While finishing up the Rick Clun reel I ran into an uncommon issue.

 

One of the last things I checked doing final reel assembly was the spring loaded metal plate on the spool that the magnetic braking uses to control the spool. I found it was stuck in place and not moving. This would compromise the reel's ability to function normally and make casting more difficult.

 

It is designed so that at the top of the cast on the high speed spin out, this plate pushes against the spring to move it closer to the magnets for greater braking effect and greater control over the cast. With it stuck in place on spool shaft it does not move closer to magnets at top of the cast. This would reduce cast control ability.

 

This could be why it wound up online for sale so cheaply- not sure- just speculating. I paid $20 for it.

 

So I removed the plate and cleaned the spool axle, cleaned inside the hole on plate, used a vapor thin amount of synthetic oil on it, and reassembled, and its now back to functioning easily and smoothly.

 

You can twist test it on the spool. It should move freely, and upon release the spring easily returns it to its resting position. If not, disassemble it and clean and lubricate it lightly.

 

If you have any older Bass Pro or doyo made reels with this same type of feature, it might pay off to carefully check this one out. 

 

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

While finishing up the Rick Clun reel I ran into an uncommon issue.

 

One of the last things I checked doing final reel assembly was the spring loaded metal plate on the spool that the magnetic braking uses to control the spool. I found it was stuck in place and not moving. This would compromise the reel's ability to function normally and make casting more difficult.

 

It is designed so that at the top of the cast on the high speed spin out, this plate pushes against the spring to move it closer to the magnets for greater braking effect and greater control over the cast. With it stuck in place on spool shaft it does not move closer to magnets at top of the cast. This would reduce cast control ability.

 

This could be why it wound up online for sale so cheaply- not sure- just speculating. I paid $20 for it.

 

So I removed the plate and cleaned the spool axle, cleaned inside the hole on plate, used a vapor thin amount of synthetic oil on it, and reassembled, and its now back to functioning easily and smoothly.

 

You can twist test it on the spool. It should move freely, and upon release the spring easily returns it to its resting position. If not, disassemble it and clean and lubricate it lightly.

 

If you have any older Bass Pro or doyo made reels with this same type of feature, it might pay off to carefully check this one out. 

 

That's an early version if the Doyo inertial brake and basically proto Daiwa SV.  The modern BPS Extreme reels have the same brake and they also get stuck partially extended brand new at BPS on the combo racks.  Have you considered moving to a slightly stiffer spring or stretching out that spring to stiffen it up?  We do that with the Daiwa SV spools to make the spool faster/cast farther.

40 minutes ago, Bigbox99 said:

slightly stiffer spring or stretching out that spring to stiffen it up?  We do that with the Daiwa SV spools to make the spool faster/cast farther.

Please elaborate 

1 hour ago, Banned User said:

Please elaborate 

The stiffer the spring with Daiwa Magforce Z and SV reels the sooner the rotor moves away from the magnets and the freer the spool at the end of the cast.  Daiwa even makes factory versions like their HLC reels (hyper long cast) that have super stiff springs on the spool.  You can also HLC your Daiwa spool by swapping in an HLC spring. 

 

There are also stiffer springs that sit between the normal magforce Z spring and HLC like the spring found in the Catalina TW and Z200 spools.  Both are known for being good long casters but with more control than the borderline insane HLC spools.

 

The SV Boost on the current Zillion is also uses a stiffer spring for the boost element. It uses a normal SV softness  short spring and a stiff short spring do make a single dual rate spring instead of one long soft or one long stiff spring.  

3 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

Have you considered moving to a slightly stiffer spring or stretching out that spring to stiffen it up?  We do that with the Daiwa SV spools to make the spool faster/cast farther.

 

I did think about that, but chose to not do it because this Rick Clunn reel and another one like it are going to my 12 year old son who is just getting into baitcast reels.

 

I did not want to make it more difficult on him by stretching out that spring. Maybe down the road when he becomes proficient at it he can consider it.

 

I'm just glad I caught it before giving it to him.

4 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

spring with Daiwa Magforce Z and SV reels the sooner the rotor moves away from the magnets and the freer the spool at the end of the cast

So could I swap a tat sv tw103 spring with a tat elite spring and they would split the difference in their performance? 

4 hours ago, Banned User said:

So could I swap a tat sv tw103 spring with a tat elite spring and they would split the difference in their performance? 

Not really.  I have a Tatula Elite spool and it's spring is the same as a normal Tatula as is the inductor when compared side by side.  What surprised me is that spool is just a light weight G1 duralumin construction Tatula spool.  Its as if a Tatula CT/Fuego CT spool was given the SV spool light weight construction and while keeping the same Magforce Z brake with indutor and spring.  I was expecting an HLC like shorter inductor and stiffer spring but it's bog standard Tatula CT inductor and spring fitted to a lighter weight spool.

 

In my Fuego CT it performs great but is really just an effortless casting spool and great non SV skipper.  It casts as far as the stock Fuego CT/Tatula CT spool with way less effort.  When power casting for max distance with a heavyish lure like a Terminator frog on a hard spool emptying bomb cast they both cast the same distance and will empty all braid down to the spool arbor at about the same rate.  It doesn't dispence all the line super quick like an HLC or make an audible higher spool RPM hum like the HLC.  It seems normal Tatula but with an uncanny effortlessness.

 

The main differences in my Fuego CT are that the Elite spool in the Fuego CT will cast like 80% the same as max distance as the stock Fuego CT spool with 20% the effort, cast light weight baits very well and skip with SV spool like ease.  It's impressive in the Fuego CT IMO.  Maybe the Tatula Elite has weaker magnets but I have found the Elite spool to be an effortless and easily controlled spool rather than a pure distance and wild long caster in my use.  It's one of my favorite reel and spool pairing for all around use because it can do basically everything.  I say this as someone that has a dedicated Plano box for Daiwa spools and almost never fishes the stock spool in a reel.  

I recently acquired a couple of old stradics I'd like to get into and illustrate some common issues found, & may be more extreme in Florida reels.

 

This first reel was recently given to my 12 year old son by the rod and reel repair shop I used to work at. Shop manager and trolling motor repair tech Greg had this one squirreled away in a hidden spot for years untouched. My son was expressing an interest in stradics and we were digging through a box of old reels someone donated to the shop.

 

I found two in there they gave to me just for parts reels. One was repairable but the second one was toast and will be shown below this first one which was in pretty good shape because it had been used so little. Greg was willing to give it up because he never uses a spinning rod and reel- ever.

 

He said it needed work, and he was right.

 

This particular stradic was one Greg held onto for years because its a rare model with a magnesium frame. These were only made for 2 years back around 2007/2008 era and discontinued. This reel kind of falls in between the older stradics and the newer more lightweight stradics. That was the goal and direction of Shimano when developing this reel in Japan. Its listed on JDM websites as well. Its a model 2500MgFa and retailed new back then for $190. Today these Mg reels are getting harder to find. So my son is excited to have a JDM reel, and a kind of special one at that.

 

 

Upon taking it apart the first issue I ran into is the original friction ring made of black rubber has turned into goo. It is important to thoroughly clean this goo out of a reel. As will be seen on the next stradic, a do it yourselfer at home attempted a "service" job on his reel that also shows signs of the friction ring turning to goo, but he did not thoroughly clean it off the reel before putting it back together.

 

This is how the goo piles up when you try and spin the reel as normal. The rotor sticks to and grabs the gooie mess and piles it up in one spot.

 

 

The black goo gets onto the inside of the rotor and gets into the bail reset trip lever and kind of glues it up so proper function is either really hard, or does not work at all like the next stradic shows.

 

 

This stuff is a mess! Mineral spirits will dissolve it away quickly- which is why using petroleum lubricants on reels today is a no no. It can destroy plastic and rubber parts sometimes. (I will be picking up a new blue silicone friction ring for this reel soon. Those do not turn to goo like this one.)

 

 

Another issue I see on a lot of spinning reels coming across the bench is the spool shaft has flared out metal where the spool clicker ratchet sits. This bent metal or flared out metal can prevent the pinion gear from sliding off the spool shaft.

 

Sandpaper will not take care of this. Careful work with a fine file can and will reshape this metal so the pinion gear can slide off easily, but is not necessary if one can disassemble the reel and remove the spool shaft from the reel, you can easily slide the pinion gear off the spool shaft going in the other direction. So don't ever try and force the pinion gear to slide off over these bent, flared out areas! Just hang tight and wait until you can slide it off the other way. Then reassemble in reverse and you won't have to use a file to remove the flared out metal.

 

 

This next issue is something that is missed or ignored by a lot of reel techs. I guess many do not think it is necessary and they can get away with ignoring it, but its not the best idea to do so.

 

Over the years the bail itself can corrode inside of a bail hinge. Often these act like one solid piece, even though it is two separate pieces of metal. It is always the best idea to put a drop of oil on the bail wire where it goes into the hinge, and a drop of oil into the bail wire lock hole on the side. Let it soak in for a little bit and then begin to twist the hinge back and forth and work it loose on the bail wire.

 

This is important because a bail is kind of self adjusting. And if you want the reel to work for a longer period, this hinge and bail wire need to be able to adjust rather than be locked together like one solid piece. Work it loose with some oil before reassembling it. The bail will function better if this bail wire can move or twist inside the hinge under normal operation.

 

Over years of use, saltwater can cause corrosion that solidifies this junction of two metals, and that needs to be loose and able to move. I can't tell you how many people overlook this and don't even consider it.

 

This MgFa reel had a solidified bail wire to the hinge. I was able to carefully work it loose twisting it carefully back and forth and it moves a little further each time. Often you can get it to point where the hinge will freely spin 360 degrees around the bail wire. I did that for this reel. And hopefully the oil used will help keep corrosion down for awhile, and keep the bail wire moving freely in this junction.

 

Also seen on the hinge is a little bit of corrosion on the surface area that contacts the rotor. These corrosion spots are raised up some off the surface and this is a hinge. It should be smooth all the way around. If it isn't, then smooth these out before reassembly so bail operates better and more smoothly.

 

 

One final issue with this reel, is make sure to clean the old friction ring goo out of the rotor, especially in the channel when the bail reset trip lever is supposed to slide smoothly. This goo getting in there prevents normal operation of the bail.

 

In the following image, it can be seen getting into both channels in the rotor, and on the bail trip lever itself. All of this goo has to be carefully cleaned off before reassembly! The do it yourselfer below is a major fail on this count!

 

The bad friction ring, and solidified bail hing to bail wire were the only "problems" I encountered with the Stradic 2500MgFa. It is now back like new minus the friction ring which will soon be replaced.

 

 

This next reel is another story. When I worked in the rod and reel repair shop, this next reel is the type of reel we would get shipped to the shop in the mail. We called reels like this next one a forum reel.

 

It is one of those situations of a guy needing to service his reel and attempting to do it on his own. Quite often they run to various forums and ask what to do and how to do it and get all kinds of advice. Some good. Some brand recommended. But much of the time they get information that is not good for the reel and the company who made it definitely would recommend it for their reels.

 

I need say that this reel is a free parts reel I got from the shop. I would not even attempt to repair a reel in this condition. The gears are shot. But I can get plenty of other good parts off a reel in as bad of shape as this one. One part I am always seeking are the oscillation blocks.

 

When I removed the rotor, take a look under the hood! Gobs of grease! And, petroleum grease at that! Brown, nasty, automotive petroleum grease! And the old black rubber friction ring is also missing, most had been removed, but NOT thoroughly cleaned out.

 

A guy at home gives it his best shot on a reel like this after consulting a forum or doing some reading online and possibly watching some youtube videos, and this is the result. And you know with lubricants, MORE is ALWAYS better right? Some sure seem to think so like this guy!

 

Not sure exactly WHAT this guy was trying to grease here! The underside of the rotor does not need grease. Maybe, just maybe all this grease was his failed attempt to seal up the reel from his saltwater use of this reel? A classic Florida forum reel right here! Done ALL wrong on every count!

 

 

I get a huge kick out of this... after scraping away just enough grease on the AR clutch bearing to read the clear, large words Shimano put onto their AR bearing just for guys like this one to ignore!

 

It says NO GREASE right on top of the AR bearing! Duh!

 

Maybe this guy could not read? Maybe someone on a forum told him to ignore that? All I can do is shake my head and wonder about things like this...

 

 

I can save this AR bearing. Just need to thoroughly clean it and get all that grease out of it. At least it did not rust so that's good.

 

But take a look at the inside of the rotor... he failed to thoroughly clean out the black goo from the old friction ring. Eh, just throw gobs of grease on and maybe it will slide up and down just fine? I doubt it. This one is glued in place and not moving. Bail function brought to a halt right here.

 

 

And finally the insides... years of saltwater abuse, and DIY at home abuse of not knowing what to do or how to do it to save this reel. It had a bucket of beach sand and shells inside grinding the gears down badly to the point of can never use them again.

 

But there are some good parts still left on this reel to keep others up and running...

 

I'm going to do a quick solvent cleaning on these to remove most of this before storing this as a parts reel.

 

 

This is why saltwater reels need regular service and maintenance and proper cleaning and lubrication rather than use it until it grinds to a halt and then consult a forum and youtube for info and attempting to DIY at home.

 

Even I would not attempt to fix this one! Not enough left of it to put back together. Just a few free parts is all this one is now. That oscillation block is worth more than gold!

 

I really should have a machine shop make me some out of aluminum one day......

 

The shop also gave my son a brand new Denali 7' MH F spinning rod to go along with his new Stradic 2500MgFa. A Christmas present. Our shop has been donating rods and reels to kids charity groups for years, so helping kids fish is kind of a shop tradition we all participate in.

@FloridaFishinFool I for one hope you post some photos or at least an update on how your son enjoys the above Stradic along with the rest of the reels you talked about in this thread.

Eric, he is loving his new stradics. He got 3 of them for Christmas. A 4000FH, a 2000FE, and a rare 2500MgFA given to him by Kel's rod and reel repair shop as a Christmas gift and it came on a nice band new Denali rod. He absolutely loves the new combo. Here he is this past Saturday fishing with me on lake Santa Fe near Keystone Heights, Florida.

He was trying out his newly learned skills for using creature baits to catch big bedding bass. He said dad I am tired of telling everyone my PB is only 3 pounds! I want a double digit bass he says. So we will be trying to get him one off a bed somewhere soon. Spring break is coming and that means road trips with boat! This is what its all about!

I give him front casting deck and trolling motor controls and say go where you want to. Fish how you want to. I don't make it all about me like I do around here. Ha!

Nope. When fishing its all about him. I have to tell myself make sure he enjoys it no matter what. No time for getting mad at something. Nope. Not allowed. I just take the back of the boat and chill out and cast around him if need be. I want him to know its all about him right now. I've had my day. Its his turn at living life his way. Here's the keys to boat. Make it all yours kiddo! I'm good wetting a line anywhere. Back of boat is fine.

This is lake Santa Fe. Redneck heaven on earth out there! Not kidding either! This image was taken just north of the saddle point between the two lakes sides where the widest shallow sandy area is located without swamp muck on the bottom where he could sight fish for bedding bass. Here he is trying out the creature bait he just put on a hook using the Denali rod and his 2500 stradic MgFA.

This is a large gorgeous lake out in the middle of nowhere Florida. Low fishing pressure. Clean water. Just an awesome lake! Keep in mind these photos were taken Saturday. Weekend when lots of boats fill out lakes, but not these out in nowhere Florida. You don't see one other boat in these photos. We had a huge lake nearly all to ourselves.

Just look at that grass line! Bass heaven on earth right here. And behind the grass is lily pads in shallow water back in there. I did some casting over the grass since you can't go through this grass. Those reeds or stalks sticking out of the water are solid as wood. Very hard. So they do not give way to lures pulled through them.

He is also into saltwater fishing as well. In this photo he is using his cheaper tackle because I really don't want the classic 25 year old stradics used in saltwater if possible. So we buy other decent reels for him to use in saltwater that he can dunk in the water if he wants to.

This is his Bubba rod with a Shimano sienna on it. He was out with a friend near New Smyrna Beach intracoastal waterway in this image of his trout. He loves being able to catch something worthy of eating.

He's 12 years old and already searching for his first boat. He's wearing his state of Florida Trophy Catch program hat given to us by state of Florida biologists at their booth at ICAST last year. A young conservationist growing up fast.

To help him out in saltwater fishing I pick up used reels when I come across really good deals like these two reels. One is a hefty OffShore Angler 8000 with 6 ball bearings and smooth and powerful and strong as heck and a rated 30 pound drag on it for the big ones. Gotta rebuild it first and treat metal for saltwater corrosion prevention before using in saltwater, and same is being done to his new Shimano Cardiff 401A we just got for free dumped at the rod and reel shop abandoned by a customer who did not want to pay for full repair but went and bought a new reel and just left this one at the shop, so I got it for nothing and the 8000 was on clearance at a pawn shop and I offered them $10 for it and they took it! Pretty cool. Two awesome reels for $10. I'm getting into the cardiff now.

Taking a look under the hood of the old Shimano Cardiff 401A.

Clearly this reel had been used in saltwater and not cleaned properly after use and the owner allowed the saltwater to just corrode some of the reel away with galvanic corrosion as seen under this aluminum handle. When salts attack the metal, it is always the weaker metal that gives way. In this case the aluminum handle was experiencing the loss while the steel spring suffered no damage at all.

This reel was rough to spin, and the drag was in terrible shape. The previous owner was clearly catching some large fish on this reel because all of the 4 drag washers were just about worn away. Only about 50% of the drag washers remain.

All of the worn off material from all 4 drag washers became dirt or grit inside the reel going everywhere inside contaminating the gears and even the brake drum. I was surprised by the amount of drag washer material floating around inside the reel. At first I thought maybe someone had used a black grease on the reel, but it slowly became apparent all the black junk in there is drag washer material worn off by some really large fish this previous owner tried slowing down with cross fiber carbon drag washers.

You can see specks of dark black particles scattered all over the inside of this reel. That is the drag washer material worn away and floating loose inside the reel.

These may hold up well in low load bass fishing reels, but for larger saltwater reels this is the reality of those so called drag washers just not able to hold up well. Even the brake drum had it contaminating braking.

All of the black on this brass gear is what is left of cross fiber carbon drag washers after big fish tear them up. It wears off the drag washers inside this gear and spins outward right into the gears which grind down any particles moving into the gears. Black all the way around. Years of drag washers falling apart right here.

All I did was touch the teeth of this main gear and you can see what came off on my finger. This should not be happening and should not be there.

And here you can see chunks of ground up drag washer material mixed in with reel grease to form chunks of gritty material floating around inside of this reel for years.

On the key'd plate on left side of this image you can see where the material came right off the drag washer and onto that key plate washer as it is on its way to join the rest of the junk floating around in this reel.

And this is what is left of the drag washers... only about 50%. These are unusable and I will be replacing all drag washers with a different material that will not do this to this reel again. Not sure yet what I am going to use, but its gotta be better than this!

I may wind up replacing the gears along with the drag washers and use different gears with a different drag washer fit rather than try and work with this one again. Not sure what Shimano was trying to do with a drag stack like this one. Appears to be 2 cross weave carbon fiber drag washers and two dartanium II drag washers. Gonna have to play around with this one and see which way it goes towards repairing it. I may start off fiddling with this gear setup and new drag washers and see what I can do with it. I just don't want to see a repeat performance of what I found so far.

The previous owner really put a hurting on this reel's drag.

Curious how many of you have Cardiff reels, and if any of you have had this sort of trouble from them?

I came here to say that it's extremely annoying that TSI321 isn't available in Canada. What the hell.

Anyone change the gearing on a Curado 150 MGL? Got a deal that Couldn't pass up on a Curado MGL ($150 new) but its a 6.2:1 and i really want it to be a 7 or 8. Does anyone know where i can find a new gear set at?

Im thinking i can just order the gears from Shimano for the MGL150 HG and they should just drop right in right?

On 3/9/2026 at 7:03 PM, Micro Module Police said:

I came here to say that it's extremely annoying that TSI321 isn't available in Canada. What the hell.

If you're near Windsor, we can meet in the middle of the Gordie Howe lol

10 hours ago, LGDFW said:

Anyone change the gearing on a Curado 150 MGL? Got a deal that Couldn't pass up on a Curado MGL ($150 new) but its a 6.2:1 and i really want it to be a 7 or 8. Does anyone know where i can find a new gear set at?

Im thinking i can just order the gears from Shimano for the MGL150 HG and they should just drop right in right?

It's not complicated and pretty easy to do, make sure to use good grease.

150 MGL HG Drive Gear: Shimano - 10SGS – Shimano North America Fishing

150 MGL HG Pinion Gear: Shimano - 10TAG – Shimano North America Fishing

150 MGL XG Drive Gear: Shimano - 10TBU – Shimano North America Fishing

150 MGL XG Pinion Gear: Shimano - 10TBT – Shimano North America Fishing

I hope LGDFW got his gear situation taken care of. Let us know...

This old Cardiff was put back together last night and qualifies now as a modified drag stack. As shown above, the cross weave carbon fiber type of drag washer was simply not holding up to larger saltwater fish and were being worn down badly causing lots of debris to float around inside the reel, but what bothered me about it was how much of that debris wound being ground into the gear teeth.

So to avoid this from ever happening again I decided to modify this reel's drag washers, but with this particular reel drag washer sizes are critical to the reel's proper operation.

So this reel went from a stock combination of 2 carbon fiber drag washers and 2 Dartanium II drag washers, to now a custom drag washer stack of 3 different types from 3 different unknown brands except for 1 drag washer is a 40 plus year old Shimano cross weave cloth type of drag washer that was common in Shimano reels back in the 1980's. This type of drag washer seems indestructible as they hold up well for decades of use.

So I simply adjusted what I already had in stock at home from years of reel servicing, and modified the fit of just one drag washer and the rest of them just dropped in a perfect fit, but its how they fit this reel that made all the difference in the world.

Starting at the bottom of the drag washer stack the gear was beveled or raised lip on both side of this reel's gear. Top and bottom specialized fit.

The primary first consideration for finding a suitable replacement drag washer for this location is drag washer thickness because this washer dictated inside the reel the exact positioning of the main gear itself. So maintaining precise same height was critical. The next two size considerations for this washer was internal and external diameters.

The hole had to fit the raised lip on the gear, and the outside diameter had be small enough to clear the anti-reverse pawl so it could operate without obstruction. Since this reel comes with a modern AR bearing, I could have just as easily removed this AR pawl and expanded the size of this washer to increase drag ability, but I opted to not do that this time and simply custom fit a new washer into that defined space.

In following image you can see the original drag washer sitting in place showing the needed space clearances and below it the new custom fit washer. I opted to use drag grease on the entire new drag washer stack.

Customizing to fit is a simple use of a hand reamer and vise. Note, this red washer was not used because it had too large of external diameter. I was merely checking the fit in this image and passed on this one.

Once the first drag washer was in place, I found a decades old Shimano cloth or felt drag washer that was a perfect fit.

All greased up and installed above with worn out original drag washer shown below.

The only issue I had here was drag washer thickness. The felt washer is thicker than dartanium and so I had to be concerned that the "ears" of the middle key plate were still catching the main drag gear in their assigned slots. And it fit perfectly level within, flush to the top, but as drag is increased it will push the ear'd key plate deeper into the main gear assuring a good grab with no problems. A workable fit.

Notice the debris attached to that key plate? I had to scrape this off. This is in part why the drag was not smooth upon receiving this old reel. The drag washers were run dry and so there was some sticking and loose debris being ground around in the drag stack that led to this situation. Another reason why I opted for a greased stack this time.

At this 3rd level of the drag stack I had to be very concerned with height to make sure those ears went down inside the main drag gear. Could not miss this one.

So I had to use very thin drag washers. At first all I found was some old Bass Pro carbon fiber drag washers used in their top of the line reels like Johnny Morris signature series reels. Some very good well made drag washers and very different from what is commonly found out there. These I save when I can get them. Even ordered a bunch of them from Bass Pro so I have plenty in stock.

It was a good fit until I found some old teflon drag washers of the perfect size.

In following image I stood up all 3 drag washers for size comparison. Teflon on left, Bass Pro in center, and stock original washer on right. The teflon and original washers were same thickness while the Bass Pro washer is thinner. And the original worn out carbon fiber washer is laying beside the new ones below.

The slightly increased size of the teflon washers provided a little more surface area for increasing drag friction some.

And I opted to use a second teflon drag washer on top in the 4th position and finish it up. I could have opted to run a partially greased drag stack and not use any grease on the teflon drag washers since teflon is a lubricant all by itself, but I opted for smoother drag operation with slightly reduced friction ability for this reel. Since it has 4 drag washers, the combined effect will be more than enough drag for this reel.

All finished up now with the original stock worn out drag washers on deck.

All tested out and plenty of drag and now ready to fish with again. And down the road if need be, I can always go back inside the reel and remove the drag grease from the two teflon drag washer and increase drag friction ability some.

I even replaced the corroded Cardiff handle with a nearly identical 1990's Shimano Curado handle and simply swapped out the grips. A perfect fit. My 12 year old son was asking if I could install a power handle on this reel, and I can, but I have to find one first. I'll check with the shop first and online last but that is for another day... now for some new line and back to fishing.

This reel is going on a 1985 GLoomis custom rod made for snook. It also had a GLoomis reel carbon reel seat on it which cracked and broke apart so this rod sat around unused for decades until I found it in a pawn shop in Deland, Florida for $5.00 with a Daiwa millionaire reel on it I tossed out to replace it with this Shimano Cardiff a much high quality reel and more well built too.

When I modified the GLoomis custom rod, I changed reel seats to a spinning rod reel seat and moved it nearly 6 inches closer to the butt end. Now that rod can be used with either spinning or conventional reels equally as well. I've already had it out bass fishing with a spinning reel on it. The old Loomis blank is a moderate fast with deep parabolic bend to it which is perfect for the soft snook mouths so as to not rip hooks out as much as today's modern stiffer rods can do.

Another successful free reel project done and heading back out on the water. This one now belongs to my son for his saltwater fishing fun.

To add to this thread on the Shimano Cardiff reels drag washer situation...

I have not checked yet to see if Shimano still has drag washers for these reels still available. They could be discontinued.

But sad reality for reels like this old Cardiff introduced around 2003 is that all of the aftermarket drag washers found online are completely inadequate in several ways.

Number one, I showed above how the cross weave carbon fiber drag washers just wore out and fell apart under larger saltwater fishing loads contaminating the inside of the reel and gears with loose gritty debris. So to avoid getting back into that same problem again, I opted to use anything other than carbon fiber drag washers.

But if one does a quick search on ebay for drag washers for this reel take a look at what is found...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cardiff+401a+drag+washer&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_odkw=cardiff+drag+washer&_osacat=0

Only 4 results pop up. And ALL of them are aftermarket cross weave carbon fiber drag washers. Precisely what I am trying to avoid.

And to make matters worse, the company who makes all of those carbon fiber washers offers different sets with one that fits and one that does not.

This situation with that company is 100% unacceptable to me. I avoid them always. I never order from them and will never use their product because for one, what they sell are not really drag washers and is directly behind why this reel had problems to begin with.

So for anyone out there with a Shimano Cardiff reel needing drag washers, this is a huge problem.

Take a look at the original washers laid out side by side and notice the 2, maybe 3 different sizes of hole diameters necessary for proper fit:

Now take a look at what some "professional" company offers for this reel:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121537057114

There is no way this aftermarket set of drag washers is going to fit or drop right into any Cardiff reels. NOT physically possible. That company does not even try to get the sizes accurate or correct. And this is a huge problem that should not even be happening.

I did find one full set that might actually fit the reel:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/252830790280

And its nice to see that 3rd level drag washer above is a thin one, so this company did make a good attempt at correct sizes for the Cardiff.

But when people order up drag washers for this Cardiff, they need information like this to make sure they purchase the correct sizes if they don't have the skills or tools at custom modifying drag washers for perfect fit. Buyer beware these days!

So open the reels up first and get very familiar with your drag washer sizes and double check what you are buying is the correct size and fit for your reels before buying the wrong drag washers. We cannot trust all of the suppliers to do it for us.

For a retired old guy the rods and reels just keep on coming. I try and avoid new projects and guess what? Here comes another one.

So I just placed a quick bearing order and wondered what bearings some of you have to order on a regular basis?

This particular bearing batch is coming from primarily Shimano spinning reels in the 4000 to 6000 size range.

Minimum 10 bearings per size. Ordering 1 at a time won't cut it. Bulk is cheaper.

5x8x2mm

7x11x3

7x13x4

7x14x5

8x14x4

The 5x8x2 are so cheap its best to order 20 or 30 of them at a time. These are found in some spinning reel line guide rollers. Its the same in the 4000 and 6000 size shimano spinning reels I am working on right now.

I have considered going full ceramic here but never have as yet. I'd only do it in some of my own reels if rusting roller bearings were a problem.

Some of the reels I just finished up using old used bearings as needed- a shimano stradic 4000FH, 6000FH, 4000FI. Wound up having to tear down and clean up some AR bearings:

And I stopped by the old rod and reel shop in central Florida and heard they may close their doors for good soon as business is declining. Not as many rods and reels brought in and trolling motor side is not doing well either. And custom rods have gone since that large custom rod shop opened up years ago. A slow decline. I have always wished the shop would have been located inside a place they owned rather than leased. I am sure the lease is one of the largest expenses that could have been mitigated long ago. (I am not fond of paying rent so I would have looked for a location to own not lease, just me)

Be a shame to lose this repair shop. Been around for 40 years. Going to miss walking in and actually finding the parts I need.

This is one of the 8 reel repair benches. This one is open and not claimed by any of the techs at time of this photo. So anyone could use this bench without getting yelled at. (kidding) This side of the shop is just for reels only. Rods and trolling motors on other side.

Half of the reel workbenches. The owner's is now the last chair at the other end- looking towards front counter here.

And the job no one wants......

And the parts ordering desk. Rods, reels, trolling motors. You name it. If the shops has to order it, it usually happens here.

And the other 4 reel benches are down this side. Cool thing about repairing reels this way is look where parts are. Quite often a tech did not even have to get up to get a part. The techs sit in chairs that roll well and often can roll to the part and back to bench without getting up.

Mostly spinning reel parts on right- all the RD numbers- and baitcast parts on left side all the BNT numbers.

Going to be a shame to lose another repair shop. But there just is no money in reel repairs. Not enough to keep all the bills paid apparently.

On 5/28/2026 at 12:29 PM, FloridaFishinFool said:

Going to be a shame to lose another repair shop. But there just is no money in reel repairs. Not enough to keep all the bills paid apparently.

Honestly, the issue here is under pricing services. Most places are charging $20-$25, which seems to be a uniquely American thing. When I looked around at shops in places like Japan, UK, Australia, and Singapore, most of those places charge in the range of what amounts to $50-$100 USD. I adjusted my pricing to reflect that a few years back, and I see no shortage of business. As a matter of fact, I've seen an increase. Having solid branding and carving out a niche in the market is the way to do it. I only do vintage, antique, and higher end reels for what it's worth. I leave the $25 oil changes up to the others. I've also done a lot, and I mean a lot of corrective work first done by the oil change pits. I actually just finished some up recently that were done by a guy that was sponsored by Dobyns before he sold his operation.

You are right of course. There are a lot of shade tree reel techs out there with zero factory training and who never worked in warranty repair shops doing some bad work on reels no doubt about it. The problem with reels is there simply is not enough profit from them to make it worthwhile which might be in part behind this situation.

Reels can consume too much time in labor, and just not enough income for it.

Well the closing of the shop is now affecting how I order parts. The shop is no longer ordering parts as they begin to close down. So for the first time in 40 years I now have to locate Penn parts outside of the warranty repair facility. And I am already not too happy about the price increases. I have gotten spoiled paying warranty contract cost all these years and now the markups are starting to hit having to go outside of that.

A Penn bail assembly directly from Penn is $9. From an online website they want $18.34 for the same part. So today I am going around Penn's new AI email responses which fails to some degree because I put the reel's model number into the email request for parts and their AI sent me an email asking me for the model # to ensure part compatibility. I already did that. I wonder why AI missed it? Or, is their AI just playing games? Either way I am not going round and round with AI.

So lesson learned. No more emailing Penn. Phone calls only to real humans.

When working at the shop I never had to do the parts ordering. And I begin to really appreciate even more what I am now losing. All good things come to an end I suppose.

But on a brighter note, after more than a year of searching I have finally located and purchased for $30 the exact same reel that Shaw Grigsby was using in his 1990-1991 era clearwater sight fishing for bass video. I did not realize how rare they are now which made finding one in good shape difficult and took some time. So I am looking forward to overhauling it and putting it to work soon.

At the time Shaw Gigsby made his video on the Withlacoochee River, he was under sponsor contract with Zebco the parent company to Quantum. And he had just been given some new reels for that sponsorship which he used in the video.

It appears that the reels he used in the video had graphics on them that were different than production models going to the public. They are the same reels, but slightly different graphics from what I can tell. So I am looking forward to giving this one a try.

In the video Shaw does some back reeling on large fish. A lot of spinning reels made today have deleted the AR switch and many spinning reels made today can no longer back reel. This one can. And will be a nice addition to my vintage reel collection. It is the exact same model Shaw Grigsby used under contract.

The way Shaw Grigsby is fishing here is right up my alley. I also target Florida's central ridgeline running north/South through the center of the state which is where most of Florida's springs are located.

So clean clear water surges out of the ground in numerous places and runs downhill away from those areas. Meaning pollution is not sourced in those areas and the clear waters move through populated areas like Orlando and carries their sewage and run off pollution away towards Kissimmee river and right on down into Lake Okeechobee where it is now 6 times to toxic for humans.

I aim for the springs and the cleanest clearest waters in the state same as Shaw Grigsby does here. And the nice thing about our springs is we can still drink the water right out of the ground and swim and really enjoy what Florida has to offer, but we have to stay close to our springs for the high quality of environment we seek.

Shaw lives in Gainesville area, and he does the same thing as shown here in this classic bass fishing video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLO-8gJJ80Y