My Most Modified Reel

[Josh Smith]

Here are some detailed pics of my slow reel, the 23IPT '60s Ambassadeur 5000.  (Modding a modern 5500c3 etc is similar, but just a little less involved.)

 

I thought some here might enjoy them.


Left side of the reel


Under the cap


The bearing that replaced the bushing; the right side is similar.


Lightened worm gear drive cog


Left side of the stainless frame


Polished worm gear


The removed levelwind assembly showing the polish and the bearings which replace the plastic bushings


Right side plate


Right side, handle and screw removed


Polished drag spring washers; two for increased drag range adjustment


Crank bearing which replaces the stock crank bushing.  It cleans up slop and makes things smoother overall.


Fast gears, drag washer and crank bearing stack on the driveshaft


Fast gears, drag washer, crank bearing, driveshaft, disassembled.  Carbontex drag clutches.

Fun stuff!

Regards,

Josh

 

Edited:  Thank you, Catch and Grease.  Apparently I need to go back to Kindergarten for a bit.

[F14A-B]

Reel looks immaculate. Upgrades are sweet.

Nice work, what's the age on this reel?

[Josh Smith]

Reel looks immaculate. Upgrades are sweet.

Nice work, what's the age on this reel?

 

It's from around 1965, I believe.  I swapped the frame so I'm not 100% on that.  The stock frame's foot number is 332804 and is a four-screw.

 

It was an eBay special, and it looks like someone used a pliers or something on the thumb screws at one point.  See those scratches?  They're not honest wear.  Honest wear is good; scratches from the wrong tools is not.

 

Mostly these thing just need cleaned and lubed before modding.  Even the worst ones can usually be salvaged, I've found.  The worst one I have here was used extensively in salt water, and it doesn't look too bad.

 

Josh

[aavery2]

Nice reel and upgrades,  does it have the dual bearing idler gear upgrade?

[Josh Smith]

Nice reel and upgrades,  does it have the dual bearing idler gear upgrade?

 

Whoa!  I missed posting that pic. 

 

They usually have no bearings.  I put one in:

 

 

There's not room enough for two in these reels.  I have to thin the idler out to make it fit as is, and one is plenty to support it.  Nothing but the bearing touches the post.

 

I do need to get dual-bearing conversions for the 5500c3 and 5600 Mag, though.  Or, I can modify the single bearing idlers I put in there if I can find just the bearings.  We'll see come teardown time.

 

Josh

[aavery2]

Nice, check out this link, I think you will be interested.

 

http://www.mikesreelrepair.com/dual-ball-bearing-idler-gear-p-113638.html

[Goose52]

I have a two-bearing 5152 cogwheel in my 1500C - no lightening.  The ultimate cogwheel has to be this one - two bearings AND radically lightened:  Avail Cogwheel

[Catch and Grease]

Does your reel have two left sides???

[Josh Smith]

Does your reel have two left sides???

 

You'd think so, heh?

 

Fixed.  Thanks for the catch.

 

Josh

[Jaderose]

WOW!!!!  Beautiful.  Terrific work

[aavery2]

I have a two-bearing 5152 cogwheel in my 1500C - no lightening.  The ultimate cogwheel has to be this one - two bearings AND radically lightened:  Avail Cogwheel

I seen those, they are cool, but I think if it were me I would do like you and go with the 5152.

[Goose52]

I seen those, they are cool, but I think if it were me I would do like you and go with the 5152.

I don't know...that Avail part might give another 2 or 3 feet casting distance...

[OkobojiEagle]

A number of years ago I attempted to upgrade several versions of my 4601c reels with bearing supported cog gears.  Along the timeline Abu changed either the spool gear or worm gear slightly as some of the reels accepted the new cog gear and a couple did not.  The cog gears I got (Japanese) were built some with a snap fit, some with a c-clip.  The snap fit needed to have the "snap top" ground off and c-clip used to work well.

 

 

oe

[J Francho]

Nice.  Needs a cleaning though.

 

Here's a Wiffle Spool that I upgraded with high speed gears, Carbontex drags, double bearing supported worm gear, ceramic pawl, hybrid bearings, and a Winch handle.

 

 

 

[Josh Smith]

Nice.  Needs a cleaning though.

 

Here's a Wiffle Spool that I upgraded with high speed gears, Carbontex drags, double bearing supported worm gear, ceramic pawl, hybrid bearings, and a Winch handle.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice!  Yep, mind need cleaned badly. 

 

On that ceramic pawl -- do you find it makes a lot of difference in anything?  I've been going back and forth with myself on trying one.  They weren't out (so far as I know) when I was a teenager messing with these things.  Neither were these Carbontex drags, and I love 'em! 

 

In my experience in other fields, I find that ceramics either work really great or fail miserably.  My biggest concern is that they're relatively low-priced for reels, and in my limited experience, low-price ceramics that take the place of steel snap easily.

 

What do you think of that ceramic pawl?  Would you recommend it, and if so, why?

 

Thanks,

 

Josh

[J Francho]

Don't bother with it unless both ends if the worm gear are bearing supported. Otherwise, nothing is smoother than a new worm and pawl, after some break in.

[J Francho]

And I might be wrong about putting hi speed gears in that reel. It's been three years since that build. I think I pulled the gears from that, and put them in a 1500 or 2500? And put slow gears in. My memory is fading. I wish I had a pick with the spool in. The shallow whiffle spool is a work of art.

[Josh Smith]

Hi Folks,

 

I was sent some ABEC-5 Boca spool bearings for this reel by someone here. 

 

Simply amazing.

 

I'm in the middle of a move at this point, but I found time to install them and test cast the reel.

 

With the Boca ABEC-5 bearings, the cast was much, much further than the 5000c bearings I used.  Went past the 40 yard line on the pistol/bow range and into the woods. 

 

Now I'm looking at Boca Ceramic Bearings for my 5500c3 and likely the rest of the reels!

 

Thank you to this gent for feeding my addiction.

 

Josh

[J Francho]

Try the ABEC 7 Ceramic Hybrids from Hawgtech or Smooth Drags.  Way more bang for the buck than Boca.  Quality is no different.

[aavery2]

This thread made me want to modify an old 5000, so I got a nice one from a friend and did some work on it. I did all the normal stuff, bearing cog wheel, dual bearing level wind, replaced the bushings on the spool with bearings, replaced the crankshaft bushing with a bearing and upgraded the drag washers to carbon tex. I also replaced the stock handle with this 100mm carbon fiber job. I polished, oiled and cleaned everthing, took it outside and made a few casts with a 3/8oz weight on 12lb test P-line CX, and it blew my mind how smooth and how far this thing was capable of. The rod I was using is an old St.Croix 6'6" Pro Glass MH/M. Anyway if anyone else is sitting on the fence about these mods, I highly recommend them.

 

 

 

[OkobojiEagle]

In your opinion... would "super tuning" these reels (polishing friction points) benefit these reels?

 

 

oe

[aavery2]

In your opinion... would "super tuning" these reels (polishing friction points) benefit these reels?

 

 

oe

Polishing the inside of the pinion, and the ends of the spool shaft seem to help.   There are also some places that you could play with polishing to help with a smoother and more positive engagement.    Short answer, Yes.

[oldschoolbasser]

My most modified reel is a Violet 4500C with every bearing upgrade available, and a lightweight spool,and frame. Mods include a ceramic pawl, a skeletized line guide,Avail dual bearing cog wheel,spool,and star drag wheel. Dual bearing worm gear,bearing supported drive shaft, and drive shaft bearing. Finished off with a Composite Studios swept handle with matching accents. All friction points have been polished for extra smoothness. One of my favorite builds. Can't upload pictures of the frame and drive shaft as I can't get the file small enough to upload. The drive shaft has a bearing on the bottom,while the frame is 39% lighter than a stock frame.

[aavery2]

Nice, that's a good looking reel.

[J Francho]

 

a skeletized line guide

 

I love this, can you provide more detail?