Squidder bearing

[milne]

Hi Guys,
             Just a wee question on the Squidder bearings.  I've had success with my 113h Senator bearing strip down, which had tiny retainer springs
        in them.  But now doing my Squidder which I'm pimping out and I can't see any retainer ring to remove. Are these a pressed sealed bearing,
        If so, how best to flush out old grease and re grease these.

Thanks in advance

Col

[alantani]

All of us have trouble seeing up close,  or will soon enough.  There is typically a really thin retaining ring.  Run a sharp hook around the edge and you should find it. Or just lube it and call it done. 

[milne]

Hi Alan,    Oh Wow, that retaining ring must be a small sucker !   I could see the Senator one, all be it with the aid of a small magnifier,
               But this one is real difficult.
              I'll persist with my Dental pick and see if I can remove it,  if going by the caked muck on both bearings, I'd luv to give it a real good clean.
          I used your Carb cleaner trick on the senator Bearings, worked an absolute trick ! then re packed them with a penn grease/ corrosion x mix.
        If this retainer ring is a no go, would you recommend at least soaking these Squidder bearings in Carb clean, it really seems to dissolve grease,
        then can I just put a drop or two of corrosion x on the bearing face, let it soak to get inside,, would that be ok over re packing with grease ?

   sorry for the newby questions.......

Col
             

[Alto Mare]

The squidder bearing does not have a shield, once you do find a way to open it the tiny balls will fall right out.
Soak it in some good oil and you should be set.
Somehow  these last a long time, maybe because how well protected it is.
If it still doesn't feel right afterwards, just order another from mystic reel parts.

Sal

[Gfish]

Yeah. What Sal said. That's what I thought. Those Squidder bearings are kinda unique for a Penn. Actually, I gave up on trying to get the retainer out on mine, never knowing if it existed. There's been a few other non-Penns where I've come across that.

[milne]

Thanks Guy's, 
                    Yes they are different to the Senator bearings I have just done, I followed what you did Sal and got my self a dental pick, which was
              really easy to flick out the retaining clip, but for the life of me I couldn't see that on the Squidder bearing.  Once it was out, it was caked
          in thick, hard black gunk, so they probably have never been removed by the looks.
          I'm pimping this one out, I received a new Tiburon narrow frame and spool from our man Randy and assembled it to just have a look what it
          looked like, but the free spool was near non existent on her. So it's now been completely stripped down to clean it all up.  I'll soak the bearings as
        you suggested and see if that helps, if there still not good I'll order a new set. There is an internal up grade on offer for the Squidder as well soon, so
        I will jump on that and grab new drags for her as well.
        Thanks for the input guys.........

Col

[thorhammer]

Col- put the whole bearing assemblies in a jar that you can seal (small Mason, peanut butter, whatever) with lighter fluid, MEK, acetone, or whatever good solvent you can get your hands on. If you have a sonic cleaner, great, sit it in there but don't heat with these in sealed containers. If not, let it rest and periodically give it a good swish- you will be surprised how much crap comes out. Change solvent if necessary. When you are satisfied, lay flat and give a couple squirts over a day or so of your favorite lube. I use Corrosion X. It will seep in.


This is my method and no doubt, someone has one better that works for them. That's fine. But until they show up and out-throw me on their Squidder, which will take an A-game, this is what I do.

John

[farmer56]

   farmer 56  here   ....    thor  i  love  your  reply  ...   your  casting  challenge    brought  back   fishing  with  my  boys  in  Canada  ...   throwing  1 1/2  oz.  spoons  with   musky  rods  ...   the  boys  would  use  both  arms  and  could  not  understand  how  my  60  year  old  body  could  out  cast them  only  using  only  one  arm  ....       

[milne]

Thanks john,  great method, I'll give that a good go.

cheers

Col

[thorhammer]

Note, the old timers used to put STP in Squidder bearings to slow them down, having no cast control / mags back then. So, look at it as a balance of educated thumb / lube weight / free spool: Obsessing over getting the bearing spotless and lubed with TS321 for maximun freespool is a diminishing reurn if the reel is then so fast you have to snug down the bearing knob too much. Method as described above works just fine for 6 oz and bait applications and 11/ 12 foot rod. I biasing reply for surf casting, what it was made for, though a perfectly good little bottom reel or troller, neither of which needs a lot of free spool.

JMO

John

[milne]

Thanks John,
                      This pimped out Squidder is going to do a bit of everything, could probably have probably left it as it was, but free spool wasn't the best
            and pulling it out showed how much crud was around it, which had turned hard, so I had to clean it out.
            There soaking as we speak and doing that has leached out alot of crud, so all should be good....

Col

[Bryan Young]

If you can spin the bearing while it's in your soaking solution, it should suck in the solution and push out the old crud in the bearing cleaning it even further. 

[milne]

Thanks for that Bryan, great suggestion, which I did.....

Now, unfortunately, these bearings are toast !!  I soaked them, re soaked them, copious amounts of gunk came out. I did as John suggested and gave
them a couple of drops of corrosion X and let it soak in over a couple of days, all looked good....
Re assembled the reel and the free spool is terrible and you can quite clearly hear the bearing growl.  When I originally removed them, they were quite oily, someone had been oiling them, but the old grease was so caked on the underside, I had to use a sharp blade to literally chip it off. It all cleaned up and looked presentable, but I think I will just order a couple of new bearings and be done....

Question,  Going thru mystic's website, they list a left hand and a right hand bearing separately, is this because of the tail plate side screw in cup ?
It looks as though the bearings them self are identical,  do I just order 2 - 26-140  and I'm done    Is there a difference between maroon and black plated models ?. I know they said earlier models didn't have the extra bearing shield they supplied with the above part number, which mine didn't have.....
Sorry for all the questions...


Col

[milne]

Ok, Well I got in touch with Mystic, who informed me that the bearings are not "swap able" from side to side, they are side specific.
So, after some searching I found it said here, that they can indeed be used either side ?
I pulled out my Verniers and they do look like the same size.
I know the tail plate side comes with the screw in cap bearing holder and bearing as one, but if they are indeed the same bearing used either side, the tail plate bearing holder isn't needed, surely. I was reading that bearing cup holder is differently machined and is a harder fit as well, than the originals.
So can anyone confirm what I believe that they are indeed the same bearing fits both head and tail plate sides ?...

Col

[Dominick]

I don't know.  If Moe at Mystic says they are not interchangeable then they are not.  Dominick