carbon fiber drag washers under the main gear from george 4741

[alantani]

Alan, I noticed you didn't use a carbon fiber washer (key #4) under the main gear because of a clearance concern.  I vaguely remember reading somewhere in this forum how someone placed a carbon fiber washer under the main gear of their Baja Special, but I can't find it, so I don't know how it performed.   

Lately, I've become obsessed about using HT100 and carbontex washers everywhere I can think of, so I installed a carbontex #5 washer under the main gear of my Baja Special.  It is approximately the same size as the original hard plastic 4-155 washer.  Now I have a true 1+4 drag stack.  If the washer doesn't doesn't hold up under heavy use, I'm not too concerned.  I disassemble this reel after each fishing trip and will check and replace it, if necessary.

What are your thoughts, and anyone else's, on replacing this washer with carbon fiber?   

i always replace the washer under the gear with carbon fiber.  there is a penn ht-100 drag washer that fits perfectly under the main gear of the penn baja special 113hn.  can't remember now which one it is.  so here is the issue with placing a washer under the main gear.

thin penn drag washers - many of the penn ht-100 drag washer are a single sheet with a relatively loose weave.  these drag washers include the wahsers found in the 60, the 155, the 307 and the 320.  if you put these underneath the main gear, they get seriously flattened over time. they still work, but they do not look good. 

thick penn drag washers - these penn ht 100 drag washers have a fiberglass core sandwiched inbetween two layers of carbon fiber.  placed underneath the main gear, they hold up just fine. the problem is the extra thickness.  sometimes it throws things off.  most commonly it makes the main gear bang up against the right side plate, making it difficult to turn the handle. 

thin carbontex drag washers - these are high quality drag washers sold by smoothdrag.com.  they are as thin as the thin penn drag washers but the weave is very tight and they do not flatten out under extreme pressure like the penn drag washers will when they are placed under the main gear.  i doubt that the nice lady would want to break up sets of drag washers just so that you could use penn drag washers inside a main gear and one single carbontex drag washer underneath, but often that is the best combination for various reasons.