Avet TRX 80 rebuild

[Noahg727]

Just got my new avet TRX 80 and I'm about to crack it open! This is my first avet and I like it more than I imagined. I was looking for a TRX teardown tutorial and also some opinions. The grease vs. non greased drag washers-mainly. I saw the post on here from Alan comparing the two. It appears that greased can lose a little of the drag hight after getting broken in. Hers my thing: This reel can go up to 100+ lbs of drag as it is and i really don't need that. Even with the preset as low as it goes, the drag curve is very high.

If anything I'm trying to lower the drag curve a bit. Is there anything besides greasing the drag washers that isn't overly complicated that could achieve this?

Thanks
Noah

[alantani]

if the bellevilles are in the "(())" configuration, you can decrease/soften the slope of the drag profile by changing it to "()()", assuming that you have the space.  it should work.  even "((()" might make a difference.  good luck and please let us know how you do!!!!!

[Noahg727]

Thanks Alan!

I think I'm going to attempt to document the rebuild being that there's none on here to my knowledge?
I'm not a pro but I think I might just be able to pull it off! Let you know how it goes 👍

[Noahg727]

So there's only 2 Washers oriented ()... would (( or )) make a difference?

[SoCalAngler]

I have worked on several Avet reels but not the Trx's. Just watch out if you go (( or )) with the washers as you may need to add a shim washer to make up for the space lost. Though I do think going with either (( or )) would make the ramp up even steeper.

[alantani]

So there's only 2 Washers oriented ()... would (( or )) make a difference?

() is already the softest configuration. 

[Noahg727]

Thought that might be the case thanks..
Well things were going swimmingly until I got to removing the clicker plate. The screws wouldn't budge at all. I heated them, cooled them, tried again and ended up snapping off a screw head. Then tried again and snapped another. Ended up intentionally snapping the screw heads off thinking I could grab the exposed remains with pliers, take them out and then just order all new screws. Didn't work. The screws are stuck like iv never seen. Check this picture out. It literally looks like the screws were bonded to the plate somehow. Maybe I'm just inexperienced, but I'm wondering if it was possible to remove them given the circumstances...
Whatcha think?

[Noahg727]

That picture doesn't really show it let me try another

That other mini hole next to it isn't even the screw hole, I'm thinking it's leftover from manufacturing?

[alantani]

it's likely the combination of loctite and soft metric stainless steel screws.  you would have to remove the line, then hit it with a torch, melt the loctite and then the screws should come out.   

[alantani]

oh, this is gonna be ugly.  with the cutting wheel of a dremel, cut a slot in the top of the stud, then torch it (yeah, the line as to come off first), then use a small flat screwdriver and coax the stud out.  alternatively, drill new holes, tap them and you're back in business.  wow, never had this problem before!!!! 

[Noahg727]

Would hitting it with a heat gun for a while achieve the same result? I don't have a torch 🤔

[alantani]

the heat gun didn't work the first time, not sure it would work this time. 

[Noahg727]

Right...well I already emailed Avet and have them sending me more screws and another plate. Well hopefully- might take a while. The virus has them running with only 2 people and are overloaded atm. Might take a while to get them but Ill update this once I get the parts to continue.

[Noahg727]

BIG UPDATE! Finally spoke to someone at avet and learned a bunch!...turns out those screws I tried removing are center punched and not intended to be removed! The story goes like this: originally loctite wasn't enough to keep the screws from rattling loose as the clicker plate was engaged. Their next move was to weld the screws in place? To my surprise that didn't work either and they still were rattling free. So the only solution to keep the screws in place was a center punch. (No wonder they gave me hell trying to get em out!)

So now they don't even sell screws separate. The whole brake disk, clicker plate combo comes as nice piece already assembled. (They are sending me one)

But! While on the phone I found out another interesting feature of the reel. So, the each side of the reel has it's own break disk. There are 6 mounting pins on each side of the spool to mount the break disks to, but the break disk only has 3 places for you to actually mount it to. (When taking it apart it made me wonder) So it turns out they believed over time the drag power would be reduced with normal wear and tear. They feared you'd lose the higher end of the drag curve. So what they did was every other mounting pin is a few millimeters shorter. If you started to lose the high end, changing the mount to the lower pins would give you that drag back, but you might lose freespool. (But not by much) Turns out their fear of losing the drag power never really happens so you'd prob never need to do it but it's good to know none the less! Just make sure both sides are oriented the same way, either both high, or both lower. He did mention that.

I'll attach some pictures for
Reference.

[alantani]

thanks for the update.  i've never cracked open an avet this big before!!!!!!