Komodo 463 - After two, four, and five years of abuse

Started by jurelometer, March 23, 2020, 04:51:32 AM

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Cor

#15
Quote from: redsetta on March 28, 2020, 02:54:18 AM
QuoteJust missing  a cast control so that I can huck braid with impunity when the fish are boiling and I am a bit too amped up.
So true! :D

I just re read this thread.

For about 3 years I fished my Tranx reels with only a static mag and I dare say that worked pretty well.    Could cast 85 yds constantly for a number of hours without any significant thumb action by getting the fit of the magnet just right.   Its a simple trial and error construction and well worth doing.   The problem arose when conditions changed, mainly the wind.

A year ago I decided to fit an adjustable mag to one of the reels.   This hit the jackpot. A small adjustment to compensate for wind or casting weight changes became possible.   I designed the construction which is complicated by (what Shimano call VBS system)   It's simply a rotating disk that locks the side plate in place but it is in the way of the mag's adjusting shaft/axle.    As I don't have machine tools suitable for such a job I asked a friend to manufacture and fit the mag.

When I saw how much better this cast, I also removed the braid and spooled the one reel with 0.5mm mono 43lb and this setup now gives me a good 25 yds further cast (110 yds with a just short of 11 ft rod)    It is a very noticeable improvement in distance and outcasts most others around using the same class tackle.
Cornelis

johndtuttle

Cool.

Mag is da' shizz for distance casting.

Brakes best for light stuff.

Both (adjustable) is the best of both worlds (ie huck a sardine or a popper).

Gfish

#17
Dave, your first pic. shows the crank shaft with a bearing plate(#78) at the bottom and there's a ball bearing(#77) underneath that. How was the condition of that one, given that it's kind of a sump for saltwater there?

"In the interest of science" 😄, I godda use that one!
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

jurelometer

#18
Quote from: Gfish on July 04, 2021, 10:00:58 PMDave, your first pic. shows the crank shaft with a bearing plate(#78) at the bottom and there's a ball bearing(#77) underneath that. How was the condition of that one, given that it's kind of a sump for saltwater there?

"In the interest of science" 😄, I godda use that one!

Sorry, just saw this.  The handle shaft bearing was fine.  The reel  is wide and low, so it is pretty much impossible to store it in such a way that water will collect there, especially with the drain holes.

I should also highlight that I soak my saltwater reels in warm fresh water about once a week when fishing them.  This is not a popular strategy here, but good ol' science backs me up,both in terms of how quickly a small amount of saltwater diffuses in a large amount of fresh water, and that the metals at highest risk to  saltwater corrosion (the type of stainless used in bearings and roller clutches) are very resistant to freshwater corrosion. 

I probably would not soak a "sealed" spinner or fly reel, but a well ported reel that can be dried out afterward is a no brainer for freshwater soaking as fas as I am concerned.

Just serviced the Komodo again after sitting for a couple years, fishing for about 30 days,and then back on the shelf for six months.  Everything was in good shape except for the roller clutch (one way bearing) acquiring some rust on the  cage.

Just for grins, I greased up the clutch so that it would slip to allow me to test the silent dog "backup".  Dog worked fine until the drag was cranked down, and then it became unreliable.  I  had to clear the excess grease from the ratchet and fiddle with the dog ear tension, but got it working after reassembling the reel three times (blech).

I wish the reel had a good old-fashioned sprung dog instead of the corrosion magnet roller clutch (one way bearing), backed up by a nearly as unreliable  silent dog.  But then they probably wouldn't sell as well :)

-J

MarkT

You can thank Abu for those silent dogs!
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Rancanfish

Ha slight zombie thread.  I was excited seeing John Tuttle posting again. But it was good reading this again.
I woke today and suddenly nothing happened.

jurelometer

#21
Finally broke something on the Komodo.  Shredded the threads on the drag star.  The star is aluminum, and the shaft is extra fine threaded, with two flat cut into it. When I set the drag to 11 on a 1 to 10 scale to stop some bigger snappers in the in the shallows, the shaft started acting like a tap, cutting new threads into the star and stripping it.

This is a design flaw, but an intentional one.  Customers prefer drags that can be fine tuned, and also want a high max drag.  Okuma accommodated customer demand by using extra fine threads, when course threads would probably have held in my situation.

Saltwater low profile reels supporting high max drag don't really functionally benefit from being able to micro tune the drag, especially at higher settings. 

Another case of the fishing consumer getting what they asked for instead of what they needed...




As for the rest of the reel, I ordered up a new yoke and other plastic guts, plus a couple springs for the eccentric along with a couple new stars.

It turns out that I didn't need any new parts other than the star. The yoke, levelwind and other parts, that I would expect to wear are all in excellent condition.  With a bit of tweaking, I even managed to get the auto engage, working like new.

Okuma USA has a good online parts ordering system.  New parts were reasonably priced and shipped in a little over a week.  Without the parts system, my reel would be a paperweight right now.

After nearly 100 days of panga abuse spread over five or six years, it ain't so pretty any more, but is still in very good functional condition.  I would soak the reel in fresh water regularly, and keep a eye one the one way bearing (blech), but otherwise was pretty rough on the reel.

Gotta score one for Okuma here.  I have a Daiwa Lexa that I planned to try after I killed the Komodo, but now I'm going to have to come up with a new plan ;)

-J


johndtuttle

#22
Thanks very much for these updates, Dave.

Despite the well meaning intentions of erstwhile reviewers like myself the amount of saltwater days fished in NorCal are just too few and far between to wear any fishing gear out it seems.

But nothing beats time on the water to assess a design and find the flaws, both predicted and unknown, a reel may possess. So props to you! :)

Doubt most fishos would find much objectively different between Revo Beast, Komoda, Lexa or Tranx...just a number of check and balancing acts versus cost. All of them fine reels.

All in all about the most fun you can have casting conventional reels on the water, imo, and it turns out they work decently for deepish jigging too.

Gfish

#23
Great report Dave. Don't have an Okuma reel, hmmmm. You can sell me the Lexa. Naw, just kidding I had one and put some miles on it, but I think I like my R. T. Beast better with more casting adjustments avalible..
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Cor

Just spent 1/2 an hour re reading this thread!

Was looking up the retrieve rate of these reels and found this video on the Okuma site.


Innards remarkably similar to the Tranx.   I could be tempted to buy one, but I find the retrieve too slow.
Cornelis

jurelometer

I think what makes the Komodo unique amongst its peers is the non-disengaging levelwind.  Makes for much less stress on the worm and levelwind gears when the fish is taking line and the first couple of turns under load.  My worm and levelwind gears are in great shape.  I was going to order some backup worm parts, but didn't bother.

Some reviewers ding the Komodo for the non-disengaging levelwind, as it can affect casting distance.  I still get plenty of distance, but I am usually casting at least 1 1/2 to 2 oz lures. 

There are some design tradeoffs in the various brands which might affect which one you chose.  The Lexa has a disengaging levelwind.  I think that the Tranx does too.  Not sure about the other brands. You also have to undo the left sideplate to adjust the cast control on the Komodo, which means that I never adjust the cast control.  I like that external mag knob on the Lexa.

One other maintenance note:  I have seen comments on the web about the Komodo not kicking out of freespool when you turn the handle.  The bottom spring (key 27)  has a short leg and a long leg.  If you put the wrong (short?) leg in the kick lever hole (Key #26), you will  get this symptom (don't ask me how I know :) )  It is also useful to put a gob of grease over the spring coil, as  this is a spot that traps water on the frame and can lead to corrosion and a sticky thumb bar.

I place a high premium on durable gear, but have to agree with John and Cornelius.  There is a huge swath of saltwater fishing applications that are perfect for these low profile saltwater levelwinds. And just too much fun.  Coupled with a modern casting rod with a palming trigger reel seat, you can  do anything from live baiting to cranking jigs, poppers, drop/slow pitch jigging, you name it.

-J

boon

We run a Komodo (non-SS) 364 and a Lexa 300HS-P, both have done exceptional service for years with minimal maintenance and caught fish that go well beyond what could be reasonably expected of a 300-size baitcaster. The Lexa has just needed its first bearing done (main driveshaft bearing got a little noisy) after 3 years and probably well over 100 trips.

johndtuttle

Quote from: jurelometer on September 24, 2023, 08:02:42 PMI think what makes the Komodo unique amongst its peers is the non-disengaging levelwind.  Makes for much less stress on the worm and levelwind gears when the fish is taking line and the first couple of turns under load.  My worm and levelwind gears are in great shape.  I was going to order some backup worm parts, but didn't bother.

Some reviewers ding the Komodo for the non-disengaging levelwind, as it can affect casting distance.  I still get plenty of distance, but I am usually casting at least 1 1/2 to 2 oz lures. 

There are some design tradeoffs in the various brands which might affect which one you chose.  The Lexa has a disengaging levelwind.  I think that the Tranx does too.  Not sure about the other brands. You also have to undo the left sideplate to adjust the cast control on the Komodo, which means that I never adjust the cast control.  I like that external mag knob on the Lexa.

One other maintenance note:  I have seen comments on the web about the Komodo not kicking out of freespool when you turn the handle.  The bottom spring (key 27)  has a short leg and a long leg.  If you put the wrong (short?) leg in the kick lever hole (Key #26), you will  get this symptom (don't ask me how I know :) )  It is also useful to put a gob of grease over the spring coil, as  this is a spot that traps water on the frame and can lead to corrosion and a sticky thumb bar.

I place a high premium on durable gear, but have to agree with John and Cornelius.  There is a huge swath of saltwater fishing applications that are perfect for these low profile saltwater levelwinds. And just too much fun.  Coupled with a modern casting rod with a palming trigger reel seat, you can  do anything from live baiting to cranking jigs, poppers, drop/slow pitch jigging, you name it.

-J


The Komodo is a shorter design, front to back, and may require the non-disengaging level wind as the forces would be higher than more stretched designs like the Lexa or Revo Beast. Otherwise, the high angles may really affect the Komodo's casting.

Does the shorter frame lead to a more rigid design? Hard to say. All of these reels have been tested on big hard pulling fish and the worst I hear are Wahoo due to the wind wind wind whether making progress or not that anglers employ. This seems to wear out a few Tranx due to frame flex and consequent gear misalignment.

Lexa T-wing will be my next purchase to give that a trial.

jurelometer

Quote from: johndtuttle on September 25, 2023, 02:30:17 PMThe Komodo is a shorter design, front to back, and may require the non-disengaging level wind as the forces would be higher than more stretched designs like the Lexa or Revo Beast. Otherwise, the high angles may really affect the Komodo's casting.

Does the shorter frame lead to a more rigid design? Hard to say. All of these reels have been tested on big hard pulling fish and the worst I hear are Wahoo due to the wind wind wind whether making progress or not that anglers employ. This seems to wear out a few Tranx due to frame flex and consequent gear misalignment.

Lexa T-wing will be my next purchase to give that a trial.

I would wager that the more consequential choice of engaging vs non-disengaging levelwind came first, but agree that these are interrelated design tradeoffs (plus spool width).  The overall length of the Lexa and Komodo 400 series are pretty much the same. Lexa extends the levelwind out in front of the worm quite a bit to accomplish this.  Seems kind of sketchy, but what do I know?

I don't think that frame flex is an issue in any of these reels.  If that was the case, the the load on the levelwind would be tremendous- enough to transfer load capable of flexing the frame, and would destroy the worm/levelwind/levelwind gears in short order.  The worm/levelwind is designed to have a ton of backlash (freeplay) to allow for easier  retrieve winding without binding - but this makes these mechanisms susceptible for twisting under load.

These reels are low and narrow enough that the twisting load should be negligible at 20 lbs or so of drag. If there was any frame twisting, the pinion and main gear would move somewhat in unison, and spool/frame scraping should be the first symptom.

Shimano (Tranx 500) neglected to put a ball bearing  on the handle end of the shaft.  Okuma Komodo has a ball bearing nested in the sideplate.  So Shimano is using the one-way "bearing" halfway down the main shaft to sort of help keep the shafts aligned.  One way bearings are not bearings. They need a loose fit to do their job, and are not capable of handling this type of load.

When you wind a helical gear pair under load, a significant percentage of the radial load is transferred to axial load, and the curved path of the teeth further contribute to pushing unsupported shafts apart and forcing the load to the tooth ends of one of the gears.  This unsupported shaft with helical gear pairs is the Achilles heel of the classic star drag designs.  Shimano was one of the first brands to start putting a ball bearing on the sideplate to address this, but it seems that they forgot about this for the Tranx- or more likely tossed it because the reel was already getting too wide- a problem with these larger low-profile reels.

While the Komodo/Lexa/Tranx reels are all very similar,  there are a couple key decisions that Okuma made that I think were the right ones for strength and durability:  a synchronized levelwind, a main shaft ball bearing on the sideplate, and replacement parts availability to compensate for any design missteps (e.g. star threads stripping).  I haven't fished the other reels, so I am not going to take a position on which ones is better in total.

I haven't caught a lot of wahoo, and all of mine were on a Jigmaster, but I remember just waiting for that one single fast run to finish and then winding in the wahoo with no drama.  As long as you didn't run out of line or get sharked, it wasn't so tricky.  Who keeps winding when you are not gaining line? Wonder what these long rangers are up to.  But if you keep winding without gaining line, you are keeping any shaft misalignment in place, increasing the odds of shredding gears when you start taking line on the wind.


-J

johndtuttle

#29
"Wind wind wind..." is the LR mantra for Wahoo. It supposedly lands more fish because the bony mouth is often not penetrated through by the hook. Keeping tension 100% is essential as far as the LR fleet is concerned and I've heard more than one boat exhort their sportos to keep winding.