cdunlapb12 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 One of my older shimano spinning reels wobbles when I and reeling it in. What could be causing this? Quote
Big C Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Sounds like a balance thing. See if anything is missing from the parts that spin. Quote
Super User tomustang Posted March 10, 2015 Super User Posted March 10, 2015 Take the spool off and check the rotor nut Quote
Delaware Valley Tackle Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Some amount of wobble is inherent in spinning reels. The counterweight you see inside the rotor is to help offset this. If the reel has high mileage the normal wear may be making the wobble more noticeable. If nothing is loose broken or bent there's not much to do about it. It's impossible to say without seeing it. Quote
FloridaFishinFool Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I also had this same problem with Shimano spinning reels over time. And this is one of the reasons I no longer buy shimano spinning reels. Part of the problem is in the design itself. Shimano will not improve their design to incorporate a double ball bearing rotor support system and one of my older Stradics developed this problem slowly worsening over time. So when I looked inside of the reel this is what I found- a single ball bearing rotor support system... Today I buy spinning reels by other brand names that will improve the design and incorporate a double ball bearing rotor support system like this one: The Shimano reels are shown above as the "traditional system" and other brands who have left shimano in the dust use the double ball bearing holding system as shown below... now I have no more wobbles! And I like it! Bye bye Shimano! 1 Quote
Delaware Valley Tackle Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 There's always a trade off though. The Shimano AR is among the sturdiest in spinners and I like the worm gear oscillation. They finally caught on with the x ship in the baitcasters, it would be nice to see the extra support in the spinners but not at the expense of the AR assembly they use. Quote
Super User Maxximus Redneckus Posted March 10, 2015 Super User Posted March 10, 2015 From a automotive standpoint having bearings at each and middle depending on lenght is a great idea in spinning reels ,having a shaft 3 inches with support just in the middle long term is non existant .bearings aint made for side to side support 1 Quote
Super User J Francho Posted March 10, 2015 Super User Posted March 10, 2015 Never seen a Shimano wear out there, nor have any of mine, including an original Aero Stradic. Please don't tell me I don't fish enough, like the last thread. It's insulting. My guess, the bail was smacked on something, and now it's off balance and wobbles. 2 Quote
FloridaFishinFool Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 From a automotive standpoint having bearings at each and middle depending on lenght is a great idea in spinning reels ,having a shaft 3 inches with support just in the middle long term is non existant .bearings aint made for side to side support Exactly! And yet this is what shimano depends upon for the stability of their rotors. I have had more than one shimano reel slowly get worse over time in this respect. And I have found that trying to replace the inner parts does not always fully correct the problem. One thing not mentioned much is that plastic is not as solid as it appears. Plastic, like glass, is actually a slow moving liquid to some degree. Over time it deforms. And with constant use of a reel for many years, there is a good probability that part of this problem is in the plastic rotors deforming some as well as the frame or body. One of the weak points is at the back of the pinion gear where they usually create a really small plastic support that the rear of the pinion gear is held within. There is a lot of side to side pressure on that little support and over time I have found in some of my shimano reels it gets looser. Shimano depends upon the steel shaft to help stabliize the side to side forces, along with the small rear support. I use my reels a lot so they have literally worn out and it is not just the internal parts. Replacing just those has not brought any of my reels back to like new. Replacing body and rotor parts along with internal parts might, but I am not going to spend that much on those old reels. So I have junked one stradic, one 2000 size, and one 6000 sized reel which was horrible with how much it wobbled, and I am about to toss out a 4000 size shimano as well for this same problem. Here in central Florida I fish just about year round and put a lot of hours on my reels, and when regular maintenance can not keep them in tip top shape then there has to be another reason for the failure, and it is not because the reels are broken. I think it is because of the over use of plastics in places where it fails over time. Today I have all brand new reels with solid aluminum frames and double ball bearing holding system and they are super smooth, and easy to use and I don't care if they are a little bit heavier. So what. I'd rather have and use a better quality reel made of better quality materials and with better designs than what I have used in the past. Simple as that. It is cheaper to just replace the worn out shimano reels with something better than to spend any money on parts to try and fix shimano's design and materials flaws. Quote
Super User J Francho Posted March 10, 2015 Super User Posted March 10, 2015 If you are wearing out your Shimano reels, you may want to take a second look at your maintenance methods. The shaft is supported by both the AR roller, a large ball bearing, and nylon bush. That bush is often lost when cleaning. That may be your problem. Quote
FloridaFishinFool Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Let me throw another monkey wrench into this equation... My older shimano reels are made of plastic. When exposed to the hot sun of central Florida all day long year round the plastic more than likely softens up some, and I have to wonder if this can lead to a faster rate of deformity than say living up north in Canada where the sun may not heat the plastic as much or for as long to soften it up as much as what might happen here in Florida? Therefore plastic deformity may be far less up north than here in Florida??? If the north is frozen up with snow and ice for half the year, are the reels seeing the same amount of hours exposed to extreme heat from the sun like reels used year round in Florida? Plastic is like butter. The colder it gets, the harder it gets. The hotter it gets, the softer it gets. Plastic is the same. Maybe this is part of the reason why my older shimanos have "melted" into uselessness? Could this be possible? Quote
Super User J Francho Posted March 10, 2015 Super User Posted March 10, 2015 Sorry, if I offended you. That's not my intention. I've serviced reels from all over the country, inluding Florida and several other southern states. In fact a huge pile came from Texas. Had a buinch of inshore kayak anglers that used Stardics almost exclusively, since they held up to the salt, and weren't insanely expensive. I don't know why your reels are getting soft, and wearing out differently. It's weird. Perhaps Mike at DVT can comment. Quote
Super User tomustang Posted March 10, 2015 Super User Posted March 10, 2015 Let me throw another monkey wrench into this equation... My older shimano reels are made of plastic. When exposed to the hot sun of central Florida all day long year round the plastic more than likely softens up some, and I have to wonder if this can lead to a faster rate of deformity than say living up north in Canada where the sun may not heat the plastic as much or for as long to soften it up as much as what might happen here in Florida? Therefore plastic deformity may be far less up north than here in Florida??? If the north is frozen up with snow and ice for half the year, are the reels seeing the same amount of hours exposed to extreme heat from the sun like reels used year round in Florida? Plastic is like butter. The colder it gets, the harder it gets. The hotter it gets, the softer it gets. Plastic is the same. Maybe this is part of the reason why my older shimanos have "melted" into uselessness? Could this be possible? Speaking with some plastic background, you would inherent UV degradation more than heating to a high enough temperature. To take a simple plastic like hdpe it's melting temp is around 240°, whereas something like a black paved street could reach temps of around 125°. Though the suns rays can damage anything Quote
FloridaFishinFool Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Speaking with some plastic background, you would inherent UV degradation more than heating to a high enough temperature. To take a simple plastic like hdpe it's melting temp is around 240°, whereas something like a black paved street could reach temps of around 125°. Though the suns rays can damage anything What I was wondering was if the sun and heat might be in part to blame for any accelerated plastic deformity? Not that the plastic actually melted or anything, but maybe softened up just enough to slowly and slightly change shape over say ten years of consistent exposure to Florida's sun & heat? Is it possible that the sun can soften the plastic enough to cause it to deform or change shape enough to allow for a loose wobbly rotor over a ten year period of time- or more? No parts are missing from the reels. Internal metal parts are in good working order and don't seem to be worn out. The reels still work, but the rotors are just loose and wobble around on their support system. My only conclusion is either there is a design issue, or a materials issue, or what else could it be? I feel like I have reached the end of the road with 4 shimano reels some well over 10 years old. They have been good solid reliable workhorse reels, but they are progressively getting worse. And the larger the reel the more noticeable the problem is. My 6000 is real bad. It is not a balance problem. It is a tolerance issue more than anything else. I decided to replace them rather than try and repair them. So I chose to go with a brand of reels that have two main differences than the shimano reels, one is I now have solid aluminum frames rather than plastic- I'll have to check the reel to see what the rotor is made of, might be plastic, and these reels have the double bearing holding system that my shimano reels did not have. So far so good, but I am only on season two with the new reels right now and have no idea how they will be in ten years. Quote
Delaware Valley Tackle Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I have to agree that the pinion in the shimano design is almost completely supported by the frame, contact with the main gear, support bearing, spool shaft and AR assembly. I don't think lack of support is the problem. In fact if the top bearing were removed in the other example, my guess would be that the less substantial AR assembly would suffer the most. I think spinning reels tend to be neglected in a lot of cases since the casting is not mechanical. And once they start to go bad, they sometimes aren't ever quite right again barring a complete rebuild. Lack of maintenance apparently isn't the case here and I haven't experienced abnormal wear rates in Stradics or comparable reels that have been cared for. I can't speak to the deformation of rotors, but it seems like a stretch. Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted March 11, 2015 Super User Posted March 11, 2015 I know nothing of the technical aspects of fishing reels, I do use 2 4000 stradics fi year round. I have not had a wobble problem with them but a plethora of other inconveniences. Put quite a bit of money into these reels above the initial cost. Both reels have had the identical things happen to them, from septon knobs disintegrating to bearings going bad, to complete new bail assemblies. They are fairly smooth with an adequate drag, I'll be using them until they are completely dead, one is approaching that status. IMO the performance is on a par with other $100 reels I have, I like the reels but I don't feel the value exceeds 100-$125. 1 Quote
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