A reel repair man mentioned to me that he sees a lot of novices adjust their centrifugal brakes WITHOUT / BEFORE adjusting their spool tension knob back to ZERO tension on the baitcaster reel ... He claims that you want to get all of the tension off of the reel sides BEFORE you open up the cover plate and adjust the centrifugal brakes or you risk doing damage to the reel  ... Well I must be a novice because I never heard that before - but I stand to be corrected if what he says is right ? ... Easy enough to be sure to back off all the spool tension on the reel before making any centrifugal brake adjustments ... Your thoughts & experiences ?

Hmm...News to me.

 

I have never adjusted the spool tension to adjust the brakes.

If the sideplate is removed, there's no longer tension on the spool.

Only time I ever had to do it is taking off the SVS system for my Conquest, since you can't put it back together unless the tension is loosened all of the way. I still don't think it is necessarily for most of the reels though.

I understand the point he was trying to make.   It has nothing to do with the centrifugal brakes.  It has to do with having the spool pushed to one side with  the cast control cap and then trying to shut the other side while under tension.  Some reels will not close properly until you at least back the spool tension off a little.

If he talking about closing the reel after setting the breaks then, the Shimano calcutta 251 I have is sort of like this.  If you back it off just a touch it is easier to put back together.  But in the case of this Calcutta reel though, you are removing the side with the reel handle not the opposite side. 

Not sure why that would be; I just check to make sure all my active brake blocks are retracted toward center as much as possible so they aren't being mashed by the brake race when I put the side plate back on, and away I go.

 I had teachers who  knew less about a subject than some of the kids.  Title does not always mean more knowledge. 

I've heard of doing this when setting magnetic brakes but never centrifugal. As mentioned already it does sometimes make it harder to get the sideplate back on the reel if set too tight.

Ive read posts of people having difficulties putting the curado sideplate back on and spool tension was to blame. I guess if person was to press too hard putting plate back on something could fail/crack/deform. I did just go and try my 50E tightened the ccc a turn. The side plate was more difficult to take off. When going to put back on the twisting lockdown was even more difficult to twist/lock. 

 

I keep the spool tension to a minimum, as should be done, so not an issue for me.

Thanks for the replies - your experiences sound reasonable ...

I understand the point he was trying to make. It has nothing to do with the centrifugal brakes. It has to do with having the spool pushed to one side with the cast control cap and then trying to shut the other side while under tension. Some reels will not close properly until you at least back the spool tension off a little.

X2 I was thinking the same thing as I read the OP

I had teachers who knew less about a subject than some of the kids. Title does not always mean more knowledge.

Yuup i have much respect for majority of teachers but as is with almost any job/career you got some that just care about the money.