Free Spirit Launcher Spod Rod butt ring repair pre-finish shots

Just a couple of quick pic's of a butt ring repair to a Free Spirit spod rod, quite possibly my 'favourite' brand to repair !

The blanks really are great to work on and always come out really well, the factory finish is pretty much bullet proof and very difficult to mark, very much a case of - you get what you pay for - and it shows.

If you ever wanted a set of rods as 'an investment' you'd be hard pushed to better them, no offense to Century or Harrison ;)

Anyway, the finish to match is what I'd call 'extra-thick', so I prefer to do it in 2 stages, first stage shown here. This coats and sinks into the whipping thread, securing it to to the blank, I'll leave this 24 hours before applying the top finishing coat, it can be done in one, but this gives me the chance to tweak and adjust it so it comes out as perfect as a factory finish, I don't get any complaints. 

;)

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.

Century Spod Rod butt ring repair part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . .

The finished article . . . . . . . .

After applying the epoxy over a couple of coats to build it up, the final finishing coat is applied and watched carefully while it dries to the point where it can be left for a couple of hours spinning away happily without the danger of losing shape, some Century rods are done with a very (over-thick in my opinion) thick application of resin which although it may look 'nice', is a bit heavy and unnecessary in reality.

Personally I prefer a compromise on the thickness between the extremes of the likes of Daiwa  (not enough) to Century (too much) and I generally do my builds and personal rods in 2 'decent' thickness coats. But anyway, I digress . . . . . .  the finished ring ....

Century Spod Rod butt ring repair part 1. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Century Spod Rod butt ring repair part 1. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part 1 ??

Yes, I have aways preferred to do finishes as thick as Century paste them on in 2 stages, first coat semi-thick to set the whippings in place, which can then be adjusted and tinkered with if need be, then the second coat is applied 24 hours later, to achieve a perfect 'factory finish' that most can't tell apart from the original.

This is stage one in the images below, brand new 40mm Kigan ring on a Century Big Bertha Spod rod . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Watch this space for part 2 !

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 ;)