Avet LX Raptor drag

Started by Johnb1948, September 26, 2019, 10:09:29 AM

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Johnb1948

Hi everyone.  New member here from Apopka, Fl needing help!.  I stumbled across this board while searching for an answer to a problem and immediately recognized Alan's name as it was mentioned by someone who serviced my reel.  Here's the issue:  the drag on my LX Raptor loosens up a bit each time the drag level moves  in and out of free spool.  To make a long story short, it was originally serviced by "X" and came back with that problem; sent to "Y"  twice (Y was highly recommended) to correct this problem but without success.   I do know that "X" originally put the drag spring in backwards and "Y" said doing that compressed the spring.  Any ideas what may be the issue?  Thanks!

alantani

john, there are a couple of possibilities here.  the only way the drag will  decrease is if the preset knob moves.  under normal conditions, the lever would not move the preset knob, nor would an accidental bump from your fingers. 

under the preset knob is a spring.  that keeps the pressure on the preset knob and prevents it from moving when the lever is in free.  without that tension, the preset knob will move easily, too easily, and can get bumped clockwise to increase pressure, or counterclockwise to decrease pressure.  usually it it bumped by your right hand.  it might be possible for the lever itself to change the position of the preset knob, but the spring prevents that.  make sure you hand is clear of the knob when you work the lever and see what the results are. 

the other possibility is that the preset knob is slipping on the spool shaft.  if the threads are damaged, then the preset knob might slip one set of threads on the spool shaft when you throw the lever forward.  this happend to one guy.  he could never get the drag set properly.  what i believe happened was that the threads on the spool shaft were cut to the minimum standards and the threads on the preset knob were tapped to the maximum.  you would find this problem out if you tried a high drag setting and you could never reach it.  low drag setting would not be a problem.

now, for your part in this discussion.  i need you to get a scale and actually check the drag settings.  we need hard numbers, or we are going to continue guessing.  please let us know as soon as possible.  thanks!  alan
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

Fishy247

Interesting. I'm actually having a similar issue with my SX raptor. Back in June, I had it set to about 20#'s or so in strike. I hooked and landed a 55# BFT in about 10 minutes. I never changed the drag setting or even touched the preset knob, but when I hooked my next fish, the drag seemed to have backed off. I never got a scale on it, but it felt like 10#-12# or so. My girlfriend mentioned having this issue last year on our 2 day, whacking the dorado. I opened up the reel when I got back and I couldn't find anything amiss, so perhaps it is the threads on the spool shaft. I'll have to look at it when I get the chance.

Mike

Johnb1948

Thank you for replying Alan.  I do not think it matters, but I forgot to mentioned it is left hand retrieve.  Neither the lever itself or my hand touche the knob.  The reel did not have this problem before servicing the first time and continues to have after the 2nd and 3rd servicing.  As you asked, I set the drag at 10lbs strike, moved the lever back and forth 3 times.  After that the drag tested at 6lbs strike..I repeated moving the lever 3 times and the subsequent test resulted in drag at 2lbs.  I repeated this test with the drag set at 16lbs...it retested at 11.5lbs and 7 lbs.  With the knob tightened down the drag test at 18lbs.  Since the second shop who serviced this reel knew about the spring..they were the ones who told me it was compressed and I mentioned the spring when I sent it back ...I assume they replaced it but do not know for sure.  I will ask them.  Thank you once again.

John

alantani

I can't think of a spring that would cause this. It has to be the preset knob.  Any evidence that it rotated?  If not, then it would have to be slipping on the spool shaft.  If you have any other avets, try switching the preset knobs around to see if the problem is resolved.
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

Johnb1948

#5
You can actually see the knob turn.  I do have an SX Raptor.  I'll switch knobs and try it....it doesn't fit!

Ling

Many years ago I bought an HX off eBay that had a lot of corrosion between the preset knob, spring, and plate that is over the lever.  Under the lever is the cam.  Moving the lever to free spool moved the preset knob, and I thought it was because of the drag of corrosion on the plate to the spring to the knob.  I can't believe this is the case with a reel that was professionally serviced, but it's is something I witnessed on a reel.  There was so much corrosion on mine that the spring was practically welded to that knurled plate just over the lever.  Cleaned and lubed all of these surfaces and the problem went away.  I know it is unlikely, but are those surfaces clean?  It's a long shot I know.  Just looking for something that may solve your issue.

Johnb1948

Yes, it is clean; no corrosion.  I'm starting to become sorry I took it in for the first cleaning!!!

akfish

The first thing to go bad on all lever drag reels is the pinion bearing. Check out the pinion bearing: If there is any grittiness, it could account for drag differences because there can be varying amounts of pressure on the pinion gear and hence the drag plate. This is a long shot, but I've seen this on a couple EX 4/02 reels...
Taku Reel Repair
Juneau, Alaska
907.789.2448

Bryan Young

Avets have two spring loaded indexing pins that click then the drag is set to help prevent the preset know from moving as well. Are those working?
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

Petah

Seized pinion bearing? Just had that same problem with a ProEX 50/2

Peter

Johnb1948

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.  Unfortunately I do not feel any more adept than  "Y" mentioned in my original post who serviced my reels twice and was unable to find the problem.  He comes highly recommended and  does, btw, following this board at times!  I spoke to the service dept at Avet who said it sounded like the cam (its pressed into the side plate). Rather than trying to fix it myself,  I'm going to send it to them.

alantani

that would mean that the side plate was damaged.  that would certainly account for all of the problems, but causing damage like that is almost impossible to do.......   :-\
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

Johnb1948

I got the impression the cam was probably damaged when they were fooling with the drag and not knowing what they were doing (at the first service) and that the cam is pressed into the side plate so the whole plate needs to be replaced.  But I may be wrong ...I don't do too well on the phone withing hearing disab!  In any event, thank you for the opportunity to ask!

akfish

Only slightly of subject: I have a couple Raptors, an LX and a JX. I've been lucky to get large fish on both -- a 100# yft on the LX and a 135 bft on the JX (on 30#!!). Both fights lasted over an hour and both times the drag started to fade late in the fight. I can't figure out why this happened. Any guesses? And any suggestion as to what to do about it? The drag washers were greased very lightly with Cal's.
Taku Reel Repair
Juneau, Alaska
907.789.2448