ?!

[The Fishing Hobby]

I found some soft brown grease in a reel that was very old once and it seemed perfectly fine. We need to find out what that stuff is and if it is still available! It has to be pretty good stuff and it doesn't seem to solidify...I don't blame you for reusing it!