This one is a little hard to describe, so bear with me.  The reel is absolutely smooth as butter when you turn the handle EXCEPT under load.  By under load, I mean when you cast a lure and the load is the retrieve of the lure not reeling in a fish. No, it is not the lure itself creating this as I have tried it out with many different types of lures.

 

It makes zero noises.  Everything on it feels tight, no slop in the handle or anything.  It is a fairly new reel.

 

After the cast, when retrieving a lure I can feel a click in the retrieve.  This is not an audible click, just a feel coming through the knobs.  It speeds up and slows down with cadence.  This reel is on a new rod that is very sensitive.  Since the reel is so smooth otherwise, I first tried it on a different rod thinking maybe one of the eyes on the first rod had something going on and was registering all the way to my hand.  Nope.  Same feeling when the reel went to a second rod.  My next thought was maybe there is some sort of defect or bur on the plastic worm drive for the level wind.  I can not visibly see anything when spinning the handle, but that does not mean it is not there.  Thinking the level wind is catching on something as it passes back and forth along the worm drive.  I have disassembled it as much as taking the side plate off and removing the spool to visually check for any burring anywhere from manufacturing.  I cannot find anything that makes this reel feel this way.  I do not believe it is the gears as there is zero noise and the feeling goes away when just freely turning the handle with no load.  I have also experimented with the drag and spool tension from completely loose to as tight as possible, and still feel this tactile click click click when I turn the handle during lure retrieve.  Any ideas?  This is driving me crazy.

Maybe....I recently chased something like this on an older Daiwa Steez SV. I would turn the handle and it would have this click feeling to it. I cleaned it. I replaced the spool bearings and support bearings (not the AR bearing though) and it still remained. I then tried turning the main gear without the handle on and no tick. It ended up having two bad bearings in the handle, one in each knob. 

 

Also, check bearing BNT3927, both of them. 

If I swap handles from another reel and try again, would that help narrow down?

Wouldn't he be able to feel or hear bad bearings in the handle without reeling the reel at all? This reel has only 2 bearings in handle, not 4. I am curious how loading a reel would change the handle bearings? A click, click, click does not sound like handle bearings to me. Its possible, but I was thinking something along these lines......

 

Schematic:

https://onlinetools.sodapdf.com/document/81b54266-0de8-4b43-9db5-4dcf3998048a?ref=sodapdf.com%2Fsodalite&uid=1019209&venid=web-opera&wid=7773

 

How does it feel with the pawl taken out? If you could remove the pawl and cast it and retrieve it, if it is the relationship between pawl and worm gear it should go away once the pawl is removed. If it does then maybe you need a new worm gear? Shimano used to make them out of good steel. Now they are mostly aluminum I think but OP said his is plastic? A lot of dirt and debris can get in there and cause issues. Check pawl condition carefully too.

 

The gears driving the worm gear could be damaged?

 

The only thing I can think of would be the plastic gears BNT5785 and BNT5109. If one of those cracked or something happened to the gear teeth might cause something like this. I've seen cracked plastic gears in other reels, but if one were damaged the part about only appearing under load may not apply. Could be some debris in there?

 

But be very careful if you try and disassemble to 5785 gear because there are tiny spring loaded parts underneath it held in place inside the main drive shaft (BNT4639 spring and 2 BNT5310 pins) and if those spring out of there you may never find them again. Same with the drag star clicker. Super small parts easy to lose.

 

Other places I have seen similar issues would be a spool pin BNT5803 moving off center in spool axle. This would cause the pin to rub up against reel frame. Its the reel frame that holds it in place from coming out all together. Casting it might be OK, but load the reel and pull on the spool and the rubbing intensifies. One look at spool pin would clear that up. It should be centered.

 

And on the centrifugal brakes I have seen issues but since this is a newer reel that is less likely. In cast mode does spool spin quietly? Turn off all brakes and see if that makes a difference.

 

Another bearing could cause issues is the pinion bearing. It sits behind the spool and can be exposed to water and begin to rust. BNT3927.

 

Is reel still under warranty?

Great! Another reel thread to follow!

Try a different handle.

Might have something in the worm gear of the level wind. Pull out line, hold a soft toothbrush against the worm and slowly crank the reel.

Those are all great suggestions.  FWIW, the reel is basically new, and has done this since new.  I have fished it maybe 3 times since I got it.  But, I have had it long enough that I don't think exchange is an option.

Send it to DVT! He'll fix it up for ya.

1 hour ago, Rockhopper said:

FWIW, the reel is basically new, and has done this since new. 

Back off the drag almost all the way. Thumb the spool to keep it from moving. Crank the handle. If you still hear it you can eliminate an out-of-round spool or spool bearings as the culprits. Pulling the pawl would be my next move. If you don't hear anything, look at the spool carefully and its bearings.

Tick like that is usually from a bearing.  You'll have to remove them and then roll each one on a hard surface like a countertop with a bearing tool to inspect.  I'll often encounter this bearing tick in my cheap chinease reels new out of the box and its almost always the bearing for the handle shaft that sits in the side plate over top of the A/R bearing.  I assume it gets dry being exposed and some corrosion spot forms on the race.  I usually just oil it and use the reel to wear down the corrosion until it becomes smooth.  I'd just oil the usual culprit bearings and use the reel for the rest of the season and see if it sorts itself out.

Have you changed your reel handle? 

16 hours ago, F14A-B said:

Have you changed your reel handle? 

Not yet.

 

Thank you all for the suggestions.  The plan is to look into everything suggested this weekend when I have extra time.  I will report back with findings.

Ok, so I took it apart as far as I was willing to go.  Did not find anything weird.  It was very clean as it is a very new reel.  I wiped everything down.  Oiled the bearings, greased the worm drive, etc.  Took it fishing last night and that weird tick is gone at least for now.  Hopefully it stays that way.