Hey all

Lately one of my G2 STX reels has been acting a bit strangely. I just put it on my shallow crank rod and am having a bit of a time getting it dialed in for casting distance. It seems that if I have any of the centrifugal brake pins on, my casting distance suffers even with reduced mag brake. There's also a screechy noise on the cast. If I turn all the cent brakes off, casting distance improves and the screech goes away but the spool spins almost too freely. The reel s professionally cleaned yearly so I don believe that to be the issue

I don't have this issue with my any of my other STX, Winch or Premier

Any ideas?

Take a little acetone on a q-tip and clean the brake hub with it, once it dries, take another q-tip with 1 drop of very thin oil on it and run it around the brake hub a couple of times.   Should do the trick.

What aavery2 said.  I would also use some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip to wipe down the tips of the brake shoes.  Acetone might damage the plastic, but there's oil on the brake tabs that should be removed or it will contaminate the fresh oil.  It won't hurt the reel, but it will detract from the effectiveness of the new oil.

I use isopropyl alcohol to clean the brake race as well and it works great without damaging anything. A VERY light coat of oil in the brake race groove will do the trick.

If the brakes are screeching cleaning the drum and shoes should take care of it. The oil isn't a must, but if you use it go with as light a film applied as possible.

One drop on a cotton swab works best for me.

Acetone is safe for a majority of plastics and synthetic fibers, it is also a much better degreaser than isopropyl alcohol.    I certainly would not recommend soaking plastic or synthetic parts in acetone, but in my experience it has never been a problem with the simple cleaning of plastics.    I do not use acetone currently but have in the past with no ill effects.  I currently use a product called safety clean which is also a great degreaser.  

 

Ironically, one of the methods for producing acetone is by using isopropyl alcohol.  You can do a simple internet search and verify any of the statements I have made here.

 

I always use a very thin coat of oil on the brake race once I finish cleaning, I have found that after cleaning the brake hub and tabs with a degreaser, they tend to be dry, without a light coat of oil they can at times produce chatter and the light coat of oil eliminates this.

 

  

This image is from the Shimano website, it is under their maintenance section.   In fairness they also recommend using alcohol to clean the tabs with, so use whatever makes you comfortable.