I've been fishing with my Shimano Rarenium 2500 Ci4 for a while and it's a decently made reel compared to the likes of Twinpower, Vanquish or Stella. You pay for what you get with Shimano reels and they are generally built to serve you well, durable and hassle free. Sometimes the itch gets to you and you wonder if you can do a better job at making the reel better in terms of cranking performance, smoothness and durability by upgrading its bearings/bushings to Hybrid Ceramic Bearings or tuning the handling feel to your liking.
And then there is this occasional but persistent itch that gets you wanting more, pimping the reel with extra bearing counts & exclusive parts that are only found in a Stella. For me, it's a bit of both but more so to have a reel that lasts as long as I can fish. Past experience with budget reels taught me to take precaution with certain parts of the reel that gets most abuse or water intrusion that causes bearings, bushings or reel failure altogether.
Hybrid Ceramic Bearings vs bushings |
Teflon bushings are ok but they can never outlast bearings when it comes to wear and tear. Better still, Hybrid Ceramic Bearings to replace them all for an even longer lasting reel. Reel longevity also depends on how well you take care or service your reels, I strip mine apart to be cleaned and checked every 2-3 outings.
Bushing out, Hybrid Ceramic in! |
Line roller bearings get the most water intrusion that causes rust and bearing failures over time even with S-ARB or CRBB or HPCR. |
Main gear, Hybrid Ceramic Bearings with tuning shims. |
More tuning shims for a perfect gear mesh gap fitment tune up. |
Glove like fit! |
Not pictured on this post, pinion gear bearings also swapped out with Hybrid Ceramic Bearings for a full on assault battle against the giants.
Bangkok, here we come! |
When we arrived around the fish farm, not a paid fishing pond, we were awestruck by the amount of ponds stretching as far as our eyes could see. Some workers were seen on bicycles gesturing us in further and it took us a while to locate the actual pond allocated to us for that day. I managed to capture just a fraction of what was in store for us on video. We were literally greeted with explosive lure take ups every 2 to 3 casts for the entire 3 hours. The barras stocked there were very nicely sized of over 7kgs and they were all spirited airborne fighters.
Probably one of the smaller ones but boy do they put up some serious fights. |
The next day, we got up early to take on monsters at the IT Lake Monster. Here's a video of what I managed to capture, lure take ups were tricky and needs a lot of hard work but once they take the lure, just be ready for a persistent bull like run from these giant amazonian catfish.
Battles for the day, nothing the Shimano Stradic 4000 FJ with Hybrid Ceramic Bearings can't take.
Battle heroes for both days at Boon Mar & IT Lake Monster. |
All in all, an excellent 2 days of fishing, excellent field testing of the Hybrid Ceramic Bearings. I'd say the Hybrid Ceramic Bearings holds itself well against the giants on pure performance and only time will tell on durability and they are definitely a worthy pimp up for a start.
Here's a glimpse at what's to come next, some 'exotic stuff' in the pipeline. yum yum!
Exotic stuff! |
23 comments:
Ok, I would like to do something like this to my Shimano Stradic 4000Fj, so, would you mind telling me what size bearings you used for that particular reel, and, is the performance increase between using plain stainless steel bearings and ceramic hybrid bearings worth the price increase?
Thanks,
GR
Hey GR, there are 2 stages of bearing upgrades. First would be to replace existing bearings or teflon bushings with hybrids. Second would be to order some stella parts as an upgrade replacement, bearing count increase, and smoothness. This means upgrading the worm gear shaft support bushings to bearings and also the pawl support bushing with a micro bearing and a bushing from the Stella. Since this is a 4000FJ, there isn't much finesse involved and the second stage upgrade performance would be negligible but a notable durability upgrade.
You can find all the bearing dimensions here http://fservice.shimano.co.jp/part/pdf/02611.pdf . This diagram is from a biomaster which is close to 98% identical in parts and possibly material. The darkened highlight numbers on the diagram are steel bearings and the number refers to the table listing below with dimensions in 'mm'.
Hybrids would make sense as a major durability upgrade and moderate upgrade on cranking performance/lightness. Bearing standards of either abec5-7 or above would be best for proper fitment and a proper upgrade from stock standards as the original bearings are of quite a good quality.
When it comes to smoothness, it's up to your own preference if you want light cranking performance vs creamy smooth slightly weighted cranking feel. For creamy smooth feel like when it's new, pack some quality Teflon bearing grease into the bearings. For lightness, strip out the grease and use light oil instead. When using bearing oil, you will notice slightly louder cranking noise and more gritty feel when cranking and get slightly more connection to the end of the line.
Hope this helps!
Thanks! This is extremely helpful, however on that chart I can't find the dimensions, for instance #19 is a bearing, but the number next to it on the chart is 1,200, same with #98 which is another bearing, is that just a different designation of bearing size than I am used to? Or did I miss something? I really appreciate the help, and the quick response.
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. Take for example #19, the numbers in brackets denote bearing dimensions in mm (4×7×2.5 SARB). 1200 is the item price in Yen when ordering from Japan.
As for #98, bearing size would be 7mm×14mm×5mm, usually means 7mm inner diameter, 14mm outer diameter, and 5mm thickness.
hope this clear things up a bit.
Ok, that is where my issue is, the box that is in-between the part # and the price is blank, although that might just be because I Am trying to view it on my phone.
Thanks,
GR
Ah, probably limited pdf viewing ability on phones.
Btw, here are the dimensions:
19. 4x7x2.5
58. 7x11x3
61. 7x13x4
75. 4x9x4
98. 7x14x5
Cheers
Thanks! Now for yet another question, what about the bushings what size bearings do I replace them with? Or are the sizes also listed on the chart? Or should I just take a pair of calipers and measure the bushings?
Sorry about all the questions, I really appreciate your help though!
Thanks again,
GR
Hey GR,
I've just checked again and for bearing count, this should be diagram to look at instead of the earlier version I shared because the 4000FJ comes with x-ship bearings http://fservice.shimano.co.jp/part/pdf/02757.pdf
Here are the bearing dimensions according to the new diagram and I've also included the bushing to be replaced and bearing dimensions here:
25. 4x7x2.5
51. 7x14x5
54. 5x8x2.5 (x-ship rear bearings)
64. 7x11x3
67. 7x13x4
80. 5x9x3 (handle bushing, needs shim tuning to fit)
90. 2x5x2.5 (pawl bushing, needs to cut original pawl to sandwich bearing between pawl and bushing, shim tuning to fit)
98. 3x6x2.5 (worm gear bushing, needs shim tuning to fit)
Just a note that your Stradic 4000FJ doesn't have parts #12-18 from this diagram but parts #11-12 from the previous diagram.
wow, thanks again, you have been extremely helpful, Ill be sure to ask again if I have any more questions, I look forward to future updates to your blog,
Thanks,
GR
no problem. more exciting updates and (mis)adventures coming soon. enjoy your reel pimpin' exploration!
I just purchased a shimano stradic 4000 fj and will do these upgrades. I appreciate your hard work, field testing, and dedication to making products better for the smarter shopper. Total, there are 8 bearings to be replaced and upgraded? Is there any way to add more by upgrading to stella parts? Lastly, what is your consensus on the ceramic and teflon bearings over the hybrid?
Hey Iandon, I'm glad you found them useful.
There are a maximum of 9 bearings that can be easily replaced if you follow the diagram I mentioned above. 2 bearing count for #25.
Unfortunately, these are the only areas where I've explored for possible 'Stella' parts replacement. This is for parts #89 & #90 to be replaced bt Stella parts from this diagram http://fish.shimano.com/media/fishing/SAC/techdocs/en/Spinning/11STL4000FEUS_v1_m56577569830726354.pdf with parts number 11578, 2409 & 11577. This needs some handy shortening mod on part 11577.
As for full ceramics, I've not had a chance to try out higher grade bearings and I would hold back any opinion about them for now. I'm pretty sure the expensive one's would serve well but it just doesn't make sense when the bearings costs more than some stradic and stellar combined.
Hybrids will do just fine for now.
Cheers!
Is this are the partlist for rarenium or stradic?
Hi Simmi,
They are mostly for Rarenium and most parts are also interchangeable with Stradic FJ to a certain sizes.
tk
Hi I'm very tempting on tuning my stradic 4000FI, Are the Stradic 4000fj similar? And how many extra bearing can i add to it. please let me know I would like to learn how to do it. Thanks
Hi Nguyen, the FJ is probably just a small step up from the FI. I've not had the opportunity to examine an FI but the schematics suggests that you can probably switch out some of the Teflon bushings to ball beaings.
http://fish.shimano.com/media/fishing/SAC/techdocs/en/Spinning/08ST4000FI_v1_m56577569830631943.pdf
As referenced in the off above, bushings 6493 and 11465 can be replaced with ball bearings. I'm not sure if 9975 can be replaced as I suspect from the looks of the schematics, there are no such ball bearing sizes available.
Enjoy!
Following your very informative details, I have replaced both the worm shaft - and the oscillating slider bushings with bearings. This has reduced the pay in the main shaft quite a bit.By using bushings on the worm shaft this has improved further. The rest of the play seems to be caused by play between the oscillating slider and the oscillating pawl. The pawl spindle has quite a bit of play in the hole of the OP cover.
In my 4000FA reel the OS looks different to the 4000 Stella. I assume that the Stella is made to better tolerances and will have less play. My question therefore is whether the Stella OS can be directly used to replace the Rarenium Oscillating slider ?
Hi Henry, thanks for checking in. My assumption is as good as yours when it comes to expecting better build quality from a Stella. I'm sorry, I have no answer to your question as to parts compatibility between the FA and the Stella unless you have both in hand, dismantled, measured, and do a quick figment test. Shimano have been tweaking variations of the worm gear and it's oscillating speed for specific line laying pattern. Therefore the best way to know is to have a side by side for comparison.
Spoke to Shimano Felindre this morning and in the 4000Fa model the oscillating slider is not interchangable. In smaller models the slider is the same and pawl innards can be upgraded to Stella.
Hi i hace a bearing damage un the drive gear bearing of my shimano stradic ci4 4000 but i dont know how to buy a ceramic bearing for replace them, do you have the measurements of these bearings, please ill be waiting for the answer ...thanks max , maxartgym@gmail.com
Hi Max,
got you covered there, please check your email for the sizes.
cheers
tk
Hi,
Please tell me the Rarenium 2500FB bushing sizes!
Thank You Very Much!
Adam
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