Stella SW10000 loose crank

Here's new case file for my reel repairs and servicing. A very well seasoned Shimano Stella SW10000 that has battled countless GTs and other big bruisers off shore. As a result, somewhat, there is now an excessive amount of freeplay on the crank handle.

It's definitely not the anti-reverse (one-way) bearing failure as you can see from the video below, while cranking, I gripped the rotor preventing it from rotating. Upon opening the crank case, the issue was obvious on the main gear.

Loose screws. These screws usually come properly thread locked but I suspect this reel has battled far too many big bruisers resulting in loose screws on the main gear. If this is left as per, it will never be able to survive another battle and more severe and permanent damages will be produced inside the crank case.

All the screws were easily undone with little to no traces of thread locker in place. Odd. Also note some of the off coloured gear tooth on the upper right, typical wear and tear.

A thorough degreasing and contact cleaned is necessary for this rebuild in order for the thread locker to properly adhere to the threads. Only a thin coat of thread locker is needed to secure the gear to the shaft.

Note the thin coat of thread locker on screws, excess can be absorbed using paper towels.

As usual, the insides of the crank case is bone dry, possibly never been serviced the day it's out of the box fishing. A complete marine grease rub down as well as bearing checks is done as a routine maintenance. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Nice rub down. Excellent inner condition with some signs of gear wear and tear but isn't a deal breaker.

Line roller has seen some serious battle with some light damages sustained possibly caused by binding washers. Thorough clean up and marine grease packed into the entire assembly to prevent water intrusion. Bearings are also in excellent condition.

Early detection of a loose crank handle is key to preventing gear failure. Luckily, this is in between off shore trips and a quick fix is done before it starts to really destroy the gears or any other internal parts.

Innovative Stella SW5000

This incident belongs to the archives of the x-files. It's got some innovative features that enables the use of a knob that belongs to a smaller category of reels. It's even got some fancy new stack of hardware in place as bearings.

Shimano spinning reel usually comes with either one of their size-A or size-B knobs depending on the size of the reels. Which also means, they come with different sized bearings for fitting.

This is a Shimano Stella SW5000 (2007) and they supposedly comes equipped with size-B knobs and bearings. Instead, we have a size-A knob fitted, owner complains that there's freeplay on the knob with suspicion of failed bearings. Line roller also needs some attention because it's decided to stop rolling.

First off, line roller. I seriously wonder what was being hauled that would result in melted metal bits fused and crumpled together. Unsolved mystery this is.

The horror unfolds. Top aluminum cover (left) for the line roller assembly looks like it's been corroded with signs of heavy pitting. Right red, that's metal fused together! Green being new replacement line roller.

With such a nasty damage done to the line roller, I had to check if the drag's ok. Surprisingly, it's perfectly fine and just needs a quick clean up and a new layer of drag grease.

No melting, no signs of brutal fish drag that connects to the molten line roller.

Drag clicker under the spool is messed up with water and gunk. A simple clean up and lube up is all it needs to hit the water clicking again.

Filthy drag clicker needs a shower!

We now look at the mother of all innovation. There was quite a bit of wobble with some binding when spinning the knob.

Split rings (red) to fill the space as shaft extension between the shaft and the screw for the bearing to run on. Shims (orange) used in place of a bearing (closer to crank side) because there are no bearings made in this dimension.

So, how do you fit a size-A knob with smaller and shorter mounting shaft into a bigger size-B bigger and longer mounting knob shaft? You fill the gap creatively with split rings and shim spacers. There are no bearings made in this small dimension and this is as good as having a fixed, non spinning knob into the Stella. Funny enough, the line roller melted with a proper functioning bearings while this spins with some binding. There are no two ways around this but to replace the size-A knob with a proper size-B knob.

While I'm at it, the insides look battle worn and can't help but to give it a nice clean up and marine grease rub down.

At first, I was shocked to see split rings and shims in this battle worn Stella but it surely made me laugh at how innovative of a solution this was. Where there's a will there's a way they say.

Ocea Jigger - no metal mincer edition

After we've discovered that the metal mincing edition of a Shimano Ocea Jigger can be fixed, a friend hesitated no more and got himself a new Shimano Ocea Jigger. Straight out of the box before the mincer part was removed, he was complaining about a light ringing sensation when cranking. The Ocea Jigger is a dream to use when paired with a slow pitch jigging rod, especially with Evergreen's Poseidon Slow Pitch Jerker. The thing with the ringing is like buying an expensive luxury car you paid through blood and sweat to discover that on the day you drive it off from the showroom, there's rattling noise coming out from the interior trimmings.

Right after our recent offshore trip, he immediately handed it to me to get it fixed, lube the insides and give it a drag upgrade.

Do not be deceived by its tiny stature. This reel would later haul up a lunker of a grouper after its performance upgrade without breaking a sweat.

This is a PG model with lower gear ratios for more cranking power versus speedier retrieve on the HG.

As expected from a new reel, it's bone dry with plenty of improvement to be found for protection and damage risks reduction.

Metal mincer edition parts in red. Where they used to be in green. Simple.

The first part you see is the metal mincer upon opening the crank case. It's easily accessible and removed without complications. Layer by layer as you peel them off to lube and coat every imaginable surface of the insides.

Sum of all evil parts. Don't think it'll be missed much. Not especially that it rattles like a toy. Body bagged!

Once the offending part's been removed, it's time to lube up the internals for maximum protection as this reel isn't waterproof but water do pass through with drainage ports around the bottom of the case. Therefore it's only logical to coat every surface available with marine grease to displace any possible salt water build up inside especially in the event of total reel submersion into salt water.

Looks bare but fully functional without the metal mincer.

We'll start from the furthest end of the reel where the sole bearing that supports the spool sits snugly in the housing. Retainer pin removed, bearing packed, all surface coated and back into the housing.

Marine grease brush down, bearings packed with marine grease. Note that this isn't use for casting, therefore grease is fine for spool support bearings for maximum protection instead of free spinning ability. Additional grease to fill the void between the bearings and spool shaft+body.

Stock drag that comes with this reel is somewhat too light for the kind of fish we haul up from the deep and we felt that it doesn't have enough stopping power to deny fat lunkers lunging for their homes. Custom and beefier carbontex drag is needed for the job for more stopping power.

A comparison between stock drag vs custom sized carbontex drag discs. Note the big difference in diameter as well as the amount of space available on the drag disc system. Thickness of the drag needs to be matched against the stock drag to avoid misalignment of gear and the entire drag stack.

As usual, layer by layer of rebuild is interspersed with marine grease coating for maximum protection. Thread locked screws need not be reapplied as it is still very new with plenty of hold available.

Here's how a Shimano Ocea Jigger - no metal minder edition looks like with beefier drag system.

Right after the fix, we had another off shore session and that's when this reel managed to stop a lunker and hauled up a fatty grouper. Ringing sensation gone, drag pull was steady and strong. Another happy slow jigger with many more happy endings for this angler.

Fatty lunker denied its home run.

Minced metal Ocea Jigger

My friends and I have been jigging with the Shimano Ocea Jigger for a while and we've got some mixed reaction towards this amazingly compact reel. The massive downsizing of the previous Ocea Jigger to this new Ocea Jigger has its pros and cons. What you gain from ergonomics, you trade-off cranking power as they scale down gear dimensions. In line with the overall theme of downsizing, some parts weren't given the right treatment as we discovered later that there's a bit of a flaw in the design of its (in)famously loud drag clicker. Some people have been wary of this reel as there were also peer reports of premature failures on the first jig drop.

A while back, on an offshore jigging trip, a friend's Ocea Jigger suffered a weird failure while retrieving a fish from the deep. The reel sounded like a nut cracker, cranking was difficult at first, he proceeded to slowly crank on with occasional binding. It felt as if a bearing exploded with metal bits got stuck between the gears. It definitely sounded bad and he feared for the worse of munched up internals. That's how this Ocea Jigger ended up on my operating theater.

As a refresher, I've previously examined this suspicious part and I've decided to disengage the clicker on my Ocea Jigger as it sounded like a cheap rattling toy. This time around, we discovered the real flaw and the potential risk damage this part of the reel can produce.

Looks hot outside, not so on the inside.

When the crank case cover was unscrewed, the horror exposed. Minced metal served on the top drag plate of the main gear! The thin metal piece that was holding the drag clicker plastic gear in place got munched up good.

Powdered metal shavings everywhere inside the crank case. Bottom picture shows how some of the metal bits got caught between the main gear and the crank case cover digging a nasty groove on the crank case cover.

This is how it should be. A flimsy thin metal piece loosely holding a plastic ring with gear teeth that drives the clicker arm attached to the crank case cover. I initially thought this part to be little odd but figured that it shouldn't be off concern as it didn't need to take on any kind of cranking load, just a simple drag clicker push.

To further assess the damage, main and pinion gears were the next to be examined as it is the most critical mechanical part as there was binding experienced when it first happened.

Visual inspection didn't reveal any damages on both gears. These are definitely very strong and durable alloy material used. Further magnified visual checks upon degreasing and contact cleaning didn't reveal a single scratch on the gears. Amazing stuff really.

Powdered metal shavings everywhere meant that the entire gear box needs to be thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt with all bearings checked to ensure no further damages sustained.

Top picture shows how fragile and thin this metal piece is. Definitely a design flaw that will risk binding and making minced metal in the crank case. Metal shavings served all over the drag stack too.

Crank case side full strip down revealed quite a bit of minced metal all over. Luckily, none got into the one-way bearing as it was spinning and stopping as expected without binding. Everything else was either covered or sprinkled with minced metal. In my opinion, I believe that this metal retainer piece is just too flimsy for the job even though it's to hold something rather light with very little load on it when cranked. My theory is that there was an odd angle load transfer from the clicker arm onto the plastic gear forcing it into a 'prying' action thus the metal retainer flexing outward catching the crank case cover.

Stripped down, some scrubbed, some brushed with degreaser and contact cleaner to ensure no degreasing compound's left on any of the surface. This is to ensure proper grease coating during reassembly.

Typically, a reassembly would mean switching between inspection and lubrication. This goes on from the bottom most layer (closest to spool) all the way out the the handle. Inspect, lube, assemble.

Layering marine grease in between inspection and assembly. Top right picture shows the offending and damaged part removed. The choice is yours if you choose to retain the screws in the hopes of replacing the damaged part in the future.

Almost ready to battle once again. Drag clicker gear will be out of the picture in the mean time.

This Shimano Ocea Jigger thought us all an important lesson if we were to prolonged its lifespan and fishing enjoyment. Removing the 'flawed' part would reduce any risk of making minced metal pieces in the crank case. I for one would definitely remove it for peace of mind as I quite like this reel for its size and jigging feel when perfectly matched with either a long fall or slow pitch rod. It provides a lot more feedback from jig action and fish bite detection compared to a spinning reel. You can distinctly tell if the sea floor is muddy, sandy or even rocky as it provides crisp feedback.

With this simple solution of removing the not too crucial offending part, friends who's previously shied away from purchasing a Shimano Ocea Jigger are no longer concern over any premature failure of this amazing reel. Another friend was kind enough to quickly hand me his newly purchased Ocea Jigger to remove the offending part, drag upgrade and marine grease rub down on its internals before heading out for our next off shore jigging trip.

To wrap this post up, here's a video when this Shimano Ocea Jigger failed. See if you can spot the ailing reel in action!

Video courtesy of Tackle Source TV.