Antares shines bright

Together with the handle-less Ryoga and Lin 10C, this Shimano Antares have fought many battles and are in need of a check up. No specific complains whatsoever, just a little bit of roughness when cranking.

As bling as it can be, this Antares needs to be cleaned up good for it to really shine again. This is of the latest variant with micromodule gears for smoother cranking feel and reduced vibration. Some say that the micromodule gear is weak and are easily destroyed when fighting big fish. According to this owner who regularly fish hard with this reel battling giant snake heads and occasionally needing to deal with heavy cover has no issue whatsoever with the micromodule gears.

Shiny bling ball needs to shine brighter with a thorough clean up.

As the flagship low profile bait cast model from Shimano, the Antares is all about perfection and detail. Even the handle shaft is nicely machined to include stepped lip for proper bearing fitment and contact. Regular reels get shims instead.

Machined shaft with stepped lip towards the handle. Bearings a little rough and some early signs of rust is visible on one of the 4 bearings.

The insides look very messy with grease all over the crank case. Carbon fiber drag disc is custom cut to fit.

Quick visual inspection on the gears reveal no premature damages nor wear and tear (top). Tough stuff. Contact cleaned and brushed all round to make way for new protective grease coating (bottom).

Upon removal of the inner pinion support bearing, where most water intrusion would occur seeping through between the spool and reel body, signs of rust is visible both out and inside the bearing. The bearing's seized and would need some elbow grease using rust remover and then some revival procedure.

Top, seized bearing with rust inside (red pointer). Several rounds of elbow grease rubbing using rust removal is needed before tossing it together with other parts that needs to be ultrasonic cleaned.

Spanking clean after ultrasonic bath. Most parts also rubbed down with protective grease. Visual inspection of the micro module gear shows no signs of premature wear. Micro module gear scores 1 against myth.

Top left, revived without rust in sight. Bearing seems to be spinning without much resistance or roughness even when dry. It's a good sign that the rust didn't do much permanent damage to the insides. Good to go with new marine grease packing for maximum protection (top right, bottom).

Left, one-way bearing cleaned and nicely coated with new one-way bearing oil. Revived pinion support bearing back into crank case (right).

Protective grease coats everything inside (left). Layering drag grease during drag stack assembly. The gear's being coated with Shimano's own heavy grease for their signature smooth feel.

Antares ready to shine.

This Antares seems to be properly put through its paces with plenty of old grease all over the crank case. Some bearings already running dry while another's seized up due to dry rust. No permanent damages founds and easily revived to shine like a proper Antares reel. Micro module gear wins the first round against myth.