Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5000

[ThatZX14Fella]

I have an Ambassadeur that's probably from the 1990's or early 2000's. It has bushings on the spool instead of bearings. Can I replace the bushings with bearings or am I stuck with what i have? I already have to order brakes for it, because both are missing. I'm just seeing if I can do a ceramic bearing upgrade, as well.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

If I remember correctly that bushing is an odd size. If you get the dimensions I’ll see what I have or can get. Worst case we can polish the spool shaft, pinion and bushings and free it up a lot. 

[ThatZX14Fella]

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

If I remember correctly that bushing is an odd size. If you get the dimensions I’ll see what I have or can get. Worst case we can polish the spool shaft, pinion and bushings and free it up a lot. 

I'll see if I can get calipers to measure the OD and ID. My dad should have a set laying around somewhere.

[Efishin]

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

If I remember correctly that bushing is an odd size. If you get the dimensions I’ll see what I have or can get. Worst case we can polish the spool shaft, pinion and bushings and free it up a lot. 

It is. Highly recommend DVT

[ThatZX14Fella]

I suppose the bushing is stuck. It doesnt seem to be budging.

[WRB]

Does the reel have spool adjustment knobs on both side plates?

This reel doesn't disengage the level wind from to spool when casting limiting what you can do to tune it. The 1st thing to check is the level wind pawl and worm gear for excessive wear. The reel does have good brass gears that can be lapped to smooth them. The reel came with a replacement end cap shims, spool brakes and lube kit if you can find the original box.

Tom

[ThatZX14Fella]

37 minutes ago, WRB said:

Does the reel have spool adjustment knobs on both side plates?

This reel doesn't disengage the level wind from to spool when casting limiting what you can do to tune it. The 1st thing to check is the level wind pawl and worm gear for excessive wear. The reel does have good brass gears that can be lapped to smooth them. The reel came with a replacement end cap shims, spool brakes and lube kit if you can find the original box.

Tom

It only has the one spool tension knob. I got it from a friend years ago and just now got to using it again, until I lost the second brake. I was just seeing if I could maybe upgrade to bearings to help it with casting. After I get the brakes sorted, or course. I'll probably buy a newer reel and retire this one in the near future. I just dont want to retire a good reel. I've been trying to use it for catfish, and I'm probably going to pick up an older model, used Steez soon for bass. My arsenal is lacking right now. I sold off all of my gear and haven't had the cash flow to rebuild. 

[WRB]

 I would clean it thoroughly and re lub it and call it good to go.

Tom

[ThatZX14Fella]

2 minutes ago, WRB said:

 I would clean it thoroughly aand re lub it and call it good to go.

Tom

That's probably what I'll end up doing. Get the brakes, and do a thorough cleaning. It should work good enough for catfish, at that point.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Did u ever mic the bushing  id like to know myself i have a odd bushing reel also 3x10x4 is to small and 4 x 10 x4 is to big

All i found inbetween was a 3.2x10x4

[ThatZX14Fella]

31 minutes ago, Maxximus Redneckus said:

Did u ever mic the bushing  id like to know myself i have a odd bushing reel also 3x10x4 is to small and 4 x 10 x4 is to big

All i found inbetween was a 3.2x10x4

The bushing seems to be stuck on the spool axle, so I dont think I'm going to be able to check it. I dont want to damage it or the axle trying to get it off.

[WRB]

Measure the OD and spool shaft for the ID, the thickness shouldn't be difficult to measure.

We fished Abu Ambassaduers for decades successfully without bearings. The drags need to be changed to aftermarket and if the gearing isn't smooth needs to be polished. We used to fill the gears with Colgate white tooth paste and run the drive shaft using a electric drill motor to polish the gears, works good. Clean the reel with acetone, rinse with alcohol and use CLP Break Free for lub oil with Garcia gear grease. Good casting reel just no anti reverse bearing and slow gear ratio.

If the reel was pre 90's it may have value for parts to reel rebuilders.

Tom

[ThatZX14Fella]

7 hours ago, WRB said:

Measure the OD and spool shaft for the ID, the thickness shouldn't be difficult to measure.

We fished Abu Ambassaduers for decades successfully without bearings. The drags need to be changed to aftermarket and if the gearing isn't smooth needs to be polished. We used to fill the gears with Colgate white tooth paste and run the drive shaft using a electric drill motor to polish the gears, works good. Clean the reel with acetone, rinse with alcohol and use CLP Break Free for lub oil with Garcia gear grease. Good casting reel just no anti reverse bearing and slow gear ratio.

If the reel was pre 90's it may have value for parts to reel rebuilders.

Tom

It still casts great with the bushing. I just was curious to see if I could get a bearing as replacement. I figured it'd be a nice upgrade. I'll be buying an ultrasonic cleaner in the next week or so to clean the parts easier. I'll have to give the drill a shot. Do you put a piece of paper towel over the shaft or something to keep from damaging the threads?

[WRB]

You don't need a sonic cleaner to clean this reel, simply soak the parts in acetone and brush off using a tooth brush. Repete if necessary.

The handle crank nut is 8mm with 10mm hex cap nut. Remove the handle, replace the cap nut and use a 10mm socket drive, doesn't take any force to spin the gear set.

We have a member on BR who collects Ambassaduer reels and rebuilds them, try Searching or maybe someone recalls the member, Oldschoolbasser? DVT services reels.

Tom

[Ogandrews]

11 hours ago, WRB said:

Measure the OD and spool shaft for the ID, the thickness shouldn't be difficult to measure.

We fished Abu Ambassaduers for decades successfully without bearings. The drags need to be changed to aftermarket and if the gearing isn't smooth needs to be polished. We used to fill the gears with Colgate white tooth paste and run the drive shaft using a electric drill motor to polish the gears, works good. Clean the reel with acetone, rinse with alcohol and use CLP Break Free for lub oil with Garcia gear grease. Good casting reel just no anti reverse bearing and slow gear ratio.

If the reel was pre 90's it may have value for parts to reel rebuilders.

Tom

That’s awesome I’ve never thought of using toothpaste to clean a reel. I’m sure it worked, it’s made to clean already

[ThatZX14Fella]

I ended up buying a bunch of stuff to fix it up to its former glory. I got a power handle, because I'll be using it for catfishing, as well as bass. I got the main gear, pinion gear, spool axle, wormgear, line guide pawl, and a drag washer (I noticed i was missing one when looking at the schematics). Hopefully she'll be like new again.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Hopefully you got a Carbontex drag and not oem. You can pitch the brake tabs. These reels don’t spin that fast under the best of circumstances. 

[ThatZX14Fella]

57 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Hopefully you got a Carbontex drag and not oem. You can pitch the brake tabs. These reels don’t spin that fast under the best of circumstances. 

I got the OEM. I didnt think about Carbontex. It'll be used for catfishing and bass fishing, so I'm mainly trying to get it back to worth fishing with for now. I may upgrade to Carbontex later on.

[frogflogger]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:30 PM, Slipknot_Fan666 said:

That's probably what I'll end up doing. Get the brakes, and do a thorough cleaning. It should work good enough for catfish, at that point.

I have a 5000 I scraped money together to buy in the late 60's. I put bearings in it later (had to sand shaft down some) I use it for s-wavers - casts them a mile and has strong gears. That said I wouldn't put bearings in (it didn't increase casting distance) I would just give it a real good cleaning and fish with it for whatever.

[redmeansdistortion]

Is this the newer (90s to early 00s) 5000 with the palming side plate?  If so, the 4x10x4 bearings are a direct swap for the spool bushings.  If it's the older style (late 50s to early 80s) with the dual spool tension knobs, Boca makes a set of bearings to replace the bushings, but additional machine work is required on the spool shaft ends for them to work properly.  If you can provide a pic it would give us a far better idea of what's needed.

[ThatZX14Fella]

On 4/17/2020 at 6:20 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

Is this the newer (90s to early 00s) 5000 with the palming side plate?  If so, the 4x10x4 bearings are a direct swap for the spool bushings.  If it's the older style (late 50s to early 80s) with the dual spool tension knobs, Boca makes a set of bearings to replace the bushings, but additional machine work is required on the spool shaft ends for them to work properly.  If you can provide a pic it would give us a far better idea of what's needed.

It is the newer model. It only has one spool tension knob. I ended up having to help someone with some money, so I'm on the fence about spending the extra money for a bearing swap now. I'm trying to save as much as possible to be able to pay my bills. 

[redmeansdistortion]

21 hours ago, Slipknot_Fan666 said:

It is the newer model. It only has one spool tension knob. I ended up having to help someone with some money, so I'm on the fence about spending the extra money for a bearing swap now. I'm trying to save as much as possible to be able to pay my bills. 

You don't need any fancy bearings with these reels.  The OEM 4x10x4 bearings used in models such as the 5500 C3 work plenty good.  They usually run somewhere around $6 each depending on where you get them.

[Yralwazfishin]

Just a guest here was very interested in this reel myself as I have one. The bottom of the reel is stamped 090112 34  after the first four numbers ‘0901’  The numbers 12 indicate it was made in 2012. This said I just spoke with a popular Texas shop and have determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that a full bearing upgrade is available I will make a proper profile and put up some pics in a few days

[redmeansdistortion]

12 hours ago, Yralwazfishin said:

Just a guest here was very interested in this reel myself as I have one. The bottom of the reel is stamped 090112 34  after the first four numbers ‘0901’  The numbers 12 indicate it was made in 2012. This said I just spoke with a popular Texas shop and have determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that a full bearing upgrade is available I will make a proper profile and put up some pics in a few days

You will want to swap out the Teflon drags for Carbontex as well.  The newer red 5000 is nearly the same as a 5500 C3, except it uses spool bushings, a bushing level wind, and a Teflon graphite drag.  Other than those small differences, everything between them will completely swap over.  Post early 90s 4000/5000/6000 size Ambassadeurs are very modular, parts from one model will work in another.  Spools, bearings, line guides, side plates, frames, brake plates, gears, handles, and star wheels are all direct swaps.  It's like Barbie for fishermen.

 

Here's a build I did for a customer of mine, this reel started life exactly like your 5000.  Now it has two spool bearings, a chromed brass frame from an early 5500C, lightweight spool from a newer 5500C3, stainless gears from a 6500HCL, and an older style new production line guide from Simon Shimomura.  She uses it fishing for king salmon.