onenutinthewater Posted September 28, 2018 Posted September 28, 2018 Purchased this thing last year and really enjoyed it but now it feels quite "geary"- Not sure if it always felt this way or i have just become extremely critical lately- I have 15+ other casting reels and none of them feel like this. I can actually feel the fine teeth and even hear them upon retrieval. I have torn it down twice and cleaned the heck out of it before relubing. Added the spool clicker last winter but quite sure that has nothing to do with it. When the spool is out the reel is smooth as silk but not so when it is in. Have I lost my mind?
tholmes Posted September 28, 2018 Posted September 28, 2018 It could be a bad bearing. When a bearing goes south from , it can feel "geary". Pull them out and spin test each one, clean or replace any that feel rough. Tom
Super User JustJames Posted September 28, 2018 Super User Posted September 28, 2018 Check x-ship bearing, I'm not sure the one support pinion gear or the one support the shaft. I have talked to Shimano regarding this geary issue, and their response was those bearing need replacement frequently. Have you flush clean those bearing? 1
Super User FishTank Posted September 28, 2018 Super User Posted September 28, 2018 5 hours ago, JustJames said: Check x-ship bearing, I'm not sure the one support pinion gear or the one support the shaft. I have talked to Shimano regarding this geary issue, and their response was those bearing need replacement frequently. Have you flush clean those bearing? +1
onenutinthewater Posted September 29, 2018 Author Posted September 29, 2018 3 hours ago, FishTank said: +1 No & no. Thanks guys I will look into it. Or send it off...........
Delaware Valley Tackle Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 What you have there is normal for a modern light weight reel once they free up. No way you wore out a gear set already and that pinion bearing thing is just a stab in the dark. Been down this road a hundred times last few yrs. email me and give you a couple ideas to minimize the effect. 1
Super User iabass8 Posted September 29, 2018 Super User Posted September 29, 2018 Although unlikely you wore out the gear set after a year, it's possible you stopped a cast early, thumb bar came up, etc and created a bur on the gears. What you sound like you are experiencing is the "MGL gear buzz" that is the biggest complaint of the Met MGL. The fix for this was putting the Curado K gears in the Met MGL and the reel went from people's least favorite to the "smoothest reel ever". I'm not sure if the Curado K gears fit the Chronarch MGL. Buzz gears/bad gears will be more prominent in an MGL reel as the frame isn't aluminium. Whenever I'm either fixing my reels or others, gears are always the last resort. There's a lot of smaller, though tedious but cheaper, things to try first in this order: Break the entire reel down and clean it. Relube it correctly. All frame and spool bearings flushed and relubed correctly. Check for any back play/missing pieces in the AR bearing. Check drag stack. If you get a used reel and it's buzzing, previous users sometimes don't put the drag stack back together correctly or put the wrong size key washer in. Drag stacks have to be in correctly. These reels have a set tolerance and missing one will cause the gears not to align correctly. Replace all the frame/spool bearings. You can replace one by one but in my experience it's annoying if you find 1 bad frame bearing this early. I just replace them all as I have lots of spares. Replace gears IN A SET. don't just do 1. Most of them time when the reel is butter smooth without a spool and then you put the spool in or a load on the reel, it's the gears. Sometimes it's the pinion bearing but it's most of the time been bad gears in my experience.
onenutinthewater Posted September 29, 2018 Author Posted September 29, 2018 14 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said: What you have there is normal for a modern light weight reel once they free up. No way you wore out a gear set already and that pinion bearing thing is just a stab in the dark. Been down this road a hundred times last few yrs. email me and give you a couple ideas to minimize the effect. Done- thanks for the offer
onenutinthewater Posted September 29, 2018 Author Posted September 29, 2018 2 hours ago, iabass8 said: Although unlikely you wore out the gear set after a year, it's possible you stopped a cast early, thumb bar came up, etc and created a bur on the gears. What you sound like you are experiencing is the "MGL gear buzz" that is the biggest complaint of the Met MGL. The fix for this was putting the Curado K gears in the Met MGL and the reel went from people's least favorite to the "smoothest reel ever". I'm not sure if the Curado K gears fit the Chronarch MGL. Buzz gears/bad gears will be more prominent in an MGL reel as the frame isn't aluminium. Whenever I'm either fixing my reels or others, gears are always the last resort. There's a lot of smaller, though tedious but cheaper, things to try first in this order: Break the entire reel down and clean it. Relube it correctly. All frame and spool bearings flushed and relubed correctly. Check for any back play/missing pieces in the AR bearing. Check drag stack. If you get a used reel and it's buzzing, previous users sometimes don't put the drag stack back together correctly or put the wrong size key washer in. Drag stacks have to be in correctly. These reels have a set tolerance and missing one will cause the gears not to align correctly. Replace all the frame/spool bearings. You can replace one by one but in my experience it's annoying if you find 1 bad frame bearing this early. I just replace them all as I have lots of spares. Replace gears IN A SET. don't just do 1. Most of them time when the reel is butter smooth without a spool and then you put the spool in or a load on the reel, it's the gears. Sometimes it's the pinion bearing but it's most of the time been bad gears in my experience. I have altered the drag stack when i added the spool clicker kit from Oleg. I did not notice it at the time but today I will remove it and replace with the original internals to see if that was it. I have not used the reel since winter steelhead season ended in march so dont recall it feeling so rough 6 months ago. I do have 2 other micro module reels- calcutta conquest bfs and the bantam mgl and they are both liquid smooth.
Super User iabass8 Posted September 29, 2018 Super User Posted September 29, 2018 4 hours ago, onenutinthewater said: I have altered the drag stack when i added the spool clicker kit from Oleg. I did not notice it at the time but today I will remove it and replace with the original internals to see if that was it. I have not used the reel since winter steelhead season ended in march so dont recall it feeling so rough 6 months ago. I do have 2 other micro module reels- calcutta conquest bfs and the bantam mgl and they are both liquid smooth. I dont remember how thick his clicking drag is but try and take out one of the drag key washers thats the same thickness and see if that works.
OnthePotomac Posted October 2, 2018 Posted October 2, 2018 Shimano also recommends really heavy grease on those micro gears to hold down the "geary" feeling. Their ACT 2 drag grease, or Cal's drag grease will work. Could be all you need. 1
onenutinthewater Posted October 3, 2018 Author Posted October 3, 2018 I removed the entire drag clicker and it did seem to be smoother- perhaps the weight of the kit had some affect? I give up! On its way across the country..............
onenutinthewater Posted July 17, 2019 Author Posted July 17, 2019 Just to follow up I sent the reel back to Shimano. They replaced the main and pinion and it is now smooth as silk. Will see how long it lasts this winter during steel head season.
The Maestro Posted July 17, 2019 Posted July 17, 2019 On 9/29/2018 at 9:25 AM, iabass8 said: MGL. Buzz gears/bad gears will be more prominent in an MGL reel as the frame isn't aluminium. I hate to be "that guy" but the MGL stands for Magnumlite spool. It has nothing to do with the frame material. You are right in that the Met MGL is not made out of aluminum but rather magnesium and the Chronarch MGL is made out of Ci4.
Super User iabass8 Posted July 17, 2019 Super User Posted July 17, 2019 2 hours ago, The Maestro said: I hate to be "that guy" but the MGL stands for Magnumlite spool. It has nothing to do with the frame material. You are right in that the Met MGL is not made out of aluminum but rather magnesium and the Chronarch MGL is made out of Ci4. You're just " that guy" that responds to posts that are almost a year old. The MGL reels prior to the bantam (most met, some chronarch) had/have a widespread and notorious gear issue that is called "The MGL gear Buzz" for short as the reels that have the issue have the MGL spool. "The MGL reels" would have been more clear apparently than "An MGL reel".
Super User J Francho Posted July 17, 2019 Super User Posted July 17, 2019 Put them away, boys. Looks like the OP got a resolution. 1
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