Twinpower 12k GT bashing

A friend checked this Twinpower SW12000 in for a routine maintenance and check up before heading off in search for some bruiser GTs. This reel's survived some monster hauling somewhere in the pacific and will soon be tasked to fight some bruisers somewhere around the Andamans.

The reel's very smooth but a tad rough indicating some needed TLC inside.

First rust bust, crank handle screw. Rust deposits found, Wire brushing and contact clean is all it needs.

Next, some pitting found on the anodized coating surrounding the base of the knob shaft. No rust found on the knob bearings but they are rough and dry. To be queued for ultrasonic bath together with some other dirty parts.

With numerous locked-drag GT bruising previously, the drag's taken a toll and signs of fatigue shows in the form of excessive carbon deposits collected within the drag system. The carbon drags all look well worn, thin and frail. One of the discs looked like it's starting to tear.

Orange, plenty of carbon deposits. Red, base carbon disc's about to tear soon.

Stock drags thickness for this reel are usually within 0.5mm thick with a variance of around 0.05mm. 3 of the 4 discs are a little too thin to last. The base drag (lower right) registers a 0.54mm for a drag's supposedly stock thickness of 0.7mm.

Carbon deposits built up in the spool. Before (left), and after (right) cleaning.

The existing drags would most probably last another short session of GT bashing and would eventually need to be replaced. So a clean up and new lubrication would do for now until the owner gets himself some replacement discs.

The last act before going for a full replacement. New drag grease coats the entire drag system.

Line roller's free spinning on bone dry bearings. Line laying roller shaft screw and retainer screw seems to have some rust deposits too.

Top left, tiny bit of rust on the screw. Top right, rust juice found on the bail wire end cup. Lower left, some nasty bruiser must have did this light binding damage. Lower right, rust all around the bearing and spacer sleeve. Bearings seem to be spinning rough but ok. We'll later see if they are just external damages only.

This reel's been serviced before previously by another provider. Some of the parts were installed (green) wrong side up while some light damages found on the rotor retainer nut (red) as a result of tool slippage. Light damages are ok but if there are burrs that sticks out too far, it needs to be removed in order for the rubber seal to be seated properly as well as the plastic cover to snugly fit over the nut.

Moving further inwards, the one way bearing's gotten some light rust build up on the roller pins (red). Old grease (blue) need to be completely removed to make way for new coat of marine grease.

Rough parts ready to be ultrasonic cleaned. Bottom, round one done, on to the second round.

The pinion gear seems to be well worn with the uniform wear pattern found across the main gear contact patch. Nothing out of the ordinary, no signs of premature wear. Ok to go GT bashing.

As for some of the bearings, they seem to have suffered external rust damages with little roughness found when spinning. They too are ok for GT bashing. Just need new packing of marine grease.

The balls and retainer looks clean and smooth after a general visual and spin inspection. Off it goes contact cleaned and ready for marine grease packing.

The housing's brushed and contact clean in preparation for a new coat of marine grease.

Grease packing in action (top left). Top right, grease loaded bearing in place for line roller shaft. Bottom, marine grease packed system occupying all the space available. No space left for water intrusion.

Upon brushing and contact cleaning the bail arm, just pack some additional grease around the screw and lock system as a redundancy for corrosion prevention.

Another trusty and super reliable Shimano Twinpower that's taken plenty of bruising and yet with very little issues found. Another win for Twinpower against the Stella. Off this goes to some GT bashing in the Andamans.