Balls buster GTs

Previously, 2 of the bearing sizes were slightly off the dimension I ordered, 0.5mm thinner, numbnut who took my order discovered that they didn't have stocks for the exact ones I wanted and decided to just dump in the closest one found and shipped it to me without notifying me. Just great!

 

Exotic pimping stuff. Full ceramic ZrO2 bearings.

Beyond the thickness issue which can easily be shimmed up to reach my desired thickness, the bearings weren't of any ABEC standards and the radial and axial free play was rather alarming and you can visibly see and feel it's wobble as I rotate them using my fingers.

I needed 2.5mm and 3mm thick bearings and this is what the numbnut sent me.

I know for sure with such ill fitting specifications, I'm threading dangerous waters field testing them on the main gears as it is the point where there will be heavy torque loading and twisting from the handles. Theory won't mean anything unless I try them out and push it beyond it's limit to develop products that suits angler's needs and application.

Hybrid Ceramic Bearings for the pinion shaft and more.

For this particular Shimano 4000 sized reel, due to the 'wrong' sized bearing sent to me, I've decided to test the slightly thinner bearings on isolation to see if it still works with the use of shim fitment. Only 2 full ceramics were used on the main gear support (handle crank shaft) and I didn't have sufficient shims to tune it like a glove fit, hence a bit more than usual free play. The remainder bearings were hybrid ceramics (pictured), which was previously pimped out, field tested and abused hauling giant cats & gars in Thailand (up coming posts to show case some of the giants).

There was wobble and free play while cranking, slightly more than the original condition, yet I've decided to give it a go even with an inkling that something might go wrong. The only way to find out is to field test it and give it the abuse it deserves.

We rented a GT pond for 3 hours, shared among 4 anglers, and all 4 of us started with top water lures. Weird thing is that the locals insists that all of us must cast at the same time as the GTs were very picky to take lures only at the beginning of any session. They insist that we get everything ready so much so that we have to cast upon stepping into the pond. We thought they were just kidding, we entered the pond and took our time to tie the lures while standing next to the pond. The locals waited and hurried us, some GTs were already doing a double take, flashing their colour at us while swimming past.

All 4 of us casted, popped and reeled without a hint of bite. After 2-3 tries, the locals figured they weren't getting any hook-ups and quickly switched to bait instead. My buddy and I stuck to lure, tried a variety of lures. Hours went by, not a single bite no matter how we work the lures, not that we are experts, but enough to get some desired action out of them. The baiters hook up one after another, told us to just switch to bait as the fish in the pond's too smart and seasoned. We caved in and became master baiters ourselves as we were running out of time.

Only after 2-3 casts, it was fish-on. A big fat juicy grouper made sure to give my pimped reel a few good power spurts to break in the ceramic bearings. Power cranks and moderate pace lifting landed this grouper without breaking a sweat. Tasty grouper goes back into the pond, catch and release.

On my next few casts, a juvenile GT snapped up my bait and made a run for it. The GT made my reel scream and was determined not to be landed without giving it all. Midway through several minutes of fight, high speed cranks and hard lifts, my reel started to scream to a different tune as I could feel there was more and more free play as I crank. It started to scream louder and I heard popping, crushing noise and felt it through the handles. The locals looked perplexed, what's with the alien noise that's coming out of my reel? Told them, testing new products and that's the not so sweet sound of busted bearings & exploded balls!

The GT was still out partying hard as I cranked slowly, nursing the reel as to not damage anything else. The only option I have left is to let the GT tire itself out. Damn GT was only half the size my buddy hooked up earlier and it busted my balls, metaphorically and literally for the ceramics.

Exploded outer races, crushed ceramic balls, crumpled shims!

The cause of this? Simple, wrong sized bearings loosely fit in with excessive radial and axial play that resulted in premature bearing failure. It was torque loaded from the handle to the gear at various cranking angles beyond it's operating parameters. Therefore the spectacular screaming explosion and crushed balls.

Tiny balls, busted tiny balls.

Crushed balls. Don't let this be yours!

Good thing is that this happened as I partly expected it to and not during a long off shore excursion. More tests needed to ensure that these bearings are spec'ed to be battle ready. I've completed several good field testing sessions of hybrid ceramics on this 4000 and 2500 sized reel. Next up would be to test using properly sized and fitment of ABEC 7 hybrid ceramics on a 6000 sized reel, watch this space!

It's time for me to bust some balls off the numbnut who sent me these wrong bearings!