Hello,

I'm thinking this Shimano Bantam 10 would do nicely for a dedicated rod/reel combo I've been thinking about putting together.

That combo would be specifically for lipless crankbaits and shallow squarebills, mostly used in rivers.  The lack of the instant anti-reverse would not be an issue; I use older tuned out Ambassadeurs for medium to deep divers. 

Would the gears hold up in this old thing?  I'm not sure how heavily they were built compared to the pre-UC Ambassadeurs.

Thank you,

Josh

It'll be plenty durable as long as it's in decent condition to begin with. 

Thanks DVT.  I read on some other forums that folks had stripped the gears because these were "light duty" reels.  After seeing the guts, I doubt that's true.

This particular one doesn't seem to have been heavily used.  Except for old grease mucking up the internals, it appears fairly new inside.  I replaced the crankshaft bushing with a bearing, cleaned everything and greased with that Penn blue stuff (my new favorite!) and it's as smooth as any modern reel.  I can't find any actual wear from usage.

Regards,

Josh

Doesn't it only have one belvelle  washer for drag pressure? I have an old Bantam with only one washer. looked it up online, and that was the way it was made.

Yup, only one washer, two drags.  I have carbon fiber replacements on the way, and I've never had problems with the two drag washers on Ambassadeurs when using carbon drags.

Regards,

Josh

 

As long as you dont use braid and tighten your drag down with pliars u will be fine with these reels...on a diff note i still have not figured out how anyone can strip gears on any reel i mean really your drag is there for that reason maybe if your drag is locked up and you have metal on metal i can see this happen .i have seen ppl post about stripping gears in spinning reels im like WTH.they must be holding the rotor when reeling.