Anyone open up a Tsunami Forged lever drag reel yet ?

[redpaulhus]

I decided to pull the trigger on a small lever drag reel for Haddock, Tautog, and deep Fluke fishing here in the noreast.
I prefer a lower gear ratio (below 6:1, would love 4.x:1 ideally) for bottom fishing out here.
after looking at a number of options I ordered a Forged from Tsunami in size 8 (other choices were a Primal 10 from Fin-nor and a few different chinesium designs in the "100" size).
I'll have it later this week and will give it a good going-over (hopefully this weekend).

Has anybody here serviced any of the new Tsunami (or Fin-Nor) lever drag reels yet ?
(a quick search found no tutorials)

thanks,
Red

[Dominick]

Plenty of Fin Nor information here...https://alantani.com/index.php?board=86.0 Dominick

[redpaulhus]

Plenty of Fin Nor information here...https://alantani.com/index.php?board=86.0 Dominick

True.
But many of those reels were designed before W.C. Bradley bought the Fin-nor brand back sometime around 2006.
I own a few Fin-nor Offshore star-drags from around that time frame as well, and sometimes refer to Alan's tutorial when I service them.

The Primal is a newer design, much smaller than even their smallest Lethal lever drag, never mind the classic gold Fin-nors, and I have yet to see a detailed take down or tutorial online for them yet
(and now they have been bought again, this time by Pure Fishing, current parent company of Penn ... yet at the moment their website still has ties to Zebco brand and the bearings I just ordered direct from Fin-nor were shipped by Zebco -- so who knows what effect the latest acquisition will have lol )

I'd love to see a Primal tutorial in that forum. even more I would like to see a Primal and Forged side by side. Hopefully I will see them both in person at this winter's fishing shows/expos  (providence RI most likely).

I suspect that these both will be the Suzuki Sidekick or Isuzu Amigo of the US lever drag market -- interesting (quirky even) models that can't compete with domestics or the big two Japanese imports for marketshare (and are replacement part nightmares) and slowly fade away.

[redpaulhus]

I received the Tsunami Forged 8 but haven't had time for a deep inspection and photos yet.
Initial impressions:

* it is SMALL -- spool is just an inch wide. Much smaller than the 10 size offerings from Tsunami or Fin-nor that I have seen. I like the size.
* they used torx head screws for the right side plate - T-15 I think. The reel came with a very small handle nut wrench and a right angle "allen wrench" with two T-15 ends.
* a quick look inside shows all surfaces lubed with a nice layer of grease.
* (the side plate screws had blue locktite not grease. I suspect the four screws on the reel foot got the same treatment but haven't checked yet).
* The reel has one ARB and two AR dogs.
* sticker on the foot says made in Taiwan

so far I like it. I have yet to fill it with line, so I am not sure about drag numbers.

[Gfish]

Red, can you post pictures? Are you gonna pre-treat it("Tanize", i.e., grease the internals, including screws)before fishing it?

[redpaulhus]

Red, can you post pictures? Are you gonna pre-treat it("Tanize", i.e., grease the internals, including screws)before fishing it?

I am hoping to get in and get pics. not sure if I will give it the full Tani - I might just lube the screws. I was impressed by the grease job they did. I haven't pulled it apart enough to know if the drag was lubed yet, if its not I will hit it with the lighter Cals grease.
I haven't decided if I want to deal with pulling the shields off of the bearings etc -- poor eyesight and big fat fingers mean that I have killed a few bearings trying to pull shields.
I don't plan on casting it so the existing freespool is plenty, so I would't be blasting out the bearings and switching from grease to oil/TSI etc

[CapeFish]

This sounds like a really cool reel and also the Fin-nor Primal, although that one now only seems available in the 12 model now. I have been looking for a small lever drag for my kayak that won't break the bank.