No return for Scorpion Antares

Here's a look at a slick bait casting reel. The Scorpion Antares. A friend dropped this reel over for an overdue service and issue fix after a few days of snakehead hunting. The issue is that the free spool thumb bar refuse to return after being engaged. Something must have gotten loose or perhaps broken.

This reel's got some fancy designs which you seldom find on regular or reels made today. First thing you'll notice is the smooth looking handles without the unsightly lock nut in the center.

No unsightly lock nut found. Fancy handle design hides the ugly lock nut to achieve and overall smooth and rounded reel finish. We'll see how it's done later.

A few cranks suggest that there's something grinding metal to metal as there's roughness sensed. First to be checked, the knobs.

Knob bearing's probably never been serviced. Some rust found on the knob shaft (above). Some rubbing and buffing needed to remove the rust. Some pitting found as a result of prolonged rust corrosion (below) but nothing major.

The no return free spool thumb bar was quickly discovered to be caused by a loose lock nut. The handles were spinning but not the shaft, hence not being able to disengage the free spool release. No issues there.

The fancy handle's held in place using 2 screws and a metal plate (green). Unsightly old-school lock nut hidden by the smooth handles (red).

Star drag out and nothing out of the ordinary.

Main shaft bearing looks to have sustained some rust damage (red) while the one way bearing seems ok and smooth. Further checks needed to assess the condition of the one way bearing.

Brake side free spool support bearing looks like it just came out of the factory. Smooth and free spinning without any roughness sensed. Possibly just need a new drop of speedy oil.

This reel's got an internal chassis covered using external plates used to form the smooth round shape. As a result, water splashes getting everywhere into especially hard to reach areas where you rarely tear the reel down for regular cleaning. Nothing major, just unsightly if you do see it when servicing. These are permanent pitting damage and removal means sanding off the top layer. Not recommended as it will remove the chrome layer. Metal bristled brushing and a thick coat of marine grease coating is sufficient to protect and stop it from further corrosion and pitting.

Pitting from corrosion where the light don't shine but water do seep through with little chance of being regularly cleaned.

As far as the mechanical design concept is concern, it's pretty much the same as any reels found today with little differences in materials or evolutionary updates.

Internals look all dried up with lots of gunk all over. Just needs some elbow grease cleaning, ultra sonic bath and fresh coat of grease.

The one way bearing looks dirty and grimy but smooth. Quick contact cleaned and a fresh layer of one way bearing oil is applied while the crank plate is also brushed and contact cleaned.

Worm gear support bearing looks like it's been to hell and back. Still spinning but a tad rough. Drags are in good condition, regular cleaning would do.

All the usual suspects ready to be ultra sonic cleaned (above). Murky left overs after 2 rounds of cleaning (bottom).

Most parts visibly look ok after the ultrasonic bath. All bearings spin freely without any noticeable roughness.

The bunch of rusty bearings doesn't seem to have any permanent rust damage hence a fresh pack of marine grease would do fine to get it up to speed. Free spool bearing gets new speedy oil.

Fresh coat of marine grease to displace any water intrusion. Plastic gears are in excellent condition after rust and gunk removal, no permanent damage found.

The internals what you generally get from reels today. Just slight differences here and there. As seen here, layered in marine grease on most surfaces, drag grease on the drag stack.

The mechanical brake side bearing seems to be susceptible to plenty of water intrusion hence the external layer of marine grease which will be ok to retain free spinning of the spool for distance casting.

A solidly built reel, a tad old school with many fancy designs in place before manufacturing breakthroughs found on today's reel.

Quality of the materials used in this reel seem to have better durability compared to reels made today. Case in point would be the rusty bearings found to have no permanent damages and are easily revived compared to some of the bearings found on today's reels regularly fail without any chance of revival.