Alutecnos gorilla 12c, preservice and breakdown

Started by hafnor, April 27, 2012, 05:23:54 PM

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hafnor

I took a look inside the Alutecnos gorilla 12c and Thought I would share my opinions of the reel... The reel has not been tested on fish yet. This is simply a guide to a preservice and a look at the internals.

included in the package is two umbraco keys that pretty much covers everything you want to open in the reel, reel has been modded to a aftermarket JM handle instead of the round ball handle (see thread "alutecnos gorilla 12C line cap."- 360tuna.com)



The right side frame goes off in one piece (four umbraco screws) leaving the spool and left side plate and the spool pinion and pinion gear. As you can see there is a big clicker mechanism which they have used a stainless steel chrome ball that will slide over the engraved clicker bracket attached to the spool. (this clicker is much more stabile and works much better than the plastic clicker that is often used in small reels, the same clicker is used in many international reels)



here you can see the alignement of the handle which attaches to the main gear, you have to use the end screw on the handle side and screw it inside the main gear sleve and then tap it with a semi hard object. I used the plastic handle of a wrench) The main gear will then have to be carefully pulled out of the anti reverse bearing. This way you can access the AR bearing and the right side plate bearing.



The main gear is pretty small compared to the reel's size... size comparrison is with a JM pe4 which is a smaller reel. The main gear is made of stainless steel with a bronze coloured anodizing (marine bronze like the saltiga maybe?)



As the main gear is pulled out you can access the right side plate bearing. (The bearing has a metal spacer inside the cam to fit the housing of the reel) The bearing was pretty good greased up but I will remove it with carb. cleaner and pack it completely with yamaha marine grease. (you have to remove the pressed in metal shield. (see alantani's sticky bearing thread for instructions removing pressed in shields) the Bearing measures: ID:8mm, OD: 16mm and Height: 5mm





Now the shields cannot be replaced so the bearing has to be left open for now. I actually found a shield and a retainer from another bearing which I used to hold the grease inside the bearing. I faced the shielded side of the bearing towards the inside of the drag cam.

Now I tried to get a good picture of the AR bearing but the hole is so tiny so this was the best I could do. The reel has actually three individual Ar bearings alligned inside the housing. Flush this with carb cleaner and let it dry, then add some thin synthetic oil. I used some shimano oil, but you can use reelX too. If you use grease here the AR might slip, so no grease!

The AR bearings are protected by two quadseals on the inside and outside of the AR bearing housing. (the green O rings in the picture)



Now on to the spool it slides easily out of the left side frame. The spool pinion is a one peace that goes into the pinion gear. You can slide the whole thing out easily as seen in the picture. You will then have the spool pinion/pinion gear along with two bellevilles which should be placed like this: () and one of the two spool bearings. both spool bearings have one shield on them facing the frames. The open side is turned against each other inside the spool housing (nice details) both spool bearings are cleaned with carb. cleaner, dryed and dipped in tsi 301 for good freespool. bearing size: ID 8mm, OD: 16mm and Height: 5mm



Here you can see the clicker bracket on the right side of the spool.



On to the left side of the spool is a machined housing which holds the whole drag assembly and works as a shield. This is not watertight though... The drags are enclosed by three screws.



The drags are glued on carbon fibre. The drags are bone dry. I will apply drag grease on on the washers.



As you go deeper into the left side spool housing you will meet a metal washer which is held by a retainer ring and ear-engravings inside the spool. Under the Metal washer is three tiny springs which pulls the drags apart from each other. Once the retainer is removed you can slide the last washer which is also glued to a fitted plate that is in the bottom. There is also a coned shaped spring inside which also works to get soft tranitions when tightening the drag. Once you get that last bracket out you can access the other spool bearing. I also cleaned this and used tsi301. the bearing also measures ID 8mm, OD: 16mm and Height: 5mm



here is how it it should look onced placed on the square cut side of the spool pinion.



on to the left side plate do as you did with the right. remove shields, clean and relube with yamaha marine grease. This would have to be open, without any shields. The bearing can only be removed from the inside, so you cannot just remove the preset and take the bearing out. bearing size is still. ID 8mm, OD: 16mm and Height: 5mm.

Opinions of the reel:

The reel has one of the best machining I have ever seen. The house is made of an aluminum called 6082, instead of the usual flight aluminum called 6061... the aluminum is supposed to be better in some way....

clicker: clicker is solid as described and is much more durable than the plastic clicker used in other reels.

main gear: shows no sign of wear after winding and is made of stainless steel. The main gear is pretty small, like most penn reels.

pinion gear: is also stainless steel, show no sign of wear and meshes very good and tight with the main gear. The pinion gear is cut slightly sideways.

Bearings: all four bearings are made by EZO japan which is top of the line stainless steel bearings. It is annoying that the non spool bearings aren't shielded with retainers... The reel will output approx. 1,5 min of freespool after using tsi 301. The freespool time would increased if the spool pinion had a sleeve, so I would have to get that. (read more about accusleeves at alantani.com)

The anti reverse is supported by three AR bearings. Accurate reels only have one and has had problems with that. Three ar bearings should be safe but I am disappointed that they didn't put a reserve dog in the reel for extra safety. The AR bearings can fail and is fragile against dirt etc. Also in colder weather the anti reverse can slip due to metal shrinking in cold weather.

Drags: The drag is very impressive and is a dual drag. The drag has pretty much the same setup as the avet raptors but placed on the left side instead of the right like the raptors. This keeps the drag away from the main gear and makes the reel more balanced due to the weight.

The preset and Lever drag: is super smooth. The preset is the easiest I have ever used and is far superior to most high end reels out there. Very easy to turn and very gradual. As for the lever drag this is also very smooth and gives easy leverage. There is a stainless steel pin which pops down once you are out of freespool. The red button pushes the steel pin uses to get into the "max drag" and into the "free position".

The handle: is bad IMO with the round ball knob. too big and to narrow. The t bar from alutecnos is much better I've heard. The handle arm is 8,5 cm which is fair... could be a tiny bit longer, but still gives a lot of cranking power.

Spool: spool is narrow and is 3cm wide, and approx. 6,5 cm tall, giving it a capacity of approx. 400yd of JB 65#solid

main body: is as tall as it is wide measuring 7,5 cm.

If you do plan to go through your 12c reel, use these schematics:

http://www.alutecnos.it/linea58/download/manuale%20gorilla12c.pdf

Grease all moving parts, and static plates with thick consitency grease (ex. yamha marine grease) The same goes for all non spool bearings. which are opened and cleaned for old greased then packed fully with marine grease (yamaha marine grease)

Spool bearings are cleaned and dipped in tsi301, let them dry!

AR bearings is cleaned using carb. cleaner and then add a few drop of thi synthetic oil. Be careful here since there may be plastic inside the AR bearings. Some oils destoy plastic (tsi301)

drags: are cleaned for old debrees and(use a soft rag) then add a thin film of DRAG GREASE (shimano drag grease, fisherman drag grease, MO drag grease grease(daiwa) Cals drag grease or the studio ocean mark drag grease) you should use the hard type as long as you don't fish in cold weather then you go for the soft or thin type. Studio ocean mark, fisherman and cals have these options. Leave a thin layer on the CF drag washers and carefully wipe off all excess. otherwise the grease might stick and effect you freespool.

Now for the real test I have to fish it!

Bryan Young

Nice.  I really like the lighting effects in the background.  Really adds to the beauty effects of that awesome looking reel.

Reels with that type of drag configuration could easily get 20# of drag without any damage to the pinion bearing.  How much drag are you getting with that reel?
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

hafnor

thank you Bryan! The drag is rated to 40 pounds with freespool. So as you say I think you will be safe with 20+ pounds of drag. How come the design allows more drag than other designs? since the drag preset is on oposite side?... wont there be the same side load to the bearing(s)?


Bryan Young

you get twice as much stopping resistance since you have 2 drag surfaces stopping the spool with the same amount of force.  it's not one to two, but more like 1 to 1.5-1.75 before you run into the same pinion bearing damage as with a single surface drag system.
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

hafnor


hafnor

btw. any idea how to measure the ID of the spool for a sleeve?

redsetta

Great work Thor - and cracker pics too.
It's an awesome little reel and really nicely designed.
Cheers, Justin
Fortitudine vincimus - By endurance we conquer

basto

DAM Quick 3001      SHIMANO Spedmaster 3   Jigging Master PE5n

hafnor

it should have dogs... on the brightside it is very easy to service the reel so a cleaning and relubing on the AR should make it last for years to come. there is a tight fit there too so I do not think it would slip in cold weather... but that is just a theory. the AR is very well sealed and water intrusion will not be common! there is triple AR bearings in the reel.... but I do think that 30 pounds of drag is MAX on the reel. because of the AR. the house should master much more! it is very solid like a big game reel

hafnor

A question! I want to put in a sleeve for the spool bearings... how do I measure it and get it right?

alantani

you have to guess, and make your first guess a little long.  then you have to shave it down a few thousanths of an inch at a time and try it in the spool.  you may have to repeat this process 20 times before you get it right.  you can also easily overshoot and have to do it all over again.  it can be very frustrating, which is why most people will not bother.  when you get it right, the results can be spectacular!
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

hafnor

thank you for your explanation Alan, so where do you find your sleeves? hardware store? how do you know when it is just right?

Irish Jigger

#12
Alan gives a good explanation for cutting a bearing sleeve in this tutorial which may help.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=137.msg149#msg149

Dr. Jekyll - AKA MeL B

Quote from: hafnor on April 27, 2012, 05:23:54 PM

The main gear is pretty small compared to the reel's size... size comparrison is with a JM pe4 which is a smaller reel. The main gear is made of stainless steel with a bronze coloured anodizing (marine bronze like the saltiga maybe?)



are those dogs? am asking because i don't see those 2 parts in the schematics, thanks.

hafnor

yes, but it is not the alutecnos reel. It is a size comparrison with the jigging master pe4 reel and gear.