Delaware Valley Tackle

I haven’t found the need to alter rod choice when using braid. Just modify the hookset a little. No need to jack them every time in every circumstance. Probably no need for the leader 90% of the time either.

You’d have to try hard to work harden and brake a quality guide. You should be fine.

What king of distance are you getting and what’s your goal? You should expect spinners and chatters to not cast as well as others. Is your reel spooled fully and tightly? There’s things to look at before jumping to a rod switch.

ECS is classic I use a lot of them. The ACS is love it or hate it, never heard anyone ambivalent on them. I use some seats with carbon inserts from Fuji and AmTack too. Fuji makes this micro trigger seat I keep looking at but haven’t tried: https://mudhole.com/collections/casting-reel-seats/products/fuji-pmts-micro-trigger-casting-seat

I’ve seen tabs lost or broken and the spindle come loose from the spool but never seen wear on the tabs.

You have to use Pennies of a certain mint to get the weight right. They vary over the years. You want shiny pennies minted after 1996.

The stripper, reduction guides and choke guide should bullseye when you sight through them. Start at 19-20” from reel face.

Parts are hard to come by for those. There’s an eBay seller called Vintage treasures or something like that where I gotten parts no one else had. Sorry I can’t be of more definitive help.

Be careful during this adjustment to not bend the tip past 90* or you could snap it off

100% personal preference

There’s no danger to the reel and the only negative to large backing is a bulky knot. No problem unless you cut it real close with main line. Same with the digging.

I’ve never heard a thumb bar called an offset clutch before. A Japanese translation maybe? Anyway, if your model has the post it’s easy. If it has the through pin much more involved.

You really think two layers of cardboard are the answer to conveyors and forklifts?

On floating spools and reels with solid shaft the bearing under the spool cap is just for lateral support and does not affect casting.

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The spool mounted bearing serves the same purpose as any spool bearing: support, alignment and friction reduction. Bushing isn’t the dirty word it’s often made out to be. Good, close tolerance, polished bushings May provide all the above fictions adequately. The benefits of an upgrade to bearings depends on what you’re starting with and what you’re going to.

The high end Daiwa’s with floating spool and some upper end Shimano’s do. Those tools are priceless when you need it and don’t eat much in between.

Either will work I keep the tan on hand. Shimano bantam drag grease is good too.

They should be fine. I’d give them a spin by hand when first installed just to be sure they’re free. You’ll find out quickly if they’re dry by fishing in the rain. If you get binding, remove the felt washers, dry , grease and reinstall. Better yet replace with Carbontex.

If the main feature of a rod is being indestructible your problem is handling practices not rod quality.

Save your money to put towards a small boat to get you off the bank. That will do more for you than swapping out your equipment. What you have isn’t high end, but certainly not junk either. Keep your reels serviced lubricated they’ll do all you need. If anything equipment wise now, sell a casting rod and replace it with a M or MH mod for treble hook lures.

I worked on a few of those reels. They’re decent, but don’t like salt/brackish water.

Is the drag backed off all the way? They can hit a swept handle. If not I’d suspect the handle got bent slightly. Loosen the handle nut , lift the handle and tighten the drag. Reinstall the handle and see if that corrects the problem.

That impression may originate from the mojo being made in Mexico but the factories, materials and mandrels are all identical to Park Falls. Either way they may be worth a look since things are changing.

The OG Avid blanks (SCIII) are still available in the Mojo series.