Need to swap out a few sets of bearings in both the boat reels and my own.

Has anyone tried the higher tolerance ABEC 5 or 7 replacement bearings in either ceramic or stainless?

How 'bout the rocket fuel yellow lube from Heartland Tackle?

Found some 5's in SS on Ebay and they're pretty cheap, so I'll probably give them a shot anyhow, but curious as to any first-hand usage of the high-performance bearings?

Thanks!

Going to soup up the Snoopy rods?

I'm afraid that if I even touched one of those reels with a product named "rocket fuel" that it might just melt all the plastic!

But then again, that might make them work a little better

Bob,

I haven't tried ABEC spec bearings in any of my reels but I do use them in my slot cars. I would say they should be a much smoother bearing and probably longer lasting than a non spec bearing. I hadn't thought about putting them in my reels. I just might have to try that!

Typically the higher number the spec on the bearing the better quality it needs to be. This could mean that it has more balls than a standard bearing and they could be of a different hardness as well. We use them in the slot car motors as they will typically turn upward of 250,000 rpms and non ABEC bearings won't turn that fast! Besides, spending $20 on bearings VS $250 on a new motor makes it worth while

For a saltwater reel I whould think the ceramic/ss bearings would be a great idea!

Bob,

You might check out reelmeister.com He's got a pretty good deal on ceramic bearings. I was thinking of upgrading a couple of my reels with these.

Mark

I've upgraded my ABU's to ceramic bearings, super smoothie drag washers, and use "rocket fuel" , or "hot sauce" as lube oil.

It's made them cast a mile, and almost throw the light stuff as good as my Curados.

"Reelmeister" in Oregon does good work. You can also source all the parts to DIY from Hattaras Outfitters.

Actually have tried all of the above. The rocket fuel is a good lube, a little goes a long ways.
As far as the bearings go, I tried the abec7 ceramics in my chronarch and it was overkill. I think I am pretty adept with a baitcaster in my hand, but the reel had a tendency to really overrun with these bearings.
Maybe it was just that this reel is so smooth already, but it gets away from you really easy with the abec7's in it. I put the abec5'5 in it and really like it. I also put 5's in my calcutta and that is a great match.

Great thread..reason I joined..learned some new cool stuff.

I have been using Turbo and Royal Purple oil in my salt reels - seems to work pretty good.

JD

I agree JD, awesome topic!

I've been trying to improve the performace of my Trion Low-Profile baitcaster. The biggest problem people (including me) seem to have is the drag washers poop out too fast, or get to where there is an "all or nothing" drag...virtually no adjustment of the drag tension...the knob turns, but until you really crank down on it there is almost no drag.

I disassembled the reel, cleaned everything, and then (apparently) got WD40 on the drag washers...oops.. )

So, gonna disassemble it again, and will clean all parts, and get some grease on those drag washers in hopes of saving some performance till the Rocket Fuel and new goodies arrive.

This site:

http://www.mwbt.com/articleflukerreelupgrade.htm

Talks about upgrading the Pflueger Summit baitcaster with Shimano Calcutta drag washers. My hopes are that these same washers will fit the Trion.

If I can figure a way to "soup up" these Trions it might become something I could do for others...but not till mine is "perfect". Might take a bit of work to get the right recipe of componets together.

Mike

Does anyone have contact info for this "Reel Meister?"

I sent both of my Calcuttas to John's Sporting Goods in Everett for cleaning and anti- reverse bearing replacement. They sent it back to me with a note that I will need to change the anti- reverse bearings out soon!

I am still in duck hunting mode so this would be the perfect time to send them out.

Thanks

For a while I was thinking about trying some of these bearings and lube in my curado but got to thinking that with the stock bearings I use the vbs/friction adjustments to control over runs. I seems to me that if you have to slow down the stock bearings there is no point in the hotrod bearings. I can see this for upgrading a cheap reel, but not for one you have to slow down to control backlashes. Next time I need to replace bearings in one of my curados' I might try these bearing just for the heck of it, but it seems pointless to put in fast bearings and then put the brakes on them.

JTD:

http://www.reelmeister.com

click on contact info


ClearCreek

Keta,

You bring up an interesting point. But look at it this way, if you put the better bearings in the startup inertia should be lower thus allowing you to cast a lighter weight. If the reel has the adjustments to keep you from spool overrun then you can fine tune the reel to your uses. To me that is a good thing.

Check out the reel candy section at Hatteras Outfitters. I've had good luck with them and their products. They are the ambassador hop up pros.

From the research I've done, it's sounds like most of the Shimano's come with ABEC 3's stock ... 5's seem to be a popular replacement for die-hard anglers ... 7's tend to be more for the the distance casters looking for extreme casting distance, but not necessarily the best for everyday cranking use. Sounds like tolerances are almost too tight in these ...

I'll let you know what I think of them when I get a few installed

I'll try the SS for now ... maybe order one pair of ceramic for my personal reel to see how they do.

Way Cool site that Hatteras place. I fish Abu 7000 in Salt w flashers - the drag has always left alot to be desired, I will try a set of the supersmoothie drags and report back - need to get some bruiser fish tho, so its going to be awhile...

thx for pointing us there

JD

I'll have to check that ... have 7000 Big Game's for up north and need a better drag washer. Damn, more fun toys. At least I get to write mine off

Gary,

I would agree if this was a free running bearing, but a good portion of the adjustment to prevent overrun is in pre loading the bearing with the cast control knob as they call it on Corados. I think this preloading would be a constant friction that would effect the startup inertia as well as the over speeding of the spool that causes over runs. I'm not a mechanical engineer so I could be all wrong about this. It just doesn't seem logical to put in super fast bearings and then tighten them up to slow them down.

YES
I do!

I sent (6) Shimano Chronarch's and (6) Shimano Calcutta 400's and (4) 250's to Jim Johns at Heatland Tackle

Click here for his webpage

I had the ABEC7 bearing put in all of the reels, as well as new drag pads and rocket fuel. I think the yellow for the chronarh's and the red (saltwater) for the calcutta 400's
It is well worth the $$$$$


I think he charged me $20 or so per reel, but man are they sweet!

I need to have my 400's done again this winter,

I can really notice a difference.