OnthePotomac

I have seen elsewhere where Yamaha Marine grease is gaining in popularity for frame bearings and gears. Only the Yamaha Marine blue though. The other Yamaha gease is a general purpose grease.

I bought mine directly from the manufacturer, The American Chemical and Gas Co., but that was over a year ago and I simply called them and ordered by phone. Shipping was certainly not that much then. http://www.tsi301.com/main.htm

The drag star on the Chronarch is a quality composite material and not simply "plastic".

Lowes sells 1/2" foam rubber mating 36" wide by the foot and you can buy any size you want, I put it down over my carpet to stand on and it fits well enough that my reels lay on it to prevent carpet snags and scent from the plastics from my carpet.

SuperLube on all gears and the pinion bearing, Yellow Rocket Fuel on my metal bearings, Oust Met Oil on my ceramics, ReelX on the worm gear and drive shaft bearing.

I too believe the Carbonlite is a tad lighter than the JM SIg, anyway that is the way they felt in the store. I handed both rods to a guy next to me and he agreed..

And possibly melt plastic components.

I am a Shimano guy, except for my 10 year old annodized all aluminum JM, but two years ago when the PQ was on sale for $69 I figured what the heck and bought one. I must say it is really an incredible little reel. I have worked the daylights out of it for two years and it is still performing like new. The innards are pretty standard for a baitcaster and easy to take apart, clean and lube. It took just a short time to tune in the magnetic and centrifugal brakes. I have not changed the bearings, or drag.

My 7' Medium Carbonlite is 4.1oz and the 6'6" Medium is 3.9oz. Very, very nice to fish with all day.

Frame bearings are pinion bearings and drive shaft bearings for two.

Everyone has their favorites, but I, like BobP, use Yellow Rocket Fuel in the spool bearings and handle bearings and Super Lube on the gears and to pack the pinion bearing. I also use ReelX (an anti corrosion oil) on the worm gear and drive shaft bearing. Some like to pack their drive shaft bearing in grease rather than use oil. I have seen on another forum where some anglers are using Yamaha Blue Marine grease in their frame bearings.

Just buy the Chronarch and you will be very happy.

My reference to the maintenance on ceramics is the frequent reoiling to keep them smooth and quiet. I use Oust Met Oil in my ceramics and only use Yellow Rocket Fuel in metal bearings. I found that YRF in ceramics will slow them down. With no lube ceramics are very fast, but extended use with no lube will degrade the race in time and they really make a racket with no lube. To each his own.

Anyone on here tried the Yamaha Blue Marine Grease in their frame bearings? Its use is gaining in popularity on another forum. I have always used Super Lube to pack frame bearings.

Shimano says they do not rate their bearings, but Bantam1, their rep says they are ABEC 3. I have experimented with Shimano factory bearings and have found some spin like crazy and some do not spin so well, just OK. If I replace them it is with quality SS ABEC7's. I got tired of the heavy maintenance on the ceramics.

I have only used 50lb 832 on my frog rod and the same line has been on the reel going into its third year with no problems.

That "plastic" star drag is actually a quality composition material which Shimano strengthens with successive models.

I have been using BPS Excel mono on the murky Tidal Potomac for 10 years in 8,12, 14 and 20lb. Love it.

An excellent choice.

BPS XPS 10 and 12lb Flouro. Never lost a fish. using it for the last five years.

Here is my Jm reel story and still going strong since July, 2002. No junk here. The reel is a JMX 1000H - Anodized aluminum frame and side plates (still like new) - 9.6 oz - 10 SS bearings - 6:3.1 and 28" IPT - 6-pin centrifugal brakes - Titanium Nitride coated Zirconium line guide - Quik removal side plate. - Custom JM reel cover

Exactly three years ago I picked up a Titanium 6'6" IM8 M baitcaster on sale for $75 (regular price $100) on year end sale and it has proven to be one heck of a rod. The thing only weighs 4 oz and you can throw cranks all day on it without getting tired. The cork still looks new and it really gets a work out. I don't know who made that one, but they sure did a great job with quality components.

Same here. After an outing all I do is clean the reel line guide (pawl) and the rod line guides with a Q Tip wet with KVD, or reel magic and wipe the reel off with a damp cloth. If you oil bearings after every trip you are really going to slow down your spool. I may add a drop of oil to my spool bearing once mid season. My personal view on oil on a spool shaft is do not do it. Spools spin faster inside the pinion gear if they are kept really clean. Putting oil on them just slows down the spool spin.

It is best to remove the spool bearings from a new reel, soak them in lighter fluid for awhile to remove the manufacturers oil, dry them well and apply a tiny drop of quality reel oil (I use Yellow Rocket Fuel) and you are good to go. Don't worry about the handle spinning, depress the thumb bar then spin your spool with your finger and you will get an idea of how well it spins. You can have 20 bearing in your reel, but the spool will only have 2 and in some reels 3 bearings. Shimano reels have never been big on more than maybe 6 bearings, and that includes the pinion bearing, which has nothing to do with how fast a spool spins. Remember that reels with a high bearing count usually includes 4 in the handles.

No problem. Use a rod rack for your rods so they are stored in a vertical position and not leaning against the wall.