Certate Cancer Bust

A friend decided to give this old trusty reel another freshwater session before sending in for an overdue service. His Daiwa Certate's seen some light jigging for pelagics as well as fresh water temensis bashing. During a recent temensis hunt, I could hear weird noises coming out of this reel while fishing next to him. He too acknowledged that it needs to be looked at after being in storage for a while.

It's lost all of its signature Daiwa's creamy smoothness of a crank and free spinning. Everything seemed rough and grindy therefore making weird noises even without load.

Not a twitchy screw in sight while waiting to be operated.

First to be examined, the EVA knob. Nothing much to be examined as the knob was nicely stuck on the shaft. Most likely rust has fused the bearings onto the shaft and knob. It took quite a bit of rust remover, twisting, light knocking, and prying in order for the knob to come off. Once it's off, everything inside decides to just fall off in pieces. Inner bearing was in a million rusty pieces. Terminal cancer found.

Inner bearing race (red), still pretty much stuck and refuse to come off the shaft. The shaft's possibly sustained some rust pitting throughout. Shield retainer clip and bearing balls all over (green) with some odd fibrous material as well. The outer bearing race and retainer (blue) was still lodged in the knob. The shield's no where to be found, probably disintegrated.

The knob shaft looks like it has sustained some rust pitting and in need of serious rust removal treatment, buffing, and polishing. I suspect it'll be fine after, but we'll have to wait and see.

Ball bearing retainer (blue) drops out from the knob after a few prod. Inner bearing race (green) breaks apart when it's off the shaft as a result from rust damage and rusty balls (red) crunching all over it.

Some weed fiber (top left) was found stuck inside, don't ask me how that got there. Outer bearing race (blue) finally dislodged from the knob with more rust remover soaked in followed by some light prying. One of the 2 shields (red) appear looking quite munched up. Shims were all intact with minimal rust damage.

Rust removal wasn't enough to completely remove all the rust. It needed some elbow grease rubbing off stubborn stains. The shaft had some light pitting and all it needs is a little polishing and buffing to bring it back to near pristine condition.

Skid marks show that sometimes elbow grease is necessary. The shaft looks and feels very smooth after polishing. A little bit of buffing after this will be necessary to finish off the surface to a nice smooth sheen.

The inside of the knob also needs some rust removal and cleaning. The job is a lot easier compared to the shaft as it's an aluminum housing. Some rust removal and light scrubbing is all it needs.

Top left, before. Top right, after. Bottom, new salt water resistant bearing fully loaded with marine grease nicely packed into the knob housing ready to be reassembled later on.

Next up was the line roller. Typically a place where you find seized or jammed bearings. This Certate's pretty ok in the line laying roller department. It's all gunked up for sure and rust has started to form around the outsides of the bearing. No permanent damages done yet as the bearing's still rotating fine with just a little bit of grit felt.

Top, gunked up assembly, rust removal, contact cleaned and ultrasonic bath for the bearings. Bottom, assembled and packed with grease in and out as well as the entire housing.

Moving in further towards the crank case, first to be examined would be the magseal as well as one-way bearing. It was a little shocking to see that there were no magseal oil in place and seemed to have spread all over the shield and one-way bearing collar. Magseal oil stains were actually dry. Curious.

Top, magseal oil stains everywhere, dry stains too. Bottom, some signs of rust on the one-way bearing collar meant that the one-way bearing also needs to be thoroughly cleaned.

Top, dried up magseal oil leaving behind the semi-solid ferrous gunk. Bottom, failed magseal means water seeps in, water stains and rust started to form outside the pinion gear shaft bearing retainer.

Once the crank case was exposed, it's evident that the reel's not been serviced often nor was it prepared for maximum protection. Bone dry, not a spot of grease or lubrication in sight.

Bone dry, nothing to see here, move along.

When most of the internal parts have been removed, rust has started work here reaching into the inner bearing of the pinion gear. Bearings are rotating but coarse. A combination of grease and rust.

Rust and grease gunk on the inner bearing and most of the internal parts. Rough bearings all round.

Top left and right, rust forming, grease and rust gunk. Bottom left, proper wear of the main gear evident, no premature damages. Bottom right, satellite gear support bearing was also rusty (blue) with water all over the crank bearing housing assembly (red).

Overall, all the bearings need ultrasonic bath and rebuild for proper revival. Other parts with rust started to make its way in would also need to be thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt.

Rust removal, degreased, contact cleaned. Made possibly only with some trusty elbow grease rubbing and scrubbing.

The gears seemed well worn and warrants further close up inspection. As claimed by Daiwa, the gears are digitally designed and machined. There are signs that clearly shows how it's made, tooling marks and grids. Wear and tear will slowly grind these marks and grids to a smooth finish.

Left, see the diagonal line across all the gears? Right, green shows the tooling marks are starting to smooth out. Red shows some scuffing possibly due to heavy cranking with load while fighting fish. The wear is very consistent and there is nothing to be worried about.

The pinion gear also show signs of proper wear and tear but harder to spot due to it's helical curve gear shape. Green shows virgin bits. Red shows the even wear from main gear contact. Again, consistent wear and tear.

All the bearings would need to be stripped apart for a thorough ultrasonic cleaning bath, visual checks, physical spin checks, degreased, contact cleaned, and lubricated.

No visible signs of rust inside. Close up inspection will be necessary after the ultrasonic bath.

Top left, bearings sits on a wire mesh lifted off the bottom for debris to fall through sinking to the bottom. Top right, ultrasonic bath in action. Bottom, bearings still soaked in solvent after 2 rounds of cleaning like bbq meat flipping.

Once it's out of the ultrasonic cleaner, a few quick spins will tell if there are any damages sustained in the bearings. Only one bearing seem to have a bit of roughness and that means further close up inspection is needed.

Top, visual inspection revealed no damages. Bottom right, some rust found around the outside shield seat. Not a deal breaker, just needs a bit more rust removal and scrubbing before a proper rebuild.

All bearings were degreased and contact clean to ensure the surfaces are clean from solvents and ready for marine grease coating and packing. You don't need speed from these bearings, you want smooth and consistent cranking power. Packing them will also give it maximum protection from any form of water intrusion and creamy smooth action that will connect you closer to the end of the line.

Marine grease packed and shielded ready to be reinstalled into the reel.

A clean crank case will not be battle ready without a nice protective coat of marine grease to displace water in the event of intrusion. The Daiwa Certate isn't 100% sealed and water do seep through the gaps between the case.

Nice grease coat on all surfaces for maximum protection and water displacement.

All internal parts would be best coated with marine grease. Mechanical parts need a bit more slapped on, give it a few gear contact spins and slap in a bit more to ensure it's properly covered with a little bit of excess oozing out the sides.

As for the magseal oil, Daiwa don't sell them as they do not expect their reels to be serviced as the concept itself is to eliminate the need for self servicing. This Certate will be reassembled without magseal oil and extra care is needed for the owner to avoid submersion into water or water spray directly into the magseal assembly.

Fully rebuilt, bearings revived, some replaced, and battle ready once again close to being minty, creamy Daiwa smooth.

A complete rebuild meant that the reel's been brought back closer to it's original state of creamy Daiwa smooth feel and battle ready once again. The only thing missing would be the magseal oil as there are no replacement to be sold. The reel will work just fine without the magseal as the construction of the reel isn't even 100% sealed.

The magseal concept is great but it only seals the one-way bearing collar but the assembly's held together onto a plastic housing with no further seals around the housing. Water can easily seep trough around the plastic magseal housing into the one-way bearing as well as the crank case. Which in effect defeats the purpose of having a seal.

I personally think this Daiwa Certate will do just fine without the magseal and should be back out fighting fish for as long as the owner remembers to avoid water submersion and intentional water spraying into the magseal case.