SLX Bearing upgrade

[Chaos10691]

Thinking of ordering the full tune kit from spoolspeed.com for the SLX. The reel is a few years old so I figured it was time to invest in upgrading. I already upgraded my drag to carbontex so I figured I'd hit the bearings while I'm at it. Has anyone used the bearings from this particular site? And if so how much of a difference does it make?

[Deleted account]

18 hours ago, Chaos10691 said:

how much of a difference does it make?

1000%

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Unless your bearings have been neglected to the point of damage, flushing and proper (light) lubrication e will do almost as much as new bearings. I’m not familiar with that specific kit but if you’re going to upgrade bearings, I recommend ceramic hybrid run dry. 

[garroyo130]

Their website lists the bearings as ... ABEC 9??? 

[MiceNReets]

I used to have abec 7 bearings in my Okuma Helios and I could launch a frog far with that reel.   Scott from spoolspeed sent me a set of bearings for my Helios and they would bomb those frogs and spool me out every time.  They ran very fast as well and has to set up my reel all over again.  I was satisfied with them though.   But as mentioned.  A proper maintence on your current bearings will help.  

[GRiver]

I upgraded from stock bearing in a 10 yr old bass pro extreme, I upgraded to ABEC 7 , it made a world of difference. 

[Chaos10691]

1 hour ago, MiceNReets said:

I used to have abec 7 bearings in my Okuma Helios and I could launch a frog far with that reel.   Scott from spoolspeed sent me a set of bearings for my Helios and they would bomb those frogs and spool me out every time.  They ran very fast as well and has to set up my reel all over again.  I was satisfied with them though.   But as mentioned.  A proper maintence on your current bearings will help.  

I maintain them pretty well I just figured that after a few years it might be time to replace the bushings with actual bearings. But that was what I was looking for was farther casts.

[Bigassbass]

I've read opinions about this till I'm worn out, but the engineers and experts in ball bearings seem to agree you get smoother turns and wear in most anything mechanical using bearings, but you have to maintain them.  Reel makers put bushings in reels because most people won't service their reels and of course it's cheaper.  Bushing filled with a big gob of grease will last a long time, bearings with fine oil will out spin bushings any day!  I've replaced the spool and worm gear bearing in my 2500 Ci4 Shamano and I think there is a big difference.  Some opinions online are you would never know the difference in bearings or bushing but I don't believe that is true.  I bought my bearings from Boca Bearing, they are expensive but not as much as a new reel. 

[FishTank]

I would pass on this site and stick with either Boca, Hedgehog, or ZPI..... But putting $30-$50 into a $100 reel for two bearings, not sure about the return on investment here.   On a side note, Boca has 25% off for their 4th of July sale. 

 

And like DVT said a good cleaning and relube can make a world of difference. 

[Chaos10691]

27 minutes ago, FishTank said:

I would pass on this site and stick with either Boca, Hedgehog, or ZPI..... But putting $30-$50 into a $100 reel for two bearings, not sure about the return on investment here.   On a side note, Boca has 25% off for their 4th of July sale. 

 

And like DVT said a good cleaning and relube can make a world of difference. 

It’s 50 to replace the 3 standard bearings and replace the 2 bushings with ball bearings

[FishTank]

5 minutes ago, Chaos10691 said:

It’s 50 to replace the 3 standard bearings and replace the 2 bushings with ball bearings

 

Sorry I should have been more specific.  I was thinking if you did the high end Hedgehog HD Air spool bearing or the like.   It just seemed like a lot for a reel that was $100 to start with but if it improves it vastly then it may be worth it.  The SLX I tried from another fellow fisherman was pretty good as is and it had been fished hard for at least a year.  I thought it was probably the best $100 reel I had ever tried.  

[JustJames]

I don’t use that brand but I upgrade some of my reels with Orange Shield ceramic bearing. Worth it, absolutely NOT for regular fishing. The distance is not far behind with proper maintenance stock bearing, accuracy is about the same in well train thumb. 
But if those 50 bucks would boost your confidence to be a better fishing man or to catch more fish why not?

[Deleted account]

4 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

Their website lists the bearings as ... ABEC 9??? 

300% better than ABEC 3...

[Chaos10691]

46 minutes ago, FishTank said:

 

Sorry I should have been more specific.  I was thinking if you did the high end Hedgehog HD Air spool bearing or the like.   It just seemed like a lot for a reel that was $100 to start with but if it improves it vastly then it may be worth it.  The SLX I tried from another fellow fisherman was pretty good as is and it had been fished hard for at least a year.  I thought it was probably the best $100 reel I had ever tried.  

I’ve been pretty tough on mine and I’m not having any issues with it. I just wanted to see how much of a difference it would make upgrading it a bit.

31 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

I don’t use that brand but I upgrade some of my reels with Orange Shield ceramic bearing. Worth it, absolutely NOT for regular fishing. The distance is not far behind with proper maintenance stock bearing, accuracy is about the same in well train thumb. 
But if those 50 bucks would boost your confidence to be a better fishing man or to catch more fish why not?

More just wanna see how good they do. If it’s not a noticeable difference I’ll know for the future to not really mess with it. That being said do you need to oil ball bearings?

[FishTank]

1 minute ago, Chaos10691 said:

I’ve been pretty tough on mine and I’m not having any issues with it. I just wanted to see how much of a difference it would make upgrading it a bit.

 

Sounds good.  

 

I have upgraded several over the years and it comes down to personal preference.  For me, I have have found I like the ABEC 7 ceramic metal shielded bearings from Boca but the ABEC 5 ceramic bearings are much cheaper and are only marginally less in speed than the 7's.   Also, I wouldn't get caught up in the ABEC rating.  I would consider the source the bearings are coming from more important. 

 

[Bankc]

Do you use the spool tension knob at all?  Because if you do, then your current bearings are already providing less friction than you can handle.  Upgrading bearings from there will only result in having to apply more spool tension.  

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

1 hour ago, BassWhole! said:

300% better than ABEC 3...

You’re kidding right?

[Deleted account]

9 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

You’re kidding right?

It might be more? Let me check my math...  

[bulldog1935]

we repeat this same thread every few weeks.  

The two sides are

1)  keep factory shielded bearings, clean and re-lube them.  

2)  use unshielded low-inertia spool bearings, and add your own performance oil as needed.  

Both sides report excellent results with their preference, and no benefit to the other side's approach.  

I'm quite sure this trend will continue.  

 

FWIW, Daiwa has compromised with low-inertia shelded micro bearings on all their higher grade spools.  

 

[redmeansdistortion]

7 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

we repeat this same thread every few weeks.  

The two sides are

1)  keep factory shielded bearings, clean and re-lube them.  

2)  use unshielded low-inertia spool bearings, and add your own performance oil as needed.  

Both sides report excellent results with their preference, and no benefit to the other side's approach.  

I'm quite sure this trend will continue.  

 

FWIW, Daiwa has compromised with low-inertia shelded bearings on all their higher grade spools.  

 

Is it possible to fit in both camps?  If I'm running regular bearings I do what many here do, just clean and lube the factory parts.  That said, when it comes to finesse reels, I'll go with micro bearings like Daiwa and Shimano do with their BFS reels.  

[bulldog1935]

But you can see in new Zillion and Steez, Daiwa is also doing it in deep 1016 size, which is definitely not BFS.  However, the bearing improvement should improve this spool performance at the light end.  

The benefits of reducing spool inertia occur controlling both start-up and mid-cast wind backlash, and improved distance.  

 

There's no reason to write off anyone's good result.  

The OP asked about spool bearing upgrades, and he hasn't received much support for his question.  

[redmeansdistortion]

1 minute ago, bulldog1935 said:

But you can see in new Zillion and Steez, Daiwa is also doing it in deep 1016 size, which is definitely not BFS.  However, the bearing improvement should improve the reel performance at the light end.  

The benefits of reducing spool inertia occur both controlling start-up and mid-cast wind backlash, and improved distance.  

I was kind of surprised the SV700S spool for the Millionaire/Steez/Alphas CT platform didn't come with a micro bearing.  I ended up with a set of Roro bearings and they definitely made the spool more manageable for me.

[JustJames]

I don’t think the new zillion come with micro bearing. That just regular bearing in sleeve/housing which Daiwa require for fitting. The reel that come with micro bearing stock was Alphas Air. 
BTW I did give an honest opinion on upgrade or not upgrade. I choose to use regular fishing because I don’t think a lot  crazy like me using baitcaster with unweighted 3” Ned worm or pitch weightless baby maniac. 
his reel SLX is not built for those kind of task anyway. 
This was way before I started using shallow spool.

 

 

[bulldog1935]

On 7/4/2021 at 8:42 AM, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

I don’t think the new zillion come with micro bearing. That just regular bearing in sleeve/housing which Daiwa require for fitting. The reel that come with micro bearing stock was Alphas Air. 

Not so, I have a new Steez SV TW 1016 and a 21 Zillion SV TW 1000, and both came with SLP Works micro bearings in the spool and palm plate.  

     

 

@Chaos10691 Below is my Super Duty - Very Similar to your reel and probably the same bearing sizes - the unshielded micro bearings are Hedgehog Air Ceramic HD, which have salt-proof races.  They make a notable difference in the performance of my reel. 

You don't need to replace the spindle cap bearing.  I had my spindle cap removed, spun the spool and noted that bearing did not spin.  The spindle-cap bearing only turns under pinion gear load.  You will need a pin tool to replace the spool bearing.  The simple Hedgehog/Billings type will work on this spool.  Rorolures is another good place for bearings, and their pin tool works on every spool, and is a very good buy.  

[00bullitt]

16 hours ago, Bankc said:

Do you use the spool tension knob at all?  Because if you do, then your current bearings are already providing less friction than you can handle.  Upgrading bearings from there will only result in having to apply more spool tension.  

BINGO!!! But spool tension is directly related to lure weight. Less spool tension needed for lighter lures and vice versa. The big benefit to me is when the lure can accelerate fast enough to stay in sync with the release of the line from the spool. I upgraded to Boca's for my frog rod and jerkbait/finesse baitcast rod. Very noticable difference! I could skip a Spro popping from about 70' before and now I can skip a dock and come out the other side at the bank 100' away....AND without loose line on the spool. Same principal as the BFS reel principle.

I did not see as much gain on my deep crank rod that is 8' long throwing 1oz. plugs. It does feel smoother though.