To upgrade my reels

[BassBandit35]

Do any of you upgrade a better quality bearing in your reel?

I have 2 of Quantum Energy E750PT for deep cranking. Not that its anything wrong with the original bearing but have thought about upgrading it to something like a ceramic bearing so it will last longer and get better feel and longer cast distance.

The problem is, there are many different size of bearing that I don't know which size will fit in those reels.

Edit: BTW, I found this site that carries bearing for all kinds of reel.

http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/CTGY/Fishing-Reel-Bearings

[Raul]

Do any of you upgrade a better quality bearing in your reel?

No, I like them like as they come out of the box.

[J Francho]

Yes.  There are many sizes, and most places have "bearing kits" for each specific reel.  I'm pretty sure Reel Mechanic sells them and he a sponsor here.  Remember that with an upgrade to ceramic ABEC 5 or 7, you'll want to upgrade the oil you use.  Opinions vary, but I prefer TG Rocket Fuel Yellow for this.

[roadwarrior]

I've never needed to upgrade, but I fish Shimano.

8-)

[BassBandit35]

Well, my main purpose of this thread is, how do I know what size to choose?

Forget the question if you upgrade your reel lol.

[J Francho]

Like I said, they have kits for each specific reel.  take a look at this manu's site: http://www.bocabearings.com/main1.aspx?p=quicksearchkit&cat=5

[BassBandit35]

Thanks. Have seen it before but on there its very limited. Only have 2 option for Quantum compare to hundreds for Shimano. Now RW, don't get me started

[Raul]

Only have 2 option for Quantum compare to hundreds for Shimano.

Well, what were you expecting ? there 's tons of stuff to upgrade Shimanos and Daiwas ....... I wonder why there aren 't many to upgrade Quantums.

I don 't think that trying to improve perfection applies to the case of Quantums.

[BassBandit35]

Only have 2 option for Quantum compare to hundreds for Shimano.

Well, what were you expecting ? there 's tons of stuff to upgrade Shimanos and Daiwas ....... I wonder why there aren 't many to upgrade Quantums.

Ah, I suppose there is something wrong with other brands but Quantum ;D No need to upgrade Quantum, obviously  :-X I'm joking.

[.ghoti.]

Take it from, I've been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Reel mechanic will tell you he doesn't have "upgrade" bearings for PT reels. He will tell you to look up Boca bearings. I did that, got some ABEC 7's in the corrrect size and found that there was little difference. Certainly not worth the 30 bucks I spent finding out.

The original PT bearings are a ceramic/stainless hybrid bearing. Hard to find something much better.

I'll give you two things to do that will make a difference.

1. get rid of the hot sauce, and buy some Ardent Reel Butter grease and oil. It takes a lot of soaking and scrubbing to completely remove all the hot sauce, but the time and effort is worth  the trouble.

2. While you have the rest of the parts soaking, remove part labeled 1H on the schematic. That is the brake race, or drum, if you prefer. Don't let the springs (1J) fly away when you remove the screws (1K).

Now get out your trusty Dremel tool, install a felt polishing wheel, apply some polishing compound (jeweler's rouge), and polish the inside of the race.

I use a felt wheel about 1/8" thick and about the diameter of a nickel. Apply the rouge sparingly and often. It's much neater if you work inside a ziploc bag. the rouge tends to fly off if you apply too much. Wear glasses, of course. You don't want that stuff in your eyes.

Work your way around the race slowly, with moderate pressure applied. The race will get warm. I keep a wet paper towel handy to use as a heat sink. Wrap the race up in the wet towel when it becomes too warm to handle. Dry it off, apply more rouge to the felt wheel and keep going. It will take about 45 minutes to get a mirror-like surface on the race.

What you will have accomplished is to remove any minor surface irregularities. The brake weights now have a much more even surface to travel on. This will make braking smoother and more consistent, and will eliminate some of that annoying whine that these reels exhibit. You will also get a wider, useable range of adjustment from the ACS system.

Clean it up with a toothbrush and hot soapy water. You have to get all the rouge out. It will be everywhere.

While you still have the Dremel out, polish the ends of the spool shaft. This only takes about 5 minutes on each end. Also polish the surface of the long shaft ; the part of the shaft that rides inside the pinion gear.

You can get creative, and make a tool to polish the inside of the pinion gear, if you like. Turn down a piece of dowel using your Dremel, and some fine sandpaper until it just fits the inside of the gear. Rub  a little rouge into the dowel and carefully polish the inside of the gear. You have to be very steady and absolutely straight if you do this. Don't do it if you're unsure of your ability to keep the dowel centered.

Again, clean it up completely. You do not want any of the polishing compound in your reel.

One last step. squirt a bit of silicone spray in a samll container. A big shot glass works nicely. You want to soak the end of the spool that has the centrifugal weights. Swirl it around a bunch to clean it all out. there will be some errant hot sauce in the guts of the weight mechanism. Change the fluid and spin it around until no more gunk comes out. let it dry.

Now finish cleaning and re-lubing, and put it all back together. Grease goes only on the gears. Apply it with a stiff brush, or an old toothbrush. Work the grease deep into the teeth of the gears. More is not better if it doesn't totally coat the entire face of each gear tooth. remove all excess grease.

Oil for everything else, included the levelwind gear and pawl. I use another old soft toothbrush to lube the levelwind shaft.

One last tip. Be careful during the first few casts with your "tuned" reel. You will not be accustomed to the way it now performs.

Cheers,

GK

ps, the polishing tip can ne used on any reel with centrifugal braking. Try it. You won't be disappointed, and may even be impressed with yourself.

[BassBandit35]

Thanks for the tip, ghoti.

The instruction you listed sure look similar to what I have in my bookmark.

http://super-tuning.home.mindspring.com/i1.html

I'll give it a shot.

[lubina]

Very good post Ghoti. I don't do every thing you said or in the same way but I found it very informative.

Thanks

[.ghoti.]

BassBandit35, that is an excellent article. thanks. i have it bookmarked now.

[Catt]

I've never needed to upgrade, but I fish Shimano.

8-)

How do you upgrade from #1  

[ddigit]

That's a good article. What RM showed me was using the old style wooden shaft q-tips and BRASSO. Cut one end of the Q-tip off, place it in the dremel, then wet the q-tip with brasso.

Now at a slow rotation run the q-tip around the brake race then let it sit for a few minuets or until hazy. Now using a clean dry q-tip and high speed polish the brake race, to a shine.

Using the brasso there is very little in the way of residue left over to have to clean up, also using the Q-tip there was no need to remove the brake races from the reels.

Basically all you are doing is removing the tarnish from any and all free spool friction points.

The other point that Nielsen makes in the article is that super tuning at the time of the article was written it was a way to make the OLDER reels perform like the newer super frees and higher end reels without having to pay the prices for reels today....

This is something RM does to each reel automatically (new or older) he services..