Cleaning/tuning a Calais

[Dan_the_fisher]

I just bought a used Shimano Calais, wondering what all I can do to make the reel the smoothest furthest casting reel possible? It's always been a dream to own one, know I want to make it as smooth as possible. I have abec 7 bearings coming for it with some of the boca oil, and a hawgtech 102mm handle. Are their any tricks to cleaning this reel to make it any better?

[kickerfish1]

Send it to Mike at DVT and have him supertune it. He can thoroughly clean, polish, and relube everything to help get you the max performance out of the reel. He offers a 10% discount for members here too!

[Dan_the_fisher]

Okay I may check into that if I can't get the performance I wanted, I'm a tinkerer and I wanna see what I can do myself but I'll probably end up sending it to him. I this thing to be as smooth as possible. What is polish and cleaning about all you can do to them?

[Zimobass]

The 100A and 200A are super reels, albeit a little on the heavy side. I assume that you have one of these. The stock bearings are superb, and with a deep clean and lube with a little quality oil, will be every bit as good as the Boca's you have ordered. The only thing that you might consider are a set of carbontex drag washers from Smoothdrag.

The handle on the Calais is fixed from under the handle, so you may have to modify things to get the Hawgtech handle to fit.

As already mentioned, Mike at DVT is the go to man for a supertune.

Good luck.

Terry. 

[smallie.mike]

5 hours ago, Dan_the_fisher said:

Okay I may check into that if I can't get the performance I wanted, I'm a tinkerer and I wanna see what I can do myself but I'll probably end up sending it to him. I this thing to be as smooth as possible. What is polish and cleaning about all you can do to them?

Super tuning or new bearings isn't going to make it "smoother" it will just help with casting. If it's not smooth on the retrieve it may need a new gear set. 

[kickerfish1]

New bearings won't but supertuning and polishing will help smooth out the retrieve. I have supertuned Shimanos that the handle will spin for days effortlessly over non supertuned reels.

[cottny27]

Get some Semichrome and a dremel and polish spool shaft, pinion gear, drag washers, inside of main gear, drive shaft.  I think you can make a reel smother imo

[smallie.mike]

4 hours ago, kickerfish1 said:

New bearings won't but supertuning and polishing will help smooth out the retrieve. I have supertuned Shimanos that the handle will spin for days effortlessly over non supertuned reels.

How can super tuning smooth the retrieve?  The handle spinning "for days" has nothing to do with the smoothness of the retrieve. 

[iabass8]

24 minutes ago, smallie.mike said:

How can super tuning smooth the retrieve?  The handle spinning "for days" has nothing to do with the smoothness of the retrieve. 

Polishing friction points(end of spool shaft, gold sheets under the cast control knob and side plate bearing, etc) can help out to make a smoother retrieve which in turn will make a "handle spin for days". The amount of times a handle does or doesn't spin isn't a direct reflection of a smooth reel. It's just a byproduct of polishing friction points on the internals. HOWEVER, if a reel is older and used like the OP's and the retrieve isn't smooth, like you said, a faulty gear set is almostalways the culprit even if you can't see the damage, it's there. If the reel is already up to par on the buttery feel but the OP just wants to take it a step further, polishing the internals is the next step. 

Boca's won't smooth out a reel but I agree /w replacing them on a used reel if you are unsure of the condition. I replace every single bearing in older TDZ's that I buy just for peace of mind but that's me. 

[kickerfish1]

Couldn't have said it better myself "iabass8"

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The OP and I have communicated  via email but I'll add here as well. I agree that spool bearings won't do much for this reel unless the stock ones are bad. The Calais is a little more complicated to disassemble and not the best choice to learn on. I actually find very few gear sets that are truly worn out unless they've been neglected or something else gord wrong. It's impossible to say without seeing it. 

[smallie.mike]

3 hours ago, iabass8 said:

Polishing friction points(end of spool shaft, gold sheets under the cast control knob and side plate bearing, etc) can help out to make a smoother retrieve which in turn will make a "handle spin for days". The amount of times a handle does or doesn't spin isn't a direct reflection of a smooth reel. It's just a byproduct of polishing friction points on the internals. HOWEVER, if a reel is older and used like the OP's and the retrieve isn't smooth, like you said, a faulty gear set is almostalways the culprit even if you can't see the damage, it's there. If the reel is already up to par on the buttery feel but the OP just wants to take it a step further, polishing the internals is the next step. 

Boca's won't smooth out a reel but I agree /w replacing them on a used reel if you are unsure of the condition. I replace every single bearing in older TDZ's that I buy just for peace of mind but that's me. 

Yeah I agree with all that. My point is polishing the friction points like the the inside of the pinion gear and spool shaft will do nothing to smooth out the retrieve. The spool shaft doesn't spin inside the pinion gear when the reel is engaged. Polishing the ends of the spool shaft may possibly help make the retrieve smoother  but I doubt it would actually make a noticeable difference.  In my experiences if the reel feels geary on the retrieve  it's almost always in need of a new gear set. 

[Dan_the_fisher]

Thanks for all the replys the gear set just seems kinda dry, I would like to send it off to get it worked but I would like to fish it now, I just wanna clean lube it on my on to make it better. Does anyone have a diagram on the Calais they could share? I still plan on getting it sent off later on. And also what kind of work is required to get the handle to fit?

[Dan_the_fisher]

I have it all took apart and I took a million pics to remember how it went together but I found a o-ring that I don't know where it came from. If anyone knows Much about the Calais could you help? It fell out when I took the side plate off of the drive side I'm pretty sure. I went ahead and put the whole reel back together for the night minus this o-ring, because my bearing should be here tommorow.

[kickerfish1]

3 hours ago, smallie.mike said:

Yeah I agree with all that. My point is polishing the friction points like the the inside of the pinion gear and spool shaft will do nothing to smooth out the retrieve. The spool shaft doesn't spin inside the pinion gear when the reel is engaged. Polishing the ends of the spool shaft may possibly help make the retrieve smoother  but I doubt it would actually make a noticeable difference.  In my experiences if the reel feels geary on the retrieve  it's almost always in need of a new gear set. 

The mention of a geary feel or needing a new set of gears was never mentioned by the OP. He just wants to make sure it is the smoothest and furthest casting reel he can get out of his Calais. Supertuning would absolutely help achieve that assuming nothing is damaged or worn. I know in the reels that I have had this do I can feel the difference.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

3 hours ago, Dan_the_fisher said:

I have it all took apart and I took a million pics to remember how it went together but I found a o-ring that I don't know where it came from. If anyone knows Much about the Calais could you help? It fell out when I took the side plate off of the drive side I'm pretty sure. I went ahead and put the whole reel back together for the night minus this o-ring, because my bearing should be here tommorow.

That's one one of the reasons I advised against diy on this specific model. That o ring is part of the two piece shaft that holds the side plate. Squeezing that assembly together enough to replace the c clip is a bear. I can't begin to explain how to accomplish it. 

[Zimobass]

5 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

That's one one of the reasons I advised against diy on this specific model. That o ring is part of the two piece shaft that holds the side plate. Squeezing that assembly together enough to replace the c clip is a bear. I can't begin to explain how to accomplish it. 

It is the most frustrating aspect of reassembling this reel. After years of frustration, Bantam1, the Shimano expert, suggested that it is best to leave it out ! Have had many reels come in for service that are missing that part, and they work just as good. Maybe a bit of "over engineering" 

[Maico1]

On March 1, 2016 at 6:26 PM, Dan_the_fisher said:

I just bought a used Shimano Calais, wondering what all I can do to make the reel the smoothest furthest casting reel possible? It's always been a dream to own one, know I want to make it as smooth as possible. I have abec 7 bearings coming for it with some of the boca oil, and a hawgtech 102mm handle. Are their any tricks to cleaning this reel to make it any better?

Could you please state what Model you have.....

[Dan_the_fisher]

1 hour ago, Maico1 said:

Could you please state what Model you have.....

200a

[Maico1]

Here is a link to the Schematic of the 200A.....Download Schematic PDF

[Maico1]

Between the Antares and Calais's I own 11 and they are not that hard to work on. Just take your time and be patient, that is the key providing you are mechanically inclined. The fact that you are taking the reel on is a good thing it gives you control over how it is maintained and a confidence in it while fishing with it. Feel free to PM with with any questions and I will try to help you out.... 

[Dan_the_fisher]

14 minutes ago, Maico1 said:

Between the Antares and Calais's I own 11 and they are not that hard to work on. Just take your time and be patient, that is the key providing you are mechanically inclined. The fact that you are taking the reel on is a good thing it gives you control over how it is maintained and a confidence in it while fishing with it. Feel free to PM with with any questions and I will try to help you out.... 

Thanks a lot, I like to think I'm somewhat good at this because I do similar things like this for a living. But it was interesting without a diagram, I took it apart twice yesterday and put it back together with not really any problems minus that o-ring.  Thanks for the diagram by the way. I'm still kinda lacking the silky smooth retrieve I was looking for, but I got a 35 sec freespool on it with the stock bearings so that part is under control. Maybe I need to remove the gears again today when I get the bearings to put in and do a good scrubbing in them with a toothbrush and buy some better grease sense I only have reel butter. My main concern now is if the handle I bought for the reel will fit it, hawgtech said it was made for this model reel

[Maico1]

You should not have a problem with the HT handle just make sure you have clearance of the spool tension knob after you apply the drag. There is a spacer include with that handle as well. Here is picture of one mounted on a 200 DC.....

[Dan_the_fisher]

That's a amazing looking reel, I got the Shimano style handles on mine 

[Dan_the_fisher]