Camekoon LV200 L maintenance tutorial and upgrades

[Tile]

This reel is manufactured in China by a company called Camekoon. What attracted me was the fact that most of the reel's parts are made out of metal (about 95%). Also I noticed that a lot of the major parts are CNC machined albeit not swiss watch precision.

First the reel in all its glory before being serviced

[Tile]

The non handle side plate and spool assembly are removed, followed by the hande and bellevile and clicker assembly

[Tile]

The handle plate is unbolted from the frame revealing the brass geartrain which was also disassembled to allow the decoupler assembly to be greased. Putting the later back together was a bear of a job. Then the geartrain was reassembled.

[Tile]

Also the fiber washer was upgraded to a carbontex one - niice. Also the levelwind assembly received a light oiling.
I noticed a lot of slop between the thumbar and inner sides of the frame which could have spelt bad news for the decoupler extension by allowing fatigue cracks to form.
The solution came in a form of 2 plastic spacers that I fabricated to reduce slop by 95%. Also I reduced the tension on the decoupler springs to allow the reel to be easier to use.
Also I have informed the manufacturer of the issue and provided them my solution and to my surprise they were receptive to my advice.

[Tile]

Now fully asembled and ready to catch fish

[alantani]

does it also have a carbon fiber drag under the main gear?  grease both and you should be good! thanks for posting!!!!

[Tile]

It still has the original phenolic type washer under the main gear and for its intended use is not troublesome. The carbontex washer was greased with Cal's grease.

[nelz]

Interesting tutorial Tile. I'm always curious about those Chinese reels that look so good and sell at amazingly low prices.

I don't think any of the big guys are making an all metal low profile reel these days. It would be nice to see a multi disk drag though. Btw, is the worm gear steel or something else? Does a magnet stick to it?

Thanks for posting.

[Tile]

The idler gear and levelwind worm gear are all plastic. The yoke, decoupler jack and kick lever are plastic. Steel inserts are mounted on the kick lever and decoupler. Also the magnet carrier assembly has 2 plastic parts. The levelwind bushings are also plastic and no other plastic parts in it. The reel was about 120 dollars with free and tracked shipping from China.

[nelz]

Plastic worm gear? No way! Are we talking about the same thing?

[Tile]

I can confirm that the worm gear (levelwind worm shaft) is metal, most likely stainless steel with a bit of heat treatment.

[nelz]

I can confirm that the worm gear (levelwind worm shaft) is metal, most likely stainless steel with a bit of heat treatment.

I just spotted this reel on ebay and they claim the worm is "7075# hard anodized aluminum". It doesn't look that way judging from your photos. Can you haold a magnet to it, let's see if it sticks?

I can't imagine aluminum would last very long in a worm, hard anodized or not.