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.