Newly acquired Luna 253

[Cjbdvm04]

Just purchased a used 253 and it appears to be in great condition, although it has apparently sat for a long time with what looks like a film of grease/dust all over. Could someone provide me with recommendations as to what I should replace on this? Drag washers, bearings, etc. I'm going to do a total breakdown and figured I'd just replace stuff since I'll be in there anyway.  Thanks.

[Bill B]

Welcome CJ, hard to say what's needed inside, but a complete tear down, degrease the reel and bearings.  Reading the Diawa website looks like it already has CF drags so a good coat with Cals drag grease will do, oil the bearings with something lite like TSI or ReelX, and give the other parts a light coat of grease paying attention to all screw holes.  Looks like a solid reel.  Let us know what you end up doing and post some pictures, before and after.  Bill

[philaroman]

high-end Japanese reels have excellent bearings straight from the factory
no sense buying expensive replacements on spec, 'til you see what you have

nice solid little reel -- can prob. handle 40-50# braid easily, if you don't winch...

I'd be lookin' to beef up that 11-lb. max. drag

I wonder if 253 & 300 could be frankensteined into a 300-Narrow w/ 15+ drag 

[MarkT]

I have a Millionaire CVX-253, equivalent to the Luna, and put in Penn ht-100 washers for a Jigmaster greased with Cal's drag grease. Worked great!

[exp2000]

The Luna is a Premium reel and some of the best engineering Daiwa has ever produced.

The pinion gear is fully floating so just pay special attention to the skirt and stem.
Dremel them with a fine wire brush and finish with a light polish and finally a light grease.

Make sure that the bore of the inner races on the pinion bearings is "squeaky" clean and free of any rust or corrosion.

Make sure that the MCC end-plate rotates freely by applying firm pressure from the palm of your hand.
I do not recommend dissembling this unless absolutely necessary as it is a PIA to reassemble.
An ultrasonic cleaner will usually free it up nicely.

Good luck!
~

[Cjbdvm04]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate all of the good advice/input. However, I've been working on getting this sideplate back together for hours. It's almost like one of those pub puzzles where each step to the solution must be done in order. It's basically the outer ring that has a channel on the inside surface and the plate has a corresponding channel on the outside. Once together this channel holds the circular spring clip/ring which locks the whole assembly together. For the life of me, I can't get it together.

[Cjbdvm04]

Thank you all again. I finally figured it out. The ingenuity of Japanese engineering is simply amazing!