Bit of a trial by fire last night

[JasonGotaProblem]

I realized my spheros (SP4000XGSW) was in need of a cleanout and relube, no big deal. When I work on a reel with an ARB, which is rare, I tend to leave it alone if everything is working, they kinda scare me. That was the plan last night. But I did have to remove it to get to the pinion bearings.

Well, turns out there are stages during reassembly when a dude thats scared of ARB internals really shouldn't turn the thing upside down to look for where the holes line up.

First, one roller fell out. Then in trying to manage that, the whole thing fell apart. That's about the time where i took the below pic. Then stuff started rolling onto the carpet. At one point 3 rollers and 2 springs were missing. And that was only one of several points where parts were missing. I figured out I needed a tray so nothing can roll. Thankfully I still have better than 20/20 vision.

Did I mention I started that day with only a passing understanding of how an ARB works? Looked at the schematic, it's just shown as a unit. Great. Thanks shimano.

Well, I figured it out, eventually. I think it was a 2.5 hour job total. That was definitely tweezer work. I'm sure it's just the fresh lube but I swear the reel is now smoother than ever.

[Wompus Cat]

GOOD JOB !!
Now you can jump in there with out worries.

Luck and perseverance at my age overcomes many such obstacles.
I also have 20/20 vision depending what I am looking at  My hearing ;  well .......is debatable as
My wife says I don't listen to her (at least I think that is what she said )

[Gfish]

Yeah. I lucked out my first time with a Stratic ARB. "Hmmm, black screws and chrome screws seem to be holding it to the gearbox, which ones to remove first? Wait! Put the short ones back in, and remove the long ones first!"
Then I got some guts and took the ARB itself apart, it was fun, but only when I was sure it was gonna go back together and actually function again.
Those are really nice ARB's.

[JasonGotaProblem]

It just boggles my mind that the 5' shark I caught with this reel was being stopped by those 5 tiny lil springs. That's one mini spring per foot of shark! I mean clearly it works just fine I guess I just expected... Well i guess I dont know what I expected, I had no basis for comparison.

Yeah I also make up for my great vision with terrible hearing. Too many concerts when I was young, standing too close to the speakers. In retrospect I could have just used my great vision to see the musicians just fine from further away and kept my hearing. But tell that to a 20yr old.

And frankly I'm pretty sure luck and perseverance is all I really have. Its definitely not skill or talent getting me by.

[philaroman]

gave up on new Shimano around the turn of the millennium   older was same principle
center steel bushing goes flying all the time...  I'm just no longer surprised (time to blame self)
no need to fully disassemble ARB for that alone (unless you want to)
leave center bushing out, until ARB is back on frame & A/R switch makes rollers grab/release
you can use hand tools to manipulate whatever plate the A/R cam moves, but why bother?

It just boggles my mind that the 5' shark I caught with this reel was being stopped by those 5 tiny lil springs. That's one mini spring per foot of shark! I mean clearly it works just fine I guess I just expected... Well i guess I dont know what I expected, I had no basis for comparison.
it's the VERY robust steel rollers that do the stopping -- the springs just position the rollers

Yeah I also make up for my great vision with terrible hearing. Too many concerts when I was young, standing too close to the speakers. In retrospect I could have just used my great vision to see the musicians just fine from further away and kept my hearing. But tell that to a 20yr old.
1st real concert: Ozzy, '82, 4th row...

And frankly I'm pretty sure luck and perseverance is all I really have. Its definitely not skill or talent getting me by.

[JasonGotaProblem]

For whatever its worth, no switch on this one it's a full time AR, which to me is a selling point.

If i give this things handle a good toss, it'll go around 10x before stopping. While that's not the only measure of a good reel, despite the shortcomings of shimano not being of the same quality as the 90s, its still a very enjoyable reel to fish with.

[Gfish]

Yup. The most corrosive part on my Stratics was that ARB cam-switch, hidden up there underneath the rotor. The 2nd most saltwater damaged part was a bushing in the line roller assembly. Come to think of it...yeah I gotta get on it.

[oldmanjoe]

It just boggles my mind that the 5' shark I caught with this reel was being stopped by those 5 tiny lil springs. That's one mini spring per foot of shark! I mean clearly it works just fine I guess I just expected... Well i guess I dont know what I expected, I had no basis for comparison.

And frankly I'm pretty sure luck and perseverance is all I really have. Its definitely not skill or talent getting me by.

    With enough luck and perseverance , breeds skill and talent ...       It`s not hard to do , someone already built it , you are just reverse engineering
   it .       

[philaroman]

For whatever its worth, no switch on this one it's a full time AR, which to me is a selling point.

If i give this things handle a good toss, it'll go around 10x before stopping. While that's not the only measure of a good reel, despite the shortcomings of shimano not being of the same quality as the 90s, its still a very enjoyable reel to fish with.

wow...  tired oldhead never thought of that & how it effects service
is the ARB no longer "stand-alone" because of permanent always-on A/R?
great functionally (can't remember last time I needed to backreel), bit sucks for quickie partial service

been meaning to convert a couple to "always-on, when assembled" 
not paying for rare, old Sustain A/R cams; would rather decrease weight & total # parts
but I would still have on/off accessible during service, only

[alantani]

it's scary just to look at......   

[foakes]

These take more patience and tinkering with plastic parts then is healthy for me.

My hat is off to those who attempt to work on these.

Good work, Jason!

Best, Fred