I stopped at a shop on my way up into northern Michigan on Friday, and found they had a couple Aetos' clearanced for $100 from $180. Of course I bought one. I was pretty excited to get it ready to go out fishing tomorrow, but trying to put a reel on it I found a problem.

 

The reel seat will not tighten down to my 1st gen Revo S. The threads for the seat are 1-3/4 long, and the hood for the seat is just barely over 2" long. It's contacting the inside of the cork foregrip, and it started to separate from the locking nut. It won't even come close to tightening down to any reel I own, something is wrong with the reel seat, and I'm curious if anyone else has had or heard of this issue?

 

The place I bought this from is well over an hour from me, taking is back isn't really an option at the moment.

Ooh. Share the location of $100 Aetos please!

 

I'd contact Fenwick. They're great with warranty concerns.

I have 3 Aetos rods, they use a Fuji SK2 reel seat that should work with any reel so you have a rod with a defective reel seat, it needs to be returned. Perhaps the store new this and it could be why it was on clearance but if not you can do 2 things, take it back to the store or get warranty replacement from Fenwick. If it were me I'd take it back to the store.

Smalljaw, could you possibly unscrew one of your casting reel seats and take a picture of the threads? I have a feeling whoever built this rod at Fenwick may have accidentally used the threads for a spinning rod instead of casting.

Smalljaw, could you possibly unscrew one of your casting reel seats and take a picture of the threads? I have a feeling whoever built this rod at Fenwick may have accidentally used the threads for a spinning rod instead of casting.

 

I can't post picks on this site using photobucket anymore, but I'm not sure what you are saying is possible but I'm not a rod builder so I don't know. I say that because the Fuji SK2 reel seats for spinning and casting are very similar.

I can't post picks on this site using photobucket anymore, 

why is that? I use photobucket for this site quite a bit.

No problem. I was thinking that because they use the grip on the spinning rods as the threaded section, that the threads on those may be longer than casting, where the foregrip is what tightens down on the casting rods. I guess if not a picture, could you just loosen the foregrip on one of your casting rods and measure how long the threads on the rod are? Mine measures 1-3/4" long, when the foregrip and seat hood are only just above 2" long. I know they are pushing on the cork on the inside of the foregrip because the cork is actually being split and separating from the hood. It wont tighten down any farther than the base of the threads on the rod.

No problem. I was thinking that because they use the grip on the spinning rods as the threaded section, that the threads on those may be longer than casting, where the foregrip is what tightens down on the casting rods. I guess if not a picture, could you just loosen the foregrip on one of your casting rods and measure how long the threads on the rod are? Mine measures 1-3/4" long, when the foregrip and seat hood are only just above 2" long. I know they are pushing on the cork on the inside of the foregrip because the cork is actually being split and separating from the hood. It wont tighten down any farther than the base of the threads on the rod.

 

Fenwick said there was a few rods like that, but the issue was supposed to be taken care of, and perhaps the rod you have may have been one of those which is why it was on clearance. I also measured the threads on both my casting rods and both were 1.75" so that leads me to believe the space between the both sides is what is causing the problem, I believe they spaced the threads too far forward on the rod you have. I know it is a pain but I would take it back to the store and take the reel along and show them.

More than likely you're right, they probably knew about it. I'll see what I can get done with Fenwick, if not, I guess wait until my next trip up passed their store.

Contact Fenwick. They may very well send you a prepaid shipping label. They are very good at customer service.

Great price that's a steal!  Too bad it was defective, I'm sure Fenwick will take care of you.  The Aetos imo is just as good as 200+ rod. 

I'm having a little trouble picturing your problem. Not sure what you mean by, " It's contacting the inside of the cork foregrip, and it started to separate from the locking nut. " In the pics I pulled up the fore-grip is the locking nut. Has the cork come loose? Did you accidently unscrew the hood from the body completely? If so, there is a tab inside the nut that needs to be aligned with a groove in the thread body.

This is basically it. The pictures below show what I'm talking about.

 

This is as far as I can tighten the locking nut down, and its nowhere close enough to fit any reel I own. It moves and threads easy, it just bottoms out on something. The key that lines it up doesn't seem to be contacting anything in particular, its in place. The only thing I can think of is that the inside of the cork is too small of a diameter, or this run of rods tapers down too quickly inside and doesn't allow it to tighten enough.

 

 

 

And this one shows the cork. If I try to tighten it further than when it just bottoms out, or force it basically, the cork starts to pull away from the nut.

 

Ya it look as though the two pieces of the split seat are too far apart. That's a manufacturing error that I'm sure Fenwick will correct.