I’ve had my 300 since they came out and it’s as smooth as it was when I bought it.

21 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Sounds like a lot of issues. I would expect better from Daiwa. Definitely not comforting to hear as someone who recently got into Daiwa. 

Don't sweat it. There are a ton of Daiwas in my immediate orbit. Besides a line roller for a 6-year-old Ballistic, I haven't needed to order a part for a recently built model.

On 10/21/2025 at 8:22 PM, FishTank said:

JDM. Daiwa USA won't work on it.

Sounds like a weakness in the JDM infatuation. 

On 10/23/2025 at 7:00 PM, FishTank said:

 

I have cleaned it myself. Also, I have had a few other Daiwas do this. Most recently, the Steez A II in question, Millionaire CT and a Silver Wolf, also a Tatula (not sure which rendition but older) and the OG Zillion all had the same issues. None of my other 6 Daiwas do this.

 

Only the Millionaire CT works correctly now. I pretty much replaced all the bearings (except the AR) as a last resort. Now it works fine but I don't think the bearing replacement had anything to do with it. Not really sure what it was.  My guess is that it had something to do with how the side plate loosens up occasionally based on how I hold the reel. The Silver Wolf is the biggest let down. I really haven't figured it out other than it won't backlash with baits above 3/8oz. Below that, it's a nightmare. The Tatula and OG Zillion I gave up on and sold a long time ago.  Also, this occurred over time with the exception of the Silver Wolf that did it right out the box. 

 

I also have a Tatula 300 that will get squirrely. I am hoping it won't be like the others. It will cast fine all day, backlash out of nowhere like it has no brakes at all and then go back to being fine a few cast later. 

I had a couple Daiwa act that way and it turned out to be the inductor sticking and not extending on the cast so it never got the braking effect from the magnets.

 

I cleaned all the parts in the inductor assy and it stopped having the issue.

 

Just a thought

On 10/28/2025 at 3:22 PM, FrnkNsteen said:

I cleaned all the parts in the inductor assy

How did you do this and any tips?

7 hours ago, Banned User said:

How did you do this and any tips?

Probably not the right way!! 😜😜

 

I sprayed mine with a bit of brake cleaner, worked the inductor in and out a few times and moved things around a bit and blew it back out.

 

THEN,... I thought about that there are a few plastic pieces in there that probably don't like brake cleaner very much and could have gotten very unhappy!! Fortunately, mine seemed to be fine and had no issues.

 

Hindsight being 20/20,.... I would probably choose something a little safer to plastics like maybe isopropyl alcohol or something.

 

Mine was giving me random backlashes as Fishtank described so I was looking at the brakes and noticed the inductor was sticky and didn't want to come out like it should.

 

Not very smart, but I sprayed it without thinking about it and it freed it up. Tried it and it was casting great with no more fluffing or backlash issues.

 

Ideally,... You would be better off disassembling it and clean the parts individually. I don't have one here at work with me, but if I remember correctly, there is a little e-type retainer clip that holds things in place that can be removed and slide the components off the shaft for cleaning.

11 hours ago, FrnkNsteen said:

Probably not the right way!! 😜😜

 

I sprayed mine with a bit of brake cleaner, worked the inductor in and out a few times and moved things around a bit and blew it back out.

 

THEN,... I thought about that there are a few plastic pieces in there that probably don't like brake cleaner very much and could have gotten very unhappy!! Fortunately, mine seemed to be fine and had no issues.

 

Hindsight being 20/20,.... I would probably choose something a little safer to plastics like maybe isopropyl alcohol or something.

 

Mine was giving me random backlashes as Fishtank described so I was looking at the brakes and noticed the inductor was sticky and didn't want to come out like it should.

 

Not very smart, but I sprayed it without thinking about it and it freed it up. Tried it and it was casting great with no more fluffing or backlash issues.

 

Ideally,... You would be better off disassembling it and clean the parts individually. I don't have one here at work with me, but if I remember correctly, there is a little e-type retainer clip that holds things in place that can be removed and slide the components off the shaft for cleaning.

So this happened on multiple Daiwa reels? Do you know what caused them to stick like that? How old were they and have you had any issues since fixing them?

These were a couple old Team Daiwa reels I picked up. One was an old original TD Fuego and the other was a TD Z 103HL.

 

I never had the money for those old TD reels back in the day and had forgotten about them. Stumbled across one at a swap and it started me down a bit of a rabbit hole of all those old TDZ, TDX, Sol, T3, and Alphas reels.

 

A couple of the ones I picked up had some casting issues when I got them where they would intermittently fluff real bad or flat out birdsnest. Turned out it seemed to be the brake inductors sticking.

 

God only knows how they were stored over the years or what may have caused the sticking. They work great now and I use them fairly regularly. The Fuego is on a swim jig rod and the TDZ 103HL (the LH reels with the clutch lever up on the top) is used for pitching jigs on an Ark Invoker L.E. rod.

13 hours ago, FrnkNsteen said:

These were a couple old Team Daiwa reels I picked up. One was an old original TD Fuego and the other was a TD Z 103HL.

 

I never had the money for those old TD reels back in the day and had forgotten about them. Stumbled across one at a swap and it started me down a bit of a rabbit hole of all those old TDZ, TDX, Sol, T3, and Alphas reels.

 

A couple of the ones I picked up had some casting issues when I got them where they would intermittently fluff real bad or flat out birdsnest. Turned out it seemed to be the brake inductors sticking.

 

God only knows how they were stored over the years or what may have caused the sticking. They work great now and I use them fairly regularly. The Fuego is on a swim jig rod and the TDZ 103HL (the LH reels with the clutch lever up on the top) is used for pitching jigs on an Ark Invoker L.E. rod.

Ok, good to know. Glad you’re not having any more issues with them! Thanks!

On 10/22/2025 at 6:21 PM, woolleyfooley said:

Crap. Is this a known issue with the steez a2? Is that what you meant by “Daiwa acknowledges the issue”? How much is the part to fix it? How hard is it to fix?

 

So I finally got my part, sort of. I called Daiwa and went round and round about it. They told me the bearing sleeve I needed was now backordered until April of next year, maybe.  So I asked, what size is the bearing it goes in? Then I asked what size is the bearing in the Steez Hyper Long Cast? Turns out, they are the same size but different part numbers.  After debating and totally confusing the Daiwa rep, I took a gamble and ordered the sleeve for the HLC. It was a perfect fit and everything seems to be working. We will see how it holds up. 

 

 

On 10/21/2025 at 1:21 PM, ohioguy25 said:

I got a Tatula 300 that at first I couldn’t say enough good things about. After not even one full season I experienced the button sticking, to where it would not fully compress releasing the line and when I cast it would pop back out and bring my bait to a screeching halt.

I had it cleaned once, at this point I’m considering switching back to my Curado.

my friend near you in MN has a Tat-300 doing the exact same thing.  weird. 

 

none of my Daiwas have had that event.

19 hours ago, FishTank said:

 

So I finally got my part, sort of. I called Daiwa and went round and round about it. They told me the bearing sleeve I needed was now backordered until April of next year, maybe.  So I asked, what size is the bearing it goes in? Then I asked what size is the bearing in the Steez Hyper Long Cast? Turns out, they are the same size but different part numbers.  After debating and totally confusing the Daiwa rep, I took a gamble and ordered the sleeve for the HLC. It was a perfect fit and everything seems to be working. We will see how it holds up. 

 

 

Is the broken one plastic and the new one is metal?

40 minutes ago, woolleyfooley said:

Is the broken one plastic and the new one is metal?

Both plastic. I did find a metal replacement on E-bay but the guy was from Ukraine. It would have been a challenge for it to be shipped. 

On 12/2/2025 at 6:20 PM, FishTank said:

Both plastic. I did find a metal replacement on E-bay but the guy was from Ukraine. It would have been a challenge for it to be shipped. 

Gotcha. It looked metal in the pic for some reason.