Old School TD Fuego Brake Issue

[FrnkNsteen]

Hi guys,... Got a brake question for the reel gurus on here.

 

I recently bought an old school Team Daiwa Fuego (The old TDZ style ones that are red and silver) and it's in really nice shape. Tore it down to check the insides and everything looks great. It reels smooth and the spool is very free.

 

One strange thing though. It's like the brakes aren't working and even on max brake setting of 10, it's almost unmanageable. Far more so than the other TDZ, TDX and Fuegos I have from the same era.

 

I looked inside the side cover and the magnets seem to be installed correctly with the lines on the two magnets aligned when set at max setting. Could the inductor be sticky and not extending correctly at high spool speeds at beginning of cast?

 

I'm going to pull the spool out if one of my other Fuegos to try to narrow down the spool as root cause, but thought I ask the experts while I do.

[WRB]

The early TD Fuego had a flaw with the braking and Daiwa sent out a notice to replace the part. I Don’t remember the details now but it’s a simple fix!

Tom

[FrnkNsteen]

10 minutes ago, WRB said:

The early TD Fuego had a flaw with the braking and Daiwa sent out a notice to replace the part. I Don’t remember the details now but it’s a simple fix!

Tom

Thanks Tom,... I will look into that.

 

I went to swap spools from one of the other Fuegos I have,... not even thinking those are RH hand and the one I am dealing with is a LH ?. I actually got as far as setting the spool in before I realized the line was spooled the opposite direction ?.

 

While I had the spools out and could compare them, I checked out the inductors on each and it does seem like the inductor is a little sticky and harder to pull out than the others. I sprayed it with a little cleaner and it seemed to free up a little. I have it sitting to dry out a bit and will try it again.

[WRB]

Contact Daiwa directly it’s easier them searching.

Tom

[FrnkNsteen]

Cleaning the inductor and shaft seemed to help as it is casting more normally now and the spool is much more manageable. Brakes seem to be working normally now.

 

Hindsite being 20/20,... Probably wasn't very bright to hit it with a little brake cleaner as I remembered after the fact that there are plastic parts in that inductor assembly. i think I got lucky though as it seems to be fine. In the future, I will pull it apart and clean more carefully.

[ska4fun]

21 hours ago, FrnkNsteen said:

Hi guys,... Got a brake question for the reel gurus on here.

 

I recently bought an old school Team Daiwa Fuego (The old TDZ style ones that are red and silver) and it's in really nice shape. Tore it down to check the insides and everything looks great. It reels smooth and the spool is very free.

 

One strange thing though. It's like the brakes aren't working and even on max brake setting of 10, it's almost unmanageable. Far more so than the other TDZ, TDX and Fuegos I have from the same era.

 

I looked inside the side cover and the magnets seem to be installed correctly with the lines on the two magnets aligned when set at max setting. Could the inductor be sticky and not extending correctly at high spool speeds at beginning of cast?

 

I'm going to pull the spool out if one of my other Fuegos to try to narrow down the spool as root cause, but thought I ask the experts while I do.

Check the spool inductor cup spring.

[WRB]

A friend of mine gave me his TD Fuego because he couldn’t consistently cast it without a backlash. 
I took the reel to a good reel tech and he told me about the recall and had the part to fix it.

Tried to convince Bob the reel works great now but he wanted me to keep it.

Good reel!

If your TD Fuego is defective you will fight it no matter how well it’s cleaned.

Tom

[FrnkNsteen]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

A friend of mine gave me his TD Fuego because he couldn’t consistently cast it without a backlash. 
I took the reel to a good reel tech and he told me about the recall and had the part to fix it.

Tried to convince Bob the reel works great now but he wanted me to keep it.

Good reel!

If your TD Fuego is defective you will fight it no matter how well it’s cleaned.

Tom

I do like them....

 

I made the mistake of buying a couple old Team Daiwa reels (a TDZ 103HL pitching reel and a TDS 103HVLA) since then I kind of went down the rabbit hole on various older Team Daiwa reels including some more TDZ 103's and a few old Fuegos.

 

They were some good reels I couldn't afford back then! .... and would have a hard time justifying today!!

 

$230 for a Fuego or $350 for a TDZ is quite a bit of money for a reel today. In '98 - '04 it was beyond reason!!! ?

[Jrob78]

I bought a couple when TW closed them out. Still one of my all time favorite reels. I should update mine with a new dragstar and handle and get it back in the starting line up.

[new2BC4bass]

3 hours ago, Jrob78 said:

I bought a couple when TW closed them out. Still one of my all time favorite reels. I should update mine with a new dragstar and handle and get it back in the starting line up.

So did I.  And third one a few years later.

 

OP:  I know nothing about cleaning/repairing reels.  Send mine out.  I purchased a used Pixy Airy Red a few years ago that came with a couple washers missing.  May not be your problem, but possibly worth while to check reel parts against a schematic.  My reel didn't have the same problem as yours.  I couldn't spool line on it with the drag tightened down as far as possible.