Some Daiwa Tournament reel servicing shots. . . . . . .

Thought I'd pop some pictures on of a few recent reels in for servicing, namely some Daiwa Tournament's, the TS5000T's that came out years ago, then went off the market, and then came back into production years later!

Cracking reels, and at (still) over £200 a piece, definitely worth looking after.
Great work horses and really well engineered reels too, ingenious design! one of only a few reels I've come across where the body plates come off either side, which is great for servicing.

This shot shows both side plates off, from the back.........

And the view from the left and right sides..........................

The best part of this configuration is having access to the worm shaft for inspection and the small drive gear on the end, everything else can easily come out be quickly cleaned, greased and put back in place.

Unfortunately this one had a serious case of wear on the main drive gear and the pinion gear as can be clearly seen in the images below, the main round drive gear had very badly rounded and worn teeth, the pinion gear came off even worse and has clearly taken the brunt of the damage. Luckily the oscillating shaft and pawl seem to have gotten away with it, which is something like a miracle to be honest !

The cause of this damage is largely unknown, the only clue seems to be that it's been taken apart before and by the looks of it, not put back together propely, screws not tightened up right, and grease not applied, the reel was bare, with very little, very old, black grease, a sign it's not been done in years.

Here is another example of how damage occurs - the reels are Daiwa again, this time the Emblem Z 5500 models.

 I think it's fair to hazard a guess this guy fishes a sandy pit somewhere fairly often . . . . . . . that stuff really won't help, and can ruin bearings, especially if the reels are left wet and covered in this or any length of time, best advice, wash them under a tap and shake them dry, leaving them on a towel for a day, take the spools off and prop them up so all the water drains out of the reel,  fresh water generally doesn't do much harm if you do your best to drain it off.

And don't forget! 3 reels serviced is only £35 ! That's a bargain! The reels are stripped, cleaned, oiled, checked, greased, re-assembled, this price will not last forever, and it's currently less than half of what Tackle Box charges, it's cheaper than Shimano's charges, you don't have to send them away, so you're saving on postage too !

Daiwa Infinity X Baitrunner back in action

Just a few pic's to illustrate a little clearer  the damage done to this Daiwa Infinty X Baitrunner after just a short drop, quite literally, to look at, this was all the damage done when the reel was dropped, spool first  . . . . . . .

Doesn't look too bad until you compare what it did to the oscillating worm gear once the handle was turned!

But happily as usual, Daiwa's service department were efficient as ever and had the new worm drive and a 'pawl' to me in just a couple of days to get this lovely bit of kit back on fighting form . . . . . . .

The finished article . . . . . . . .

After applying the epoxy over a couple of coats to build it up, the final finishing coat is applied and watched carefully while it dries to the point where it can be left for a couple of hours spinning away happily without the danger of losing shape, some Century rods are done with a very (over-thick in my opinion) thick application of resin which although it may look 'nice', is a bit heavy and unnecessary in reality.

Personally I prefer a compromise on the thickness between the extremes of the likes of Daiwa  (not enough) to Century (too much) and I generally do my builds and personal rods in 2 'decent' thickness coats. But anyway, I digress . . . . . .  the finished ring ....

See part 1 here!

Century 'Big Bertha' butt ring repair part 1 !

Daiwa Infinity X 5000 baitrunner, repair and service.

Another set of reels recently dropped in for repair and services, Daiwa Infinity X 5000 baitrunners, 2 working well and one not working at all.

Upon stripping down, the faulty reels fault was pretty obvious to see, the reel had been dropped and the spool had taken the brunt of the fall, marking the lip of the spool a little. The greater damage was inside, luckily, the spool shaft was intact and seemingly undamaged, which is a stroke of luck considering - the worm gear that drives the shaft, not so lucky!

First couple of handle turns and the worm shaft was chewed beyond usefulness  . . . . . as can clearly be seen by the amount of swarf chewed up and spat round the reel body!

In cases like this it's recommended to also change the oscillating 'pawl' that rides the worm shaft, these can often look fine, but any minor burrs they suffer after a chewing like that can render them useless and not worthy the risk of putting them back in the reel, and besides, at just a few pounds to replace, is it really worth skimping on a £300 reel?

The mangled worm shaft  . . . . . . . . .

Total cost on this repair only came to £35.00 and included a service, and parts! please compare that to some of the tackle shops service only charges, which seem to average around £28.00. The reel has to be stripped down to the same degree, and cleaned, oiled, and greased and then re-assembled. And if you're around the greater Manchester area (or reasonable driving distance) you won't have postage costs to add in either.

'Sprucing up' an old or tired rod is a good way to bring it back to life without going the whole hog of getting it completely stripped down - if the blank is in pretty decent condition but the whippings need re-sealing or have just lost their 'shine'.  . . . . . . .  .

They can be re-epoxy'd, giving you an 'as new' finish like the image below, a typical match/feeder/barbel rod would cost around £30, message/call for further details if that appeals, turn-around time is generally 1 to 2 weeks.

Happy new River Season !

Well the new season's finally here, my start wasn't too clever on the River Severn, with just a chub, a 5lb bream, and sunburn to show for my efforts ! The bream was full of breeding tubercles, so I think that tells it's own tale  . . . . . 

Inbetween a few services I dug a bit of kit out. . . . .

So I thought I'd get ahead of myself in a rare moment of forward thinking efficiency by making some heavy leads for when the inevitable rainy season starts  . . . . . . . .

So i cobbled together a mould (smartgrip mould) and a few tools......

 Dug out my trusty Hippolito stove and filled it with paraffin. . . . . .

 A bit of extra help from a gas torch to get the lead to temp' and away we go. . . .

 Here's a few from the batch I knocked up that were then powder coated.....

 The finished article :)

 

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http://traffordtacklerepairs.blogspot.co.uk/

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