Shimano Torsa 16 - standard servicing

[redsetta]

Hi all,
Been waiting for one of these for a while now - Shimano's Torsa 16.
It's a cracker-looking little workhorse and at the very top of the range - a pretty rare unit in my experience.
There's a good preview of Torsa here: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewshimanoTorsapreview.html
The manual can be found here: http://www.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/customer_service0/instruction_manuals.download.-mainParsys-000112-downloadFile.html/TORSA%2020_30_16_16N.pdf
And the schematic here: http://fish.shimano.com/media/fishing/SAC/techdocs/en/Conventional/05TS16_v1_m56577569830641810.pdf
It holds 320 yards of 20# mono or just over 500 yards of 50# braid, and produces a smooth and reliable 22lb of drag.
The Torsa's got a high-speed retrieve of 5.8:1, so would be great for most applications (though it is a touch on the heavy side at 29oz).
It's such a concise design that most frequenters of this site will have no problem servicing this reel.
It really is a thing of beauty.



I usually whip out the spool first and then tear it down in one fell swoop.



Off comes the left-hand side plate and the cam.



The tolerances are really something to behold in this reel - it's all so snug.
Next step is to remove the right-hand side plate.
Note the three piece quadrant support (853 ,854, 855).



Pull off the quadrant support and lever, and remove the right side plate 'B' (872).



Remove the five side plate screws and the plate will slide off, revealing the pinion gear etc.



Pull the spool out and put aside for now.
(Take the opportunity now to remove the blue brake collars (257) and set aside - these things have a habit of disappearing.)



Remove the handle nut screw (850).



Remove the handle nut.



Slide off the gear shaft shield (874) and also remove the thrust ring (868) and washer (869) from the drag port.
The set plate and gears are ready to slide out now.



There are two bearings on the handle shaft - one either side of the right side plate. Slide off and put all this aside for now.
Remove the six screws on the cooling shield (889) and pull out the drag plate.
It has the obligatory two right-side spool bearings, separated by a drag plate spring (894).
The carbon drag plate is affixed by four screws. Remove these.
Clean, apply a coat of Cal's to the spool and drag plate, wipe off the excess and re-affix.
Next, dismantle the drag plate itself.



Clean thoroughly, apply a light coat of Cal's and reassemble.



We'll have a quick look at the clicker assembly now.
Remove the brake ring (904).



Then remove the c-clip (62), washers and click pawl (330).



Remove the click spring retainer, clean, regrease and reassemble.



Replace the spring retainer, washer and pawl, and reattach the click spring.



Replace the second washer and c-clip.



Replace the brake ring and be sure to align the notch with the top of the spring post.



Right, back to the reassembly.
Clean, lightly grease and reassemble the spool shaft as shown.
The bellevilles are traditionally placed in a '()()' configuration.



Slide the spool shaft through the spool and reattach the click gear support (901).



Flip the spool over, refit the cleaned, tuned and ReelX'd bearing and slide the drag plate spring back into place.



Replace the second spool bearing, add a drop or two of ReelX (or similar) and replace the drag plate.



Replace the cooling shield and be sure to run a dull edge around the rubber seal as it's likely to catch on the cooling shield.



Re-affix the cooling shield.
Now back to the frame - apply a light coat of grease the the left side plate and re-affix.



Fasten down the left side plate.
Replace the blue cast control or brake collars on the spool.



Insert the cross pin (902) and place the spool in the frame.



Bit of a double-up there, but it's getting late.
I use an aerosol lubricant/cleaner to clean the anti-reverse bearing, pull a clean rag through and spin in both directions several times. Then a few drops of ReelX.



Clean and repack the right main bearing, followed by both the outer and inner handle shaft bearings.



Refit the main gear, followed by the two anti-reverse ratchet pins (882).
Be sure the main gear is 'flat side up', ie the lip around the inner diameter faces the inner handle bearing.
Fit the washer between the main gear and ratchet, then fit the anti-reverse ratchet.
Slide in the handle shaft and fasten down shaft screw.



Apply a light coat of grease to the set plate and refit the anti-reverse pawl.
Slide the pawl onto the anti-reverse ratchet and rotate the set plate into position.



The gears are now in place, along with the set plate, and all is fastened down.
Replace the cleaned and re-greased pinion gear (887).



Replace the right side plate and fasten down.
Replace the bearing washer on the handle shaft, fit the gear shaft shield and handle, then tighten down the handle nut and locking screw.



Replace the right side plate 'B', followed by the lever quadrant (857) and quadrant screws etc (leave 'em loose until the lever is back in place).



Fit the washer (869) and lever thrust ring (868).



Dismantle the lever click assembly. Clean, grease and reassemble.



While we're about it, pull apart the cam (it'll come apart with finger pressure), clean, grease lightly and reassemble.  



Lube the drag clicker mechanism with a little light oil and replace.



Fasten down the lever quadrant and replace the cam.



And that's that - job done.



Such a great design - I was genuinely surprised by how few parts it had (relatively, of course).
I love the asymmetrical frame and sheer robustness of it all.
The bearings were perfect, despite being fairly well used and unserviced.
The drag is carbon fibre, backed with what appears to be fibreglass of some description - light, solid and broad.
The spool is also milled beneath the carbon drag plate, which no doubt helps to dissipate heat.



The frame is bullet-proof, as is the main gear.
At this price point, I suppose it's to be expected. But it really is a worthy bit of gear.
Hope that was of some assistance/interest.

[Alto Mare]

Excellent tutorial Justin. A while back, Reelgood did a tutorial on the Torsa 40. I was  impressed with that reel and I'm equally impressed with this one. I like everything about these reels, a good exaple of .....you get what you pay for. I will definitely own one in the future. Thanks for showing Justin, very nice !

[redsetta]

Cheers Sal.
I hadn't seen Reelgood's excellent post (http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=1771.0) before - apologies for the double-up.

[Alto Mare]

No need for apologies Justin. Even though the two reels look the same, some of the  features are different. Keep them coming bro, I always enjoy your tutorials. Sal

[redsetta]

Right, I've updated the corrupted photos and steps, and corrected a couple of small errors.
It's hugely disappointing to get anything wrong, but I s'pose it's just a reality of working all day, then kicking on late into the night working on reels.
Hope it's of some use.
All the best, Justin

[Nessie Hunter]

Most excellent.. Thank you.   

I know how long and tedious the Pic tutorials are!! 

[anthony]

Hi guys while this might be not directly related with this post, I need to ask some question & most of all HELP. Got recently one of Alans arm & handle assemble to replace the existing one on my tiagra 16A.
Removed the releasing gear clip and all three screws , now I'm stock at the hexagonal nut. My question is , do I need to remove the gear shift pinion first in order for the handle to come lose.....

Thanks in advance

[alantani]

use a 14mm deep socket and it will come out. it is a standard right hand thread. 

[erikpowell]

Bula Fellas,
Nice tutorial Justin, very helpful! 
I'm servicing a Torsa 30 right now & everything is the same as the 16 here.

This 30 wouldn't freespool and had some bearing noise.. it is missing the cast control buds, and strangely the A/R pawl nowhere to be seen....The schematic shows it to be of the ambassadeur type, not a sprung one like the Torsa 40.
I'll order it up from shimano.

She cleaned up nicely and all the bearings still good, however, there is visable wear on the pinion guard, it's actually kinda chewed up around the edges, but the pinion still slides in and out ok... at least by hand...

The problem is the spool won't "pop" back to the left when shifting to freespool. I have to pop it back by pushing the spool over to the left.
It takes too much force for it to be a weak spring I think. Feels more like something binding .... On a TLD, changing the lever shaft body & preprogram dial usually fixes this, but unfortunately, I don't have a spare Torsa cam assembly to try.
Once I manually pop it back left, it freespools like a charm...until i put it in gear again and then back to free..same thing.. spool just hangs there still in gear

The spool shaft is NOT binding in the left side plate either... thats smooth...

Any ideas?

Thanks boys!

Erik

[paal]

Sorry for pulling up an old thread guys, but it's a good one

It's very interesting to see that even at this price point (i.e. premium), they still use regular ball bearings for pinion and left spool bearing. But I guess they need to keep the repair shops alive

[erikpowell]

This Torsa is still on my workbench...   

there is a followup thread here if you'd like to know the results:

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=3930.0

Cheers,