This noisy Daiwa wants a second life and a rebuild will be necessary to return it back to its Ballistically smooth ways. Owner of this reel wants to see if the 'grinding' noise can be eliminated so that he can happily hand it down to his son for a second wave of fish battles.
Daiwa Ballistic, made mostly out of carbon composite material, very light reel.
External inspection didn't reveal much but the grinding noise was very pronounced coming from the rotor or spool. Even when the spool's removed, the noise is still there. Noise was gone only when the rotor was removed. A different grinding feeling was evident when cranking without the rotor, which I'll come back to that in a bit.
This reel is made mostly out of carbon composite material in pursuit of lightness. What this also means is that it flexes when loaded heavily. A firm grip on the rotor on one hand and the other on the body will reveal a little bit of flexing when squeezed. This instance, the rotor flexes quite a bit and therefore rubbing against the reel body, hence the 'noise'. There isn't much to be done about this but to put up with it while fishing.
The different grinding feeling without the rotor indicates that either the gears worn off or some of the bearings are dirty. A strip down would soon reveal what's causing the grinding feel.
Spool seat, teflon shims, lower spool support bearing's in excellent condition. Drag stack is clean and wet, upper spool bearing support is fine too. Oscillating gear and bearing works wonderfully tool.
Most of the internal parts seem to be in excellent working condition without any signs of bashing or wear and tear. The only thing that isn't ideal is the mixture of oil and grease all over the gear box. Anti-reverse bearing was over flowing with oil oozing out when dismantled.
Main gear still has grease on most important bits, no excessive wear found. Pinion gear seems fine but the one-way bearing is flooded with oil. Floating shaft shows a bit of wear but no damages.
The culprit was mostly dirty bearings as they refuse to spin freely or smoothly. The bearings didn't show any signs of rust and it's usually a very good indication for a successful rebuild.
Crank shaft bearing removed to reveal no lubrication inside, light or heavy, just a little rough. Bail arm mechanism's dirty as well, cleaning should be simple and no rocket science involved.
The remainder of the bearings also showed some damaged roughness and this calls for the ultra sonic cleaner. Bearings seals removed, gunk or grease brushed off before dunking them into the bath.
Naked bearings getting their bits shaken to remove stubborn dirt.
Damage free bearings were free spinning like never before. Gear box cleaned off old grease and oil, new marine grease coated. Main gear, pinion gear and floating shaft thoroughly brushed and contact cleaned ready for a new layer of marine grease.
Ultra sonic cleaning has revealed true conditions of the bearings involved. Good ones tend to spin freely and damaged ones will stop abruptly. As the video below shows, first bearing's in good condition while the second one's a little damaged.
This Daiwa Ballistic will continue to serve the owner and live out its second life very well with further TLC over time and perform fixes earlier on when discovered to be behaving oddly. A surprising find is that the external condition looks a lot more weathered than what's inside which I at first thought would be a gruesome find. Time for this Daiwa to take on its second life and go Ballistic fish fighting once again!
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