Dead clicker on a 3rd party Stella spool

On a recent offshore popping trip, a friend got himself an oversized & interchangeable spool system in order to have the desired line poundage/length ready for a variety of application with just one reel body. The spool system was brand new 3rd party variant which looks to be properly machined and fairly ok precision designed for the Shimano Stella SW series.

The clicker gave way just a few days of popping with a handful of angry GT hook ups. Fortunately, the drag system wasn't affected as the reel produced GTs after GTs during the remainder of the trip.

Typically, for an original spool sizes SW6000 and above, the clicker is housed at the bottom most stack of the spool housing with a simple plastic and metal sheeting as cover for the clicker arm/spring to sit on as there isn't a need for any form of load put on these parts. Just a simple rattler concept that rarely fails.

A typical spool bottom stack for drag clicker, housed in the outer ring with printed words 'hyper disk drag' while the inner ring with 4 screws hold the clicker teeth and the lower drag stack.

On the 3rd party spool system, a quick exterior inspection upon dismantling of the main components doesn't reveal much. A modular system consist of the main body that houses the drag stack, interchangeable line spool for different spool sizes, and a top plate screw to hold the system together.

Main components, clockwise from top left, main body with drag stack, line spool, custom top plate screw removal tool, & top plate screw which holds the system together.

If you notice how this 3rd party bottom stack is designed differently without the clicker housing in sight. Just another cover with 2 holes that calls for another custom removal tool. Upon removal of the screwed on cover, which doubles up as a clicker teeth, wear and tear signs was clearly visible on the clicker teeth as the anodized coating was grounded off the teeth.

Clicker teeth anodized coating grounded off from normal usage wear and tear.

The culprit was immediately found as the first layer of drag disks removed, pieces fell out voluntarily. A broken clicker spring wire. A familiar design similar to the Daiwa drag clickers, but the spring wire seems to be too thin for the job. Even the smallish Daiwa Emeraldas 2506 clicker spring was thicker and sturdier than this skinny wire (just an observation so far, not a conclusion).

The culprit, broken clicker spring, weakness usually found around bends made to shape the spring to desired shape.

This was definitely something that cannot be repaired, only option is to replace the broken part. My friend got a one to one swap on the lower spool body instead. Not sure if this was a one off case or a design flaw, another offshore trip soon would reveal the true nature of this incident.