Abu Garcia Black Max, The Lazarus Mission

[FishTank]

If you saw the pic of rod and reel I pulled from 20 feet deep, here is what it started out as and how it ended after 3-4 hours of cleaning, soaking and oiling/greasing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it works surprisingly well. It was a lot of work but in the end, I didn't replace any parts. The bearings are so so, the drag washers are some sort of plastic and the AR bearing after soaking in a ultrasonic cleaner with Simple Orange, works fine. This reel isn't a super smooth high dollar reel to start with but with some TLC it performs much better than I thought it would. It casts OK, it's pretty smooth and it brings in fish. I can see why people speak so highly of it.

[12poundbass]

Great reels! Glad to see you took the time to clean it and using it again.

[r83srock]

Awesome! Great to see it resurrected. I have a soft spot for the black max.

[papajoe222]

Congrats on a job well done. I,for one, wouldn't have put the time in to do it. 3-4 hours of work for a reel priced around $50 doesn't compute in my pea brain.  Now a $300 reel..... I'd send it off to DVT and let them do the work. Can you say lazy?

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Good job. Goes to show what can be done. Limiting exposure to the air once retrieved and resisting the urge to crank on it before cleaning greatly enhances the chances of success. 

[FishTank]

11 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Good job. Goes to show what can be done. Limiting exposure to the air once retrieved and resisting the urge to crank on it before cleaning greatly enhances the chances of success. 

 

Thanks. I set in a bucket when I got home and hosed it down. I let it soak over night and then I sprayed it down in the kitchen sink with my wife's heavy duty sink sprayer. I slowly started to chip away the gunk on the outside. Once cleaned I started to take it apart and sprayed the insides down. I used the Lucas reel cleaner on it and it sort of dissolved all the gunk. Then I used a dremel toll with a sponge polish tip to clean and remove the rust where I could. A few parts then went into an ultrasonic cleaner.  I couldn't believe how much gunk came out of the bearings.  Luckily most of the gunk you see in the pics above is a mix of a lot of grease, sand and mud.  For once, too much grease saved this reel.  Oil and grease and then reassembled, ready to fish. 

 

[GRiver]

Wow great job.

[BrianMDTX]

On 9/2/2024 at 9:11 PM, r83srock said:

Awesome! Great to see it resurrected. I have a soft spot for the black max.

I just used one of my Black Max’s last weekend for the first time in a while. I think it’s older as it has black vs. red reel handle grips. It’s actually a fun reel to use. It casts very far. Yeah, the drag is not a click drag. It’s not an aluminum frame. But it’s pretty darned good for the price. 
 

Nice work resurrecting a sunken reel! 

[Bigbox99]

8 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

I just used one of my Black Max’s last weekend for the first time in a while. I think it’s older as it has black vs. red reel handle grips. It’s actually a fun reel to use. It casts very far. Yeah, the drag is not a click drag. It’s not an aluminum frame. But it’s pretty darned good for the price. 
 

Nice work resurrecting a sunken reel! 

You can get reels with an aluminum frame and clicking drag for less than the price of a Black Max at Walmart.  I have two and have been shocked at how good they are for $40.

[VTFan]

Great job cleaning it up.  I found a Black Max on a Ugly Stik rod at work one day after we had lowered the lake level for some maintenance work.  It would have been in about 7 feet of water at full level.  I cleaned and lubed it up and it works pretty well.

[Bankbeater]

Good job @FishTank!  It looks like a brand new reel.

[Backroad Angler]

Very nice, fun little project I bet it was!

[MediumMouthBass]

Honestly, it probably wouldve worked without the cleaning.

Its amazing what this reel that costs $30 is capable of.

 

Before i got my nicer reels, i used one i bought used that i never cleaned for frogging in weeds.

Still havent cleaned it, and the bearings are dryer than the desert. Still keeps going.

Also the insides are filled with dried green slime. 

 

This post really makes me think about why i ever upgraded to more expensive reels, this will outlast them by decades...