JCBIII

Thanks for the input. fished all my life but never really serious about the gear until now. Amazing you get older and a little money and all of a sudden you want all the best things. LOL

how you feel about the DC 794.5 AR less rod but cork and that 1 - 3.5 range is really more where I live than the 2-8.

Another thread I posted about a problem with a reel. boxed it up last night for shipping and picked up a Lews Hypermag for a trip this weekend. Was looking around at both my local tackle shop and bass pro, and I couldnt find a really good glide bait rod. my secret weapon is 3 1/8 ounce. checked out st croixs website and the rod I liked was 700 bucks!! jeez. you guys got any suggestions? will be stringing it with 20lb braid and a flouro leader, so carbide / ceramic eyes would be nice.

I did not. I Soaked them in cleaner and then lubricant like you do with normal maintenance, but I didn't pull the shields. I was working under the assumption that since the reel was not moved/activated while it was full of dirty water, that the sand and debris probably never had a chance to mechanically work itself into the bearing. I did spin each bearing by hand and they all felt smooth before I re-installed them. I work with bearings and mechanical assemblies for a living so I wouldnt have put anything back in that didnt feel right, but its been a while since i did that first re-assembly I took it back apart over the weekend, and It really appears to me that it definitely is from the gears themselves and not bearing related. I couldn't pin/point any issue any further down than that, so am just going to send it in to DVT. I'm picking up my new boat this weekend and will be taking it on the lake with the previous owner(friend of mine) for a day of fishing, so it looks like I'll be picking myself up a new one. how unfortunate. LOL

I dont think its the worm Gear. it feels like its in those nylon gears, or in the bearings that supports those gears the worm travels nicely by hand when its fully disassembled. When it got submerged, it was pretty sandy inside, but Afterwards, it was not used until after it was taken apart and cleaned. I'll take it apart one more time tonight and see If I can pinpoint the issue a little better. Im thinking it has to be the bearings. There is enough grease around those gears they would be tracking smooth.

Sorry for the lengthy time to reply, and thanks for all the replies. Extra info.. I took the real appart peice by peice turning the shafts until i did/didnot feel the grinding/meshing, whatever it is. and it feels like it is in the gears that make the line track left and right to deposit it evenly onto the spool. Sorry I dont know what that part is called. Anyway, there is a definite "bite" when turning those gears by hand, and it feels like the same spot in the plastic gear mesh, but Im thinking it could also just be in the bearings. Does anyone know where I can just by a top end bearing kit and I'll just replace every bearing in the thing and see what happens? I wanted to use Ceramic bearing anyway.

I have a lews tournament pro xp. First fishing trip and it got submerged for a couple minutes when my so flipped her canoe. I took the reel completely apart. Every single part was layed out on a board and cleaned, soaked, lightly oiled or greased and I am 100% sure that the reel was put back together correctly exactly according to the schematic. Problem is when i reel, I get a very distinct feel of gear mesh. Not much noise, but definitely something you feel and cannot mistake. Ive taken it apart a few times to check the bearings and even gone as far as packing the case to the brim with yamaha marine grease, the mesh feeling is still there. There isn't enough hours on this real for me to think there is an issues with the gears, and the reel was absolutely one of the smoothest in my collection when i bought it. Any suggestions? I'm about to just ship it back to lews.