my shimano slx has been making a weird noise when reeling, if youve ever taken the spool out of a reel that didnt have good pinion gear support and heard it rattle around as you turn the handle that is the noise im talking about and im worried that it is possible that is what is going wrong.

haven't had time to open the reel up yet alittle worried what i might find.

 

its been happening ever other cast for the first few turns after engaging the spool and gradually became worse until it was happening for most of the retrive and i finally decided it was best to put it down. the reel is only 5 months old and hasn't been used to heavily.

Have you dropped the spool at all even lightly? 

Just now, PressuredFishing said:

Have you dropped the spool at all even lightly? 

I don't think so, it still has the first spool of line I put on it, 40lb braid, and hasnt been removed since except when i took it off the other day to check for trash because of the noise.

 

is this a common issue that i havent heard of ?

4 minutes ago, hunterPRO1 said:

is this a common issue that i havent heard of ?

I dropped a spool on a KK reel and made that same sound, if you haven't taken the spool out but once I don't think its the issue. Does it make the reel feel geary or is it just auditory, have you ever taken it apart? 

I believe it has to do with thumb bar not fully engaged. The thumb bar location is pretty high and once you rest your thumb on spool might put a little pressure on thumb bar. It happens with mine when my hand wet. I have to manually engage the thumb bar. You might be able to fix the issues by increasing spring pressure on pinion yoke. I cannot confirm yet since mine doesn’t happen a lot and I don’t see the need to adjust it. 
You shouldn’t reeling the handle when pinion gear is not seat properly, that will damage both gear permanently.

1 hour ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

I believe it has to do with thumb bar not fully engaged

That's exactly what I wash thinking also, I just didnt think it would crap out from 6 months of light use.

 

Best bet may be to just get it warrantied

1 hour ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

I believe it has to do with thumb bar not fully engaged

That's exactly what I wash thinking also, I just didnt think it would crap out from 6 months of light use.

 

Best bet may be to just get it warrantied

Warranty claim

6 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

I believe it has to do with thumb bar not fully engaged. The thumb bar location is pretty high and once you rest your thumb on spool might put a little pressure on thumb bar. It happens with mine when my hand wet. I have to manually engage the thumb bar. You might be able to fix the issues by increasing spring pressure on pinion yoke. I cannot confirm yet since mine doesn’t happen a lot and I don’t see the need to adjust it. 
You shouldn’t reeling the handle when pinion gear is not seat properly, that will damage both gear permanently.

thats possible, i threw around in the yard alittle bit and it never made a sound, it only seems to happen when wet. next time it happens ill see if pressing the thumbar up helps.

 

7 hours ago, PressuredFishing said:

I dropped a spool on a KK reel and made that same sound, if you haven't taken the spool out but once I don't think its the issue. Does it make the reel feel geary or is it just auditory, have you ever taken it apart? 

it still is easy to turn and smooth feeling, it just sounds awful. thats why im unsure, i feel like if the pinion wasnt seated it would be a no doubt thing, maybe there is a tiny nick in the spool that is making that metal-on-metal sound, but if it is i cant see it with the naked eye.

 

im gonna fish it a few more times to see and then open it up to clean it and see if that changes anything. just had a thought- maybe it's not the springs that are week, maybe its just dirt keeping it from fully engaging, i fish from the bank and lay rods down on the ground occasionally so its very possible. on second thought ill clean it first just to be safe and not mess up a gear.

 

just incase, anyone have any experience with shimano customer service? do i have to pay to ship the reel?

I think you pay only shipping cost to Shimano after the claim has been done. Shimano will ship to you free of charge.