I just had an old friend give me 3 bnib curado b's. one is a 5:1 and the others are 3.8: 1. he said he bought them in the early 90s but couldnt be sure. cool thing is they've never been fished. my question is, can i find a 5:1 gearset for the 3.8's. I find then way too slow.

Those 3,8:1s make great cranking reels

I just had an old friend give me 3 bnib curado b's. one is a 5:1 and the others are 3.8: 1. he said he bought them in the early 90s but couldnt be sure. cool thing is they've never been fished. my question is, can i find a 5:1 gearset for the 3.8's. I find then way too slow.

The reels were discontinued in 1995. I have one 5.1:1 right hand gear set in my parts bin, hard to find but can be found.

The 3.8:1 gr is great for really deep diving cranks 20'+, but for a more general gr 5.1:1 you need to replace the gear set with;

Main Gear BNT1213 approx. $16.00

Pinion Gear BNT1225 approx. $14.00

The gear set can also come from the 250 Calcutta....

Good Luck & Tight Lines!

what an incredible reel this b5 is!!! i was on the verge of going to buy a $200 winch. I cleaned and re- lubed and couldnt be more satisfied! it sits a little high on the reel seat but for free, I couldnt be happier. Im going to order the handle off the e series and this reel will be perfect!

what an incredible reel this b5 is!!! i was on the verge of going to buy a $200 winch. I cleaned and re- lubed and couldnt be more satisfied! it sits a little high on the reel seat but for free, I couldnt be happier. Im going to order the handle off the e series and this reel will be perfect!

If you change the handle to the one from the E-series, you will loose your clicking dragstar, the handle nut cap has a tab that extends through the handle and clicks on the ridges in the top of the drag star. You may be able to modify the handle but I dont know for sure.

The 3.8:1 in good shape are getting harder to find and usually get snatched up pretty quickly. You might want to reconsider altering the reel and just flip it and buy something else.