So I recently purchased a Abu Orra Winch for crank baits. When I took it out the first time I was casting away trying to cover a lot of water, well on one particular cast as soon as I went to cast the thumb button popped up mid cast I guess and it made a horrible grinding sound which stopped the bait immediately from going any further. The best description of the sound would almost be like grinding gears in a transmission.

 

So after it did that I reeled it in and checked it out and did not see anything out of the norm, so I kept fishing. After that it seemed like when I reeled in I could feel a slight gritty feeling on a certain point of the handle turn. I just accepted it and hoped it was a error on my part that I must have done something stupid on that certain cast that grinded when the thumb button popped up.

 

Well, long story short I have went out fishing several times since that mishap and at least one or two times a trip it has done it again, and each time it has happens it is making my reel seem more and more gritty when I reel in.

 

FYI, I am familiar with bait casters, I have a few of them and never had this problem. I tried searching to see if anybody else had this problem and found nothing. Anybody got any input on this?

Hmmmm I honestly don't know what that might be I've experienced it when testing free spool but never while casting and it hasn't hindered it's performance at all I would open it up and take a look at the insides or send it in to one of the sponsors I'm sure one of them will pop in

Tight lines

Andrew

The grinding would be the spool pin not engaged fully on the pinion gear. If you pull the spool and look inside the frame you can see the bottom of the pinion. You can look to see if it is visibly damaged. The clutch will need to be serviced to see why the pinion isn't lifting up out of the way. If it's new enough to be under warranty, just replace it.

The problem is it's an orra had two do the same within the first ten trips out.

Do I just contact Abu Garcia from they're web site to send it in to be repaired or replaced? I ordered this from tackle warehouse about 4 or 5 months ago and I doubt I have any documents or receipts showing when I purchased this, I have a bad habit of not keeping up with receipts.

Go to ABU's site and click the Support Tab. All the contact info is there.

The grinding would be the spool pin not engaged fully on the pinion gear. If you pull the spool and look inside the frame you can see the bottom of the pinion. You can look to see if it is visibly damaged. The clutch will need to be serviced to see why the pinion isn't lifting up out of the way. If it's new enough to be under warranty, just replace it.

X2..