Fox FX9 Srip down, fault diagnosis and repair to oscillating issue.

Fox FX9 full Strip down & repair, reel had an oscillating issue, as it had been dropped from a height , so the spool wasn't travelling up and down, thanks to the good folks at Fox International supplying the spares FREE, this has only cost the servicing charge of £15 !

Great customer service there from Fox International & a real confidence booster to know that's the kind of after sale backup they offer !

The Fox FX9's are a nice reel to work on, repairing is quite straightforwards thanks to the reels design and layout, the oscillating worm gear virtually nut and bolting in and out, access inside the reel is easy and the reels are smooth and well engineered, as well as looking very 'carpy'  as well !

Watch the video below and drop by my facebook or instagram pages and give me a 'like' ;) 

A blast from the past with some Garcia Mitchell multipliers !

A few before and after shots of some Mitchells in for servicing, a very old Garcia Mitchell 600 & 624, not opened up either of these for about 10 years so It was great to reacquaint myself with some ' old tech ' as I guess they'd be called now.

Still, 'old tech' or not, they made them solid and simple and at over 30 years old, after a good service they're purring again and even shining a bit . . . . these are great old work horses that just need the minimum of looking after to keep them working, no frills, but just good old fashioned well built kit. . . . . . . . . .


As it had been a while since I'd had any of these apart I took a little longer than I normally would to strip them right down to the bare bones and re-build them from a box of bits, partly to re-familiarise myself with them and partly because I could tell they probably hadn't had a service in 20 years! To be fair they were pretty well looked after, and even so long as they're dry and not kept anywhere with lots of moisture/damp etc, they fair pretty well over the years, but with a bit of pitting to the chrome and some oxidisation here and there I got the cleaning kit out and went over the lot with a fine toothcomb, well, brush ;)

The drag washers were a bit worse for wear as well but I took them out of each reel and left them out overnight and well into the next day after cleaning and de-greasing them to re-invigorate them as the customer wasn't wanting to throw too much at them on this occasion, but the clean seems to have brought them back to life and they should last a good few sessions before needing to be replaced, which I would always point out and advise to do.

This is what your Shimano's Oscillating worm gear looks like, along with the oscillating slider and idle gear, one small fault and the reel stops working, like this has.

 

And this is just how much you need to strip a Shimano Baitrunner down to diagnose/remove the worm shaft! #Shimano #ReelServicing

And here is the offending item! 

 

Look closely as the worm shaft hardly looks damaged at all, but damaged it is and the remedy is two-part, worm gear and 'pawl' that fits in the block shown on the gear. 

 

Infinty X Baitrunner repair

Just a few pic's to illustrate a little clearer  the damage done to this Daiwa Infinty X Baitrunner after just a short drop, quite literally, to look at, this was all the damage done when the reel was dropped, spool first  . . . . . . .

Doesn't look too bad until you compare what it did to the oscillating worm gear once the handle was turned!

But happily as usual, Daiwa's service department were efficient as ever and had the new worm drive and a 'pawl' to me in just a couple of days to get this lovely bit of kit back on fighting form . . . . . . .

Daiwa Infinity X 5000 baitrunners

Another set of reels recently dropped in for repair and services, Daiwa Infinity X 5000 baitrunners, 2 working well and one not working at all.

Upon stripping down, the faulty reels fault was pretty obvious to see, the reel had been dropped and the spool had taken the brunt of the fall, marking the lip of the spool a little. The greater damage was inside, luckily, the spool shaft was intact and seemingly undamaged, which is a stroke of luck considering - the worm gear that drives the shaft, not so lucky!

First couple of handle turns and the worm shaft was chewed beyond usefulness  . . . . . as can clearly be seen by the amount of swarf chewed up and spat round the reel body!

In cases like this it's recommended to also change the oscillating 'pawl' that rides the worm shaft, these can often look fine, but any minor burrs they suffer after a chewing like that can render them useless and not worthy the risk of putting them back in the reel, and besides, at just a few pounds to replace, is it really worth skimping on a £300 reel?

The mangled worm shaft  . . . . . . . . .

Total cost on this repair only came to £35.00 and included a service, and parts! please compare that to some of the tackle shops service only charges, which seem to average around £28.00. The reel has to be stripped down to the same degree, and cleaned, oiled, and greased and then re-assembled. And if you're around the greater Manchester area (or reasonable driving distance) you won't have postage costs to add in either.

Reel bearings repacement. . . . . . . . . .

Did a short video the other week just to highlight what a massive difference a new set of bearings can make, the two daiwa crossfire X's I was servicing were noisy, one kept jamming, then, on inspection it seems the reels had been left soaking wet on one or more occasions, and rust had set in to the bearings and basically ruined them . . . . . . . .

Luckily on this occasion once a new set were fitted, the reels were virtually like new ! Quiet and silky smooth once again and even with another couple of small springs that were changed during the services, the tally at the end was still only £40 everything included, so another happy customer back under the bivvy ;)