Upgrades for cheaper reels

[Luke Barnes]

On 4/25/2021 at 1:03 AM, Hammer 4 said:

personally, I would polish the spool shaft on both ends. I do that to all my reels, it does help with casting some.

With something like a dremel?

[Luke Barnes]

Thanks for the advice and options. Thinking more its not that I couldn't go drop the money on a Revo SX or more Speed Spool LFS reels and rods to match, it's these work just fine for what I use them for and i want the experience. Plus the rods are just fine for what I use them for, and if I get new reels the bait monkey will demand new rods, which I dont need. 

 

Basically I would be doing it for experience of tearing them down and replacing parts and just for fun. I paint crankbaits, not because they are better paint jobs or better blanks, but its fun and adds my personal touch. 

[ThatZX14Fella]

My input is, if you're like me, and you like to try things just to see the difference they make, go for it. If you're looking for an actual increase in performance, buy a couple of higher end reels. The higher end reels will (probably) be better performance, even after a lot of work on the budget ones. However, there is that off chance that the budget reels can be made better for less. Kind of like an older car vs newer car. You can buy an old truck for $1,500, throw some mods at it, and walk a new truck for far less money, but you have many other issues that will still need to be resolved, if they can.

[Hammer 4]

4 hours ago, Luke Barnes said:

With something like a dremel?

Yup, I have a bunch of different polishing pads that I use to use for polishing frets on guitars.

Use a dab of fine DuPont polishing compound, works great.

[Bankc]

I was in a similar situation once.  I had an old Shimano B-100 mag from around 1990 that I liked and still used, but it was no where near as refined as my newer reels.  I didn't want to replace it because it had sentimental value to me (it was my first reel).  So I upgraded the only bearing it had, and replaced the spool bushings with ceramic bearings.  I also upgraded the drag to carbon fiber.  In the end, I discovered that the new bearings were louder, and maybe added a foot or two of distance.  And they didn't really make it any smoother.  Where talking about upgrading from bushings to high end bearings here, so you'd think there's be a huge difference.  But there wasn't.  The carbon fiber drag made it a bit smoother, but only a hair.

 

My point is, you can spend the money to upgrade these things, but in all likelihood, you're just sticking lipstick on a pig.  They are what they are.  And you either appreciate them for what they are, or you don't.  Now, I did do one thing that vastly improved the performance of that reel.  About a year before I upgraded anything, I broke that reel down, which seemed to be in good condition at the time, and I cleaned it up, really well.  I polished the spool shaft and anything else that made contact with a bushing.  Then I carefully reassembled it, using high quality lubricants.  That made a huge difference in it's performance!

 

The difference between a high grade bearing and a standard bearing (or even bushing) in a fishing reel is almost negligible.  Reels don't spin at 30,000 RPM's.  They're never subjected to the levels of stress that high end bearings have a chance to show their stuff.  However, the difference between a good quality drag and gear grease and some thin viscosity synthetic oil compared to the standard stuff they put in cheap reels is enormous!  The stuff they use at the factory is made for protecting the reels against extreme abuse, not for performance.  They greased it, intending the end user to be able to fish with it for a decade or more without ever opening it up.