Do you spin the spool?

[dulouz]

I have an aquaintence who judges baitcasting reels by spinning the spool to see how long the spool spins.  He will also spin the handle with it engaged as well. 

So my question is, why do my cheap pflueger reels spin longer than my curado.  And yes, the spool tension is loose.  The breaks are either off, or have the same # of pins out.  I was checking out some brand new curados and citcas yesterday and noticed they didn't spin long either. 

Any insights?

[Jig Man]

Yes I spin the spool.  Mostly because I like to see it go round and round.  What you are seeing may be the viscosity of different oils in the bearings or different grades of bearings.

When I used the older Curados the spools would spin a long time on the ones that had dry Boca Lightning ceramics in them.  They would also cast a long ways.

[.RM.]

>>>I have an aquaintence who judges baitcasting reels by spinning the spool to see how long the spool spins. He will also spin the handle with it engaged as well. <<<

You really can't judge anything except the smoothness of a reel by free spinning the crank assembly.

Free spinning of the spool will give some evidance of the free spooling abilities of a reel. But not like actually casting and measuring distance improvements or failures.

>>>So my question is, why do my cheap pflueger reels spin longer than my curado. And yes, the spool tension is loose. The breaks are either off, or have the same # of pins out. I was checking out some brand new curados and citcas yesterday and noticed they didn't spin long either. <<<

Probably because your pflueger reel/s don't have any grease in, or around, the bearings and covering the bearing shims like brand new Curado's and Citica's do.

Do a deep clean and re-lube of those Curado's and Citica's and I'll be they are freer than your pflueger'.

Tight Lines!!!

[MarauderYak]

I always spin the spools, but you have to understand that there are quite a few factors working together to determine how "well" it spins.  There's the inertia of the spool (determined by mass and shape of spool), effects of the cast control system, bearings (quality, quantity, and  placement), and several other things (lubricants, tolerances, etc).

When I spin the spool I'm trying to feel how easily it starts to spin, how much effect the cast control has on the spool when set to "off" (both at very slow speeds & at higher speeds), checking for play, and any abnormal resistance.

Just keep in mind that it's not all about how long you can get the spool to spin.

[dulouz]

Just keep in mind that it's not all about how long you can get the spool to spin.

I have been starting to wonder this.  Thank you guys for all the info, keep it coming. 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Spinning the spool on a new reel is almost the equivalent of kicking the tires on a new car. lol RM pretty much covered it. You wont see a reel's full potential until it's cleaned and lubed correctly.

[dulouz]

Spinning the spool on a new reel is almost the equivalent of kicking the tires on a new car. lol RM pretty much covered it. You wont see a reel's full potential until it's cleaned and lubed correctly.

So are you saying that brand new reels need to be serviced before use? I wouldn't have thought so, but I guess it makes sense.  Musical instruments are that way, they don't play well right out of the box. 

[J Francho]

While there's no doubt that a service out of the box will improve many reels, I recommend fishing the thing like you stole it, while its under warranty.  Anything goes wrong, send it to the company.  Once its out of warranty, have it serviced.

[Alpster]

While there's no doubt that a service out of the box will improve many reels, I recommend fishing the thing like you stole it, while its under warranty. Anything goes wrong, send it to the company. Once its out of warranty, have it serviced.

X2 This is wise advise!

Ronnie

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I agree with JF as well. Use a new reel to be sure there are no manufacturer defects then have it serviced and get it back better than new.

[.RM.]

I agree,

New reels should be fished a complete season to break in the gears and the bearing races and shims. Even if you can see the ton of grease on the shim behind and on the backs of the bearing packs.

The main problem is all the talk about looooong casting reels, many anglers cannot wait for a break-in season and go for the C&L right out of the box.

Properly done by a quality service tech and you will not harm any warranty in the first season.

Tight Lines All!!

[J Francho]

Properly done by a quality service tech and you will not harm any warranty in the first season.

I've always wondered about this.  I realize "quality" is a subjective term, and I don't doubt the ability of you, Mike, and several other people that aren't necessarily pros, but I wonder if anyone was turned down for something like replacing OEM grease and oil with something "else".

:-?

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

We got into this years ago in the lube business when one of the auto manufacturers tried to tie their warranty to the use of a certain brand of motor oil. Lube is a scapegoat all too often blamed for what is really a design or material flaw. This tactic didn't fly for long then, and I doubt that it would now.

I actually had a somewhat related situation lately. I opened an unused spinning reel that the oscillator wasn't working on. I found the main-shaft had a bend right where it attached to the gear causing a bind. When I tried to order a new part, the rep said the reel is out of production and the part is not available. He agreed that it sounded like a manufacturer defect and offered to give my customer a current model reel as a replacement. 

[J Francho]

Yeah, Shimano, Daiwa, and Pinnacle have all taken care of me in similar situations.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

This was Greg at Pinnacle in this case.

[Raul]

To clean-lube/relube a new reel, that 's the question.

Sometimes you have to specially when you find those no longer in production for several years NIB reels for sale somewhere. Ex: a couple of years ago Cabela 's somehow managed to acquire a lot of several TDZs that were probably forgotten somewhere in Daiwa 's warehouse and put them on sale, from MSRP of $350 down to $240  , man, wasn 't hard for me to trust my feelings and let go using the Force, I purchased 4 right away, the model had been discontinued for several years, when I got the reels and all of them were bone dry so that 's a case where I had to remove whatever old grease and oil was left and lube the reel.

But as the experts here say, if it 's fresh out of the assembly line don 't worry, seeing how much or fast or for how long the spool spins means nothing.