Maxed BB Daiwas

My fishing buddy decided to get his Daiwa reels some pimpin hot ball bearings from hedgehog studio and the package arrived surprisingly quick from Japan. Hedgehog studio produces some fine ball bearings and some custom parts to jam more bearings into most Japanese reels.

Hedgehog studio offers 2 types of bearings for the 'Max BB' series. These are the salt water series  and they also offer fresh water 'high precision' versions without any special coating of specific material used. It comes with Japanese instructions but with sufficient graphics to guide you through most of the installation without much problems.

These 2 Daiwas were rather easy to dismantle and most of the upgrades don't require you to open up the body. They are either for the spool support, line roller or just knob handle bearings for smoother and longer lasting reel.

The Daiwa Emeraldas looked fine as per the previous pimping condition with minimal grease packing needed. A straight forward swap and some marine grease rubbed all over the line roller bits.

Daiwa Emeraldas Max BB replaces 3 bushings with high precision bearings. 1 for the line roller & 2 for the spool support.

The Daiwa Certate was also quite a straight forward pimpin so long as you don't mess with the mag-seal bits as the magnetic oil seal is 'proprietary' and can't be sourced easily. Max BB upgrades both spool support bushing to bearings, 1 line roller bearings to 2 line roller bearings with bearing housing plastics and rubber seals. 2 handle knob bearings are also included in the pack but this Daiwa Certate came with a pimped up ZPI foam handle knob.

Max BB 'Certate' consists of 5 bearings and some custom plastic/rubber parts. Line roller bushing replaced with an identical bearing+housing+seal set. You get 2 ball bearings for a smoother line roller.

This Daiwa Certate wasn't a virgin as it came with ZPI's foam knob handle. Spool support bushings show typical signs of wear, no surprises, new ball bearings ready to serve. Spool clicker base was packed with filthy grease, not good for new bearings.

Thoroughly degreased and cleaned spool support parts. Teflon shims stack of 2 to fine tune line lay on the spool. Greased up and loaded back into the main shaft ready for battle soon.

Only thing left would be to have these 2 reels get some tight lines action!