Another Ryoga bites the rust

The Daiwa Ryoga is a very popular reel among anglers here as it's built tough and versatile. Claimed to be salt-water friendly, true to a certain extent but some parts of this reel cannot live up to its specifications claim. I'm sure if given proper care and maintenance, it'll live up close to its intended potential.

This Ryoga is in for a long over-due check-up and service. The owner also wanted to give it a little bit of new life in the form of new RCS knobs. Owner complains that the reel is very rough and lost all its original creamy smooth feel.

One crank of the reel and you are immediately greeted with metal-to-metal rubbing roughness. Even the knobs produces squeaking noise when spinning. Time to strip this BC down for a thorough service.

Rough Ryoga selfie with new RCS rubber coated cork knobs.

Without a doubt, there will be back play on the handle especially when the reel's long over-due for a  check-up. Grease or oil usually gets into the one-way bearings creating slippage. Video below as proof.



As for the squeaky knob, the culprit was quickly discovered. Rust. Serious rust damage resulting in powdered bearings. The inner races of the bearing was somewhat fused onto the knob shaft making it very difficult to remove the knobs and bearings. Plenty of rust remover and prying needed to get the bearing and knob out.

Powdered knob bearings (top) where you can't tell between the shaft or bearings. Bottom row shows rust corrosion and pitting. This calls for some serious rust removal rubbing and also machine polishing to remove permanent pitting.

Oil seem to have spread all over the magforce brake system (top). Free spool support bearings are in good condition but a tad dry and rough (bottom).

Internal gear looks ok. One-way bearing's all rusty and gunked up.

Looks nasty but a quick contact clean up shows that they are just surface rust grime. Upon cleaning, there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage on the roller shaft or bearing pins.

Top right, pinion support bearing's all jammed up with rust. Bottom, as usual, rubber sealed but can't seem to stop water intrusion as intended. Water and grease all over the drag system.

One of the free spool support bearing's got some rust on the retainer cage. Not sure if there are any permanent damage on the bearing balls or races. This will need some revival procedure using rust removal and also ultrasonic cleaning.

All the parts awaiting for an ultrasonic bath.

Some parts do really well after ultrasonic bath and some just need a bit more of the good-ol scrubbing.

Since this reel will be heavily used for salty bashing, the best option would be to pack bearings with marine grease for maximum protection. Free spool support bearing only needs light oil.

Crank case scrubbed down and contact cleaned in preparation for new protective coating (left). Protective marine grease coating on all internal surfaces for maximum protection (right)

Light oil on the insides and marine grease coating outside for free spool support bearing (top, left). Generous amounts of marine grease rubbed all over everything that moves (top right and bottom)

Drag stack lightly coated with drag grease during installation. Gears coated with Daiwa's own sticky salt water grease for creamy smooth cranks.

Externally brushed to remove grime (top). New knob bearings fully loaded with marine grease for maximum protection from salt water bashing.

When the one-way bearing's properly clean and lubed with one-way bearing oil, you get smoothness in cranks and firm stopping power without back plays. Grease or other light oil will create slippage but not one-way bearing oil. Video proof below.

Revived and slightly pimped. Creamy smooth crank is back with maximum protection.

No more squeaking, no more rough riding. This Ryoga is back at its best with Daiwa's signature creamy smooth cranks. Ready to take on some serious salty bashing once again.

Antares shines bright

Together with the handle-less Ryoga and Lin 10C, this Shimano Antares have fought many battles and are in need of a check up. No specific complains whatsoever, just a little bit of roughness when cranking.

As bling as it can be, this Antares needs to be cleaned up good for it to really shine again. This is of the latest variant with micromodule gears for smoother cranking feel and reduced vibration. Some say that the micromodule gear is weak and are easily destroyed when fighting big fish. According to this owner who regularly fish hard with this reel battling giant snake heads and occasionally needing to deal with heavy cover has no issue whatsoever with the micromodule gears.

Shiny bling ball needs to shine brighter with a thorough clean up.

As the flagship low profile bait cast model from Shimano, the Antares is all about perfection and detail. Even the handle shaft is nicely machined to include stepped lip for proper bearing fitment and contact. Regular reels get shims instead.

Machined shaft with stepped lip towards the handle. Bearings a little rough and some early signs of rust is visible on one of the 4 bearings.

The insides look very messy with grease all over the crank case. Carbon fiber drag disc is custom cut to fit.

Quick visual inspection on the gears reveal no premature damages nor wear and tear (top). Tough stuff. Contact cleaned and brushed all round to make way for new protective grease coating (bottom).

Upon removal of the inner pinion support bearing, where most water intrusion would occur seeping through between the spool and reel body, signs of rust is visible both out and inside the bearing. The bearing's seized and would need some elbow grease using rust remover and then some revival procedure.

Top, seized bearing with rust inside (red pointer). Several rounds of elbow grease rubbing using rust removal is needed before tossing it together with other parts that needs to be ultrasonic cleaned.

Spanking clean after ultrasonic bath. Most parts also rubbed down with protective grease. Visual inspection of the micro module gear shows no signs of premature wear. Micro module gear scores 1 against myth.

Top left, revived without rust in sight. Bearing seems to be spinning without much resistance or roughness even when dry. It's a good sign that the rust didn't do much permanent damage to the insides. Good to go with new marine grease packing for maximum protection (top right, bottom).

Left, one-way bearing cleaned and nicely coated with new one-way bearing oil. Revived pinion support bearing back into crank case (right).

Protective grease coats everything inside (left). Layering drag grease during drag stack assembly. The gear's being coated with Shimano's own heavy grease for their signature smooth feel.

Antares ready to shine.

This Antares seems to be properly put through its paces with plenty of old grease all over the crank case. Some bearings already running dry while another's seized up due to dry rust. No permanent damages founds and easily revived to shine like a proper Antares reel. Micro module gear wins the first round against myth.

Lin 10C gets a clean up

After an exciting stripped screw Ryoga fix, this will be a simple clean up act instead. A sexy Megabass Lin 10C. Unlike the Ryoga, this reel's strictly being fished fresh only. Externally, it looks great and well cared for. Mechanicals are all in order but the knobs feels a little rough and dry.

Lin 10C ready to be cleaned up.

As usual, well used reel usually has a bit of back play on the handles as grease can work its way into the one-way bearing creating slippage. Video below shows what I mean with back play.



Knob bearings are already bone dry and in need of thorough clean up and lubed with grease. Ultrasonic cleaning bath would usually do the trick in metal surface preparation for new grease coating & packing.

No rust, just bone dry.

The Lin 10C is a tuned version of the Ryoga with new set of gears for heavy weight cranking action such as deep crank baits and spinner baits. Specifications say that this is for fresh water application only. Upon opening the crank case, main gear's in anodized red and most likely of a different material. Megabass decided to also remove the rubber seals for the drag system.

Custom tuned heavy weight cranking gears in anodized red. No rubber seals here.

Mostly lubed just enough. Much to be improved.

As for the drag system and gears, it's a tuned version with red anodize. After regular usage, some of its anodized coating's worn off and mixed in with drag grease and water.

Red anodized coating mixed with lube and water (top, green pointer). Worn off drag disc surface (bottom, green pointer). Tuned up version uses a combination of carbon fiber and gasket type drag discs. This is for smoothness in drag take at the same time offering powerful and consistent fish stopping power.

One-way bearings dirty and its got grease all over the rollers and shaft. Contact cleaning will remove all traces of lubrication and should prepare the surface for a new coat of one-way bearing oil. Bottom, free spool bearing's in excellent condition, nothing serious needed, just a drop of light oil each.

All this Lin 10C needs is a quick cleaning on all internal surfaces and give it a new coat of protective grease. As for the drag system, old drag grease needs to be rid off and surface preparation for a new coating of drag grease.

Thorough grease removal before reapplying new drag grease on the drag system (top). Gearing is covered with Daiwa's own creamy thick grease for that creamy smooth cranking feel (bottom).

As for the cleaned up and re-oiled one-way bearing, there was no back play to be found upon reassembly giving this Lin 10C like-new firm cranks with zero back play hesitation. Video below shows the difference.

Like-new! Ready to get cranking.

This Megabass Lin 10C has just been restored back to 'like-new' condition with more than ever internal surface protection as well as the elimination of any handle back play. It should serve the owner very well for a long time to come.

Screwed & Stripped Ryoga

A friend recently handed me a bunch of bait casters for inspection and regular maintenance. They all offer a wide variety of challenges and issues to be looked at. I'll start with the handle-less Daiwa Ryoga. Apparently the handle's at another workshop being looked at for fitment modifications.

This Ryoga's been through quite a bit battle with some external accidental damages to the housing. Apart from that, everything seems to be in excellent working condition.

Handle-less Daiwa Ryoga. Brake side plate removal shows clean spool support bearing on one side.

The owner admitted that he may have been a tad over ambitious when tightening the screws as he loathes any free play in any of his gear. I can relate to how irritating this can be when you cannot fully count on your gear to focus on the task at hand to lure your target species.

It is quite common among Ryoga owners for over tightening the screws just like a previous customer's reel which had to be sent back to Daiwa factory for rethreading. It's not a design flaw, just that most people don't know how much can the aluminum body take as we generally gravitate towards 'tighter is better'. It's a balance in getting the right amount of torque to secure the screws onto the body without stripping the thread. The difference between just tight enough to stripping the thread could be just a quarter turn away.

Tough screws, not so for the aluminum body. Thread's been stripped clean out of the Ryoga body (red pointer). Re-threading is definitely in the cards here, more on that later.

Not been serviced much but it's definitely been cleaned and rinsed off after use. Grease and grime splatter all over the crank case. Drag system is soaked in water and grease (bottom left). Drag water proofing design doesn't quite work as with previous Ryogas I've serviced to date.

Bearings are all in good working condition with no rust damages (top left). Just grimy and rough. Some effort's been put in to lube up the internals with grease (top right). Mixture of water and grease in the drag system (red pointers).

The first real damage found. Emergency anti-reverse cam guide's been munched up (red pointer). Possibly from serious fish fight or something caused it to slip and clip the guide onto other mechanical parts within the crank case. Not a deal breaker, a trim off would do to prevent further damages.

Shields removed on most bearings and ready for ultrasonic cleaning bath together with some dirty parts.

Ultrasonic bath in action (above) and spanking clean after (bottom)

The sum of all parts after ultrasonic cleaning and some elbow grease scrubbing on bigger mechanical parts.

Scrubbed down and contact cleaned to prepare all internal surfaces for a new coat of protective grease.

One way bearing's cleaned out and lubed with one-way bearing oil. No signs of rust on the bearing and a new coat of one-way oil brings back firm stopping power with no back plays.

All bearings are in excellent condition. Contact cleaned right after ultrasonic bath to prepare all metal surfaces for new packing of marine grease. This reel will see some salt water action.

Putting them back together layered with protective grease. Emergency anti-reverse cam guide given a straight forward trim (red pointer). Worm gear shaft ready for grease coating too.

Drag grease coat on, layer after layer. One-way bearing shaft cleaned and coated with one-way bearing oil for maximum stopping power.

Now back to the stripped screw threads on the crank case. Now that the existing screw thread's out of the body, it needs to be rethreaded. This means the original screws will no longer fit and calls for slightly bigger screws to match the new threads.

Stock screws replaced with pimped up purple bling aluminum cap screws. Light and strong, just don't over tighten them

Replacing 2 screws would mean looking quite odd. May as well replace them all for a more consistent pimped up look.

Almost ready to flash its full-on bling. Everything's rocking creamy smooth!

Another revived Ryoga being ready for more battle with some unintended bling to go with it.