Ordering bearings... I have a question first.

[ibfishin]

I've serviced a dozen Calcuttas and almost as many Abu's in the past couple of weeks. My friends did not want to spend any money so I just popped shields off bearings and oiled them (replaced a couple with stainless ABEC 5"s), cleaned the drags and replaced with a light film of grease, and polished all brass components and greased.

I am replacing bearings and drags in 3 Calcuttas and 2 Abu 5500. These are my personal reels that I want to trick out beyond the normal servicing.

DRAGS
I am going Carbontex (greased) in all 5 reels.

BEARINGS
Shimanos: (6) 3X10X4  Should I go Ceramic or Stainless ABEC 5's? Should I order them unshielded/dry and use the Extreme Reel lube?
               (3) 3X8X3   These would replace the plastic bushing. Do you recommend this upgrade? If so should I go Ceramic or Stainless
                                ABEC 5's? Should I order them unshielded/dry and use the Extreme Reel lube?
ABU 5500: (4) Not sure size, I haven't put the micrometer on them yet. Part number is #13472. Should I go Ceramic or Stainless ABEC 5's? Should I
                    order them unshielded/dry and use the Extreme Reel lube?

Are there any other tricks to supertuning these reels?

Thanks,
Brian

[alantani]

i'm pretty sure the ambassaduers are 4x10x4.  i just stick with standard stainless steel abec 5's. 

for the last year, what i've been doing for spool bearings is to remove the shields or seals, clean out the old grease with carb cleaner and compressed air, lube the bearings with xtreme reel + and then reinstall them open.  the results have been very impressive. 

in a similar way, you can clean out the levelwind assembly and lube it with xtreme reel +, also.  the best freespool i've had is an ambassaduer 6500 C3 and the levelwind line guide crossed one distance of the spool over 14 times before finally stopping. 

[ibfishin]

Thanks again. I'll save my money and continue using ABEC 5 stainless.

[Makule]

Alan,

Aside from cleaning the bearings and changing the lube, was there anything else you did to get that very free spin?

in a similar way, you can clean out the levelwind assembly and lube it with xtreme reel +, also.  the best freespool i've had is an ambassaduer 6500 C3 and the levelwind line guide crossed one distance of the spool over 14 times before finally stopping. 

[alantani]

totally clean and lube the levelwind assembly!