Curado E7 or E5 stock drag resistence?

[ksbasser]

I am curious if any one here has tested their curado E reels to see how much resistence the drag has at the point they normally tighten the crank to. I know that the listed resistence is 12 lbs for the E5 and 11 lbs for the E7. I have heard some say that they have not been able to get that much resistence from their reels, at least not without cranking it so tight that it wouldn't slip smoothly if a fish did pull line. I know some folks don't believe in upgrades and some do. I'm not looking for an argument about weather the curado has enough drag or not, just some input as to what you actually get with field settings so to speak. I am in the process of cleaning and upgrading some reels and one of them is an E7. I noticed that the top drag washer is way skinnier than it needs to be. there is very little contact surface between it and the gear. I think that the reason is because shimano stamps both washers out of the same sheet of material. You can slide the top washer around the bottom washer and it's a perfect fit. That lets them save money with less waste, but if you were to use a bigger washer, you would have more contact surface and therefore would have more available drag or would not have to crank it down as tight to get the amount of resistence you use.

[Shane J]

I was really hoping someone here had done this test. I was curious to hear the results also.

[Stasher1]

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Drag: The Curado E features a cold forged aluminum drag star with clicking adjustment and the more powerful E5 version has a 12lb drag while the E7 is rated at 11lbs. In our lab we were able to get the drag to 12.7lbs under maximum rotation. Compared to the previous D version this is near identical to the much larger 200 sized reels and two pounds more than the 100 size. Shimano knows not to mess with a good thing and continues to rely on their proven Dartanium drag.

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewshimanocuradoe5.html

[rubba bubba]

Would it go up/down/stay the same if you changed to the Carbontex washers?

[BASSclary]

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Would it go up/down/stay the same if you changed to the Carbontex washers?

If I understand correctly Carbontex just makes your drag smoother, especially at higher settings. I don't think it makes your drag be able to take more lb.s unless you upgrade the whole kit and kaboodle.

[J Francho]

Max drag is increased with dry installation of Carbontex washers. A wet installation will give you a smoother initial slip.  12 lbs. of resistance will snap most rods.

[ksbasser]

One nice thing about having more drag than you need, is that you don't have to tighten the star all  the way down to get the setting you want to use. Cranking a reel drag that tight can smash the drag washers and flatten the drag springs. Some anglers use bass reels for other , larger species. As long as the rod is capable of handling the strain, then there is nothing wrong with having a higher drag strength. As I stated in the fisrt post, there is plenty of room in an E series reel for a bigger drag washer. Smoothdrag has a carbontex washer that will fit in the E reels and has about four times the surface contact area as the stock washer. They are planning on offering an upgrade kit with the bigger washer but for now you need to order it as a single washer from the list of measured washers. I will post before and after drag resistence when the reel is done, I should have checked the stock drag before I took it apart, I guess I will put the stock washers back and check it on a scale before I put the new ones in.

[hookingem]

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One nice thing about having more drag than you need, is that you don't have to tighten the star all the way down to get the setting you want to use. Cranking a reel drag that tight can smash the drag washers and flatten the drag springs. Some anglers use bass reels for other , larger species. As long as the rod is capable of handling the strain, then there is nothing wrong with having a higher drag strength. As I stated in the fisrt post, there is plenty of room in an E series reel for a bigger drag washer. Smoothdrag has a carbontex washer that will fit in the E reels and has about four times the surface contact area as the stock washer. They are planning on offering an upgrade kit with the bigger washer but for now you need to order it as a single washer from the list of measured washers. I will post before and after drag resistence when the reel is done, I should have checked the stock drag before I took it apart, I guess I will put the stock washers back and check it on a scale before I put the new ones in.

X2 I have no idea how often we see reel's that drag washers have been woren out. After every use with a baitcasting reel one should completely back off the drag!

[ksbasser]

I put Shane J's E7 back together. I tightened the star drag as tight as I would ever crank my own reel. I hung my digital scale and hooked the line to it. I got 3.8 lbs of resistance with a fairly smooth pull. I cranked the star tighter, beyond where I would ever crank my own, and got it up to 6.3 lbs resistance, but it was starting to get jerky and had a let off that bounced between 5 to 6 lbs. I cranked the star even tighter, If I wasn't going to put new washers in the reel, I would be afraid that I had smashed them at this point. I had the star as tight as I could turn it by hand without risking that it would break the star.The reel got up to 8.5 lbs resistance at peak but was very jerky and bounced between 7 and 8.5 resistance. I took the reel back apart. The top washer is now ruined and the steel plate has parts of the washer stuck to it. I will have to scrape the dartanium off of the plate. This was not a scientific test, but my scale is accurate. The reel was not on a rod, it was direct pull. I believe that if any of you that have an E7 were to tighten the drag to the point that you would normally set it at and then hook it to a scale, you would probably see that you have about 3 to 5 lbs of drag. Setting it any tighter than that would scare most people as it would be getting so tight you might break something. Don't worry Shane, I didn't hurt your reel, but it's a good thing I'm putting new drag washers in it now.

[Shane J]

That's awesome! Cool test, and a real eye opener. Thanks for posting what you found. Oh, and I wasn't worried about you hurting the reel. Can't wait to get it back and feel the silky smoothness.

[.RM.]

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I am curious if any one here has tested their curado E reels to see how much resistence the drag has at the point they normally tighten the crank to. I know that the listed resistence is 12 lbs for the E5 and 11 lbs for the E7. I have heard some say that they have not been able to get that much resistence from their reels, at least not without cranking it so tight that it wouldn't slip smoothly if a fish did pull line. I know some folks don't believe in upgrades and some do. I'm not looking for an argument about weather the curado has enough drag or not, just some input as to what you actually get with field settings so to speak. I am in the process of cleaning and upgrading some reels and one of them is an E7. I noticed that the top drag washer is way skinnier than it needs to be. there is very little contact surface between it and the gear. I think that the reason is because shimano stamps both washers out of the same sheet of material. You can slide the top washer around the bottom washer and it's a perfect fit. That lets them save money with less waste, but if you were to use a bigger washer, you would have more contact surface and therefore would have more available drag or would not have to crank it down as tight to get the amount of resistence you use.

Sorry man I have to disagree with your system, and I think Mike (DVT) might agree with me

27 years of doing reel service...

The manufacturers drag rating on ANY reel is a result of the reel mounted on a rod lined and then setup onto a scale. It is NOT hanging it is a lifting/pulling drag.

All readings are done in an actual fish fighting setup...

 

[J Francho]

I think the last time I tested an E7 with dry Carbontex washers, I had somewhere near 11 lbs. Any more will result in broken parts, stripped gears, or worse on hard hooksets, especially with heavy braid.

Believe me, I've seen the results: stripped pinion, bent idler gear, stripped gear on worm drive, shattered AR sleeve (probably what nailed some of the brass gears, bent crankshaft, munched AR pawl, and cracked handle side plate. Oh yeah, how did I know it was over cranked? The drag washers were flat, even after the reel was disassembled.

There really is no need to alter the drag washer sizes, though I wonder if the bigger washer wouldn't help in better slip in lower drag thresholds, in a wet system. Bottom line, max drag power is usually highly overrated.

[ksbasser]

I didn't make any claims as it being a scientific test or even that it is the same way the factory tests the drag. I simply tested the straight from the reel pull out. If I test the carbontex washers in the same manor, the difference will be fact. I would still welcome any actual results from those of you that have an E reel. Test it any way you want to, but tell us how you tested it.

[J Francho]

I think your missing the point that David and I are making.  Benchmarking isn't the only part of testing and improving reel performance.  It doesn't help and angler if there is a maximum drag resistance of 27 lbs. if it sucks at 3 lbs. in real fishing conditions.  I think quite a few guys would be surprised just how powerful a set up is with 3-4 lbs. of drag resistance.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

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I am curious if any one here has tested their curado E reels to see how much resistence the drag has at the point they normally tighten the crank to. I know that the listed resistence is 12 lbs for the E5 and 11 lbs for the E7. I have heard some say that they have not been able to get that much resistence from their reels, at least not without cranking it so tight that it wouldn't slip smoothly if a fish did pull line. I know some folks don't believe in upgrades and some do. I'm not looking for an argument about weather the curado has enough drag or not, just some input as to what you actually get with field settings so to speak. I am in the process of cleaning and upgrading some reels and one of them is an E7. I noticed that the top drag washer is way skinnier than it needs to be. there is very little contact surface between it and the gear. I think that the reason is because shimano stamps both washers out of the same sheet of material. You can slide the top washer around the bottom washer and it's a perfect fit. That lets them save money with less waste, but if you were to use a bigger washer, you would have more contact surface and therefore would have more available drag or would not have to crank it down as tight to get the amount of resistence you use.

Sorry man I have to disagree with your system, and I think Mike (DVT) might agree with me

27 years of doing reel service...

The manufacturers drag rating on ANY reel is a result of the reel mounted on a rod lined and then setup onto a scale. It is NOT hanging it is a lifting/pulling drag.

All readings are done in an actual fish fighting setup...

I agree you and jfrancho. Testing should be done in as close to real life conditions as possible and more is not necessarily better (as in 12lbs drag is better than 10 etc)

[BobP]

Some pro rod makers did testing on the lifting capacity of rod guides and found the guides on most rods start popping off the rod blank at about 12 lb deadweight.  This brings up the ?? - why would you want a drag with more than 12lb resistance on a bass reel?

[baluga]

I always get a stronger drag when I upgrade the drags from stock to Carbonex. I normally do the upgrade when I'm not satisfied with the drag performance. I usually install it dry w/o any grease to get the max drag w/o buttoning down the star drag. A simply straight pull of line from the reel and the amount of turn on the star drag is enough to give you the idea that it has improve or not. If you are not satisfied with the drag you are getting on your curado e, its really a good idea to upgraded to carbonex since the Dartanium drags seems to stick to the drive gear and sometimes corrode the key washer when not properly greased. It's also a good idea to check your drag spring washer and replace them when needed, sometimes they are the culprit of not getting the right drag performance.

Just my humble opinion and observation on my reels.

[burleytog]

I've yet to catch a fish that any of my Shimano reels could not handle.

[baluga]

I also use my bass gear for saltwater surf fishing for Halibut, Calico and WSB.  I usually set my drags between 2#s to 4#s when working in the sand,  but I set it to heavier setting when working near rocky structure. You need  at least 6#s drag settings to slow down those big Calico Bass from getting into rocks.

[philsoreel]

How about this? I learned that although I don't need any extra drag power, I can upgrade to CarbonTex and have a smoother drag system on my E5.