Twinpower 12k GT bashing

A friend checked this Twinpower SW12000 in for a routine maintenance and check up before heading off in search for some bruiser GTs. This reel's survived some monster hauling somewhere in the pacific and will soon be tasked to fight some bruisers somewhere around the Andamans.

The reel's very smooth but a tad rough indicating some needed TLC inside.

First rust bust, crank handle screw. Rust deposits found, Wire brushing and contact clean is all it needs.

Next, some pitting found on the anodized coating surrounding the base of the knob shaft. No rust found on the knob bearings but they are rough and dry. To be queued for ultrasonic bath together with some other dirty parts.

With numerous locked-drag GT bruising previously, the drag's taken a toll and signs of fatigue shows in the form of excessive carbon deposits collected within the drag system. The carbon drags all look well worn, thin and frail. One of the discs looked like it's starting to tear.

Orange, plenty of carbon deposits. Red, base carbon disc's about to tear soon.

Stock drags thickness for this reel are usually within 0.5mm thick with a variance of around 0.05mm. 3 of the 4 discs are a little too thin to last. The base drag (lower right) registers a 0.54mm for a drag's supposedly stock thickness of 0.7mm.

Carbon deposits built up in the spool. Before (left), and after (right) cleaning.

The existing drags would most probably last another short session of GT bashing and would eventually need to be replaced. So a clean up and new lubrication would do for now until the owner gets himself some replacement discs.

The last act before going for a full replacement. New drag grease coats the entire drag system.

Line roller's free spinning on bone dry bearings. Line laying roller shaft screw and retainer screw seems to have some rust deposits too.

Top left, tiny bit of rust on the screw. Top right, rust juice found on the bail wire end cup. Lower left, some nasty bruiser must have did this light binding damage. Lower right, rust all around the bearing and spacer sleeve. Bearings seem to be spinning rough but ok. We'll later see if they are just external damages only.

This reel's been serviced before previously by another provider. Some of the parts were installed (green) wrong side up while some light damages found on the rotor retainer nut (red) as a result of tool slippage. Light damages are ok but if there are burrs that sticks out too far, it needs to be removed in order for the rubber seal to be seated properly as well as the plastic cover to snugly fit over the nut.

Moving further inwards, the one way bearing's gotten some light rust build up on the roller pins (red). Old grease (blue) need to be completely removed to make way for new coat of marine grease.

Rough parts ready to be ultrasonic cleaned. Bottom, round one done, on to the second round.

The pinion gear seems to be well worn with the uniform wear pattern found across the main gear contact patch. Nothing out of the ordinary, no signs of premature wear. Ok to go GT bashing.

As for some of the bearings, they seem to have suffered external rust damages with little roughness found when spinning. They too are ok for GT bashing. Just need new packing of marine grease.

The balls and retainer looks clean and smooth after a general visual and spin inspection. Off it goes contact cleaned and ready for marine grease packing.

The housing's brushed and contact clean in preparation for a new coat of marine grease.

Grease packing in action (top left). Top right, grease loaded bearing in place for line roller shaft. Bottom, marine grease packed system occupying all the space available. No space left for water intrusion.

Upon brushing and contact cleaning the bail arm, just pack some additional grease around the screw and lock system as a redundancy for corrosion prevention.

Another trusty and super reliable Shimano Twinpower that's taken plenty of bruising and yet with very little issues found. Another win for Twinpower against the Stella. Off this goes to some GT bashing in the Andamans.

No return for Scorpion Antares

Here's a look at a slick bait casting reel. The Scorpion Antares. A friend dropped this reel over for an overdue service and issue fix after a few days of snakehead hunting. The issue is that the free spool thumb bar refuse to return after being engaged. Something must have gotten loose or perhaps broken.

This reel's got some fancy designs which you seldom find on regular or reels made today. First thing you'll notice is the smooth looking handles without the unsightly lock nut in the center.

No unsightly lock nut found. Fancy handle design hides the ugly lock nut to achieve and overall smooth and rounded reel finish. We'll see how it's done later.

A few cranks suggest that there's something grinding metal to metal as there's roughness sensed. First to be checked, the knobs.

Knob bearing's probably never been serviced. Some rust found on the knob shaft (above). Some rubbing and buffing needed to remove the rust. Some pitting found as a result of prolonged rust corrosion (below) but nothing major.

The no return free spool thumb bar was quickly discovered to be caused by a loose lock nut. The handles were spinning but not the shaft, hence not being able to disengage the free spool release. No issues there.

The fancy handle's held in place using 2 screws and a metal plate (green). Unsightly old-school lock nut hidden by the smooth handles (red).

Star drag out and nothing out of the ordinary.

Main shaft bearing looks to have sustained some rust damage (red) while the one way bearing seems ok and smooth. Further checks needed to assess the condition of the one way bearing.

Brake side free spool support bearing looks like it just came out of the factory. Smooth and free spinning without any roughness sensed. Possibly just need a new drop of speedy oil.

This reel's got an internal chassis covered using external plates used to form the smooth round shape. As a result, water splashes getting everywhere into especially hard to reach areas where you rarely tear the reel down for regular cleaning. Nothing major, just unsightly if you do see it when servicing. These are permanent pitting damage and removal means sanding off the top layer. Not recommended as it will remove the chrome layer. Metal bristled brushing and a thick coat of marine grease coating is sufficient to protect and stop it from further corrosion and pitting.

Pitting from corrosion where the light don't shine but water do seep through with little chance of being regularly cleaned.

As far as the mechanical design concept is concern, it's pretty much the same as any reels found today with little differences in materials or evolutionary updates.

Internals look all dried up with lots of gunk all over. Just needs some elbow grease cleaning, ultra sonic bath and fresh coat of grease.

The one way bearing looks dirty and grimy but smooth. Quick contact cleaned and a fresh layer of one way bearing oil is applied while the crank plate is also brushed and contact cleaned.

Worm gear support bearing looks like it's been to hell and back. Still spinning but a tad rough. Drags are in good condition, regular cleaning would do.

All the usual suspects ready to be ultra sonic cleaned (above). Murky left overs after 2 rounds of cleaning (bottom).

Most parts visibly look ok after the ultrasonic bath. All bearings spin freely without any noticeable roughness.

The bunch of rusty bearings doesn't seem to have any permanent rust damage hence a fresh pack of marine grease would do fine to get it up to speed. Free spool bearing gets new speedy oil.

Fresh coat of marine grease to displace any water intrusion. Plastic gears are in excellent condition after rust and gunk removal, no permanent damage found.

The internals what you generally get from reels today. Just slight differences here and there. As seen here, layered in marine grease on most surfaces, drag grease on the drag stack.

The mechanical brake side bearing seems to be susceptible to plenty of water intrusion hence the external layer of marine grease which will be ok to retain free spinning of the spool for distance casting.

A solidly built reel, a tad old school with many fancy designs in place before manufacturing breakthroughs found on today's reel.

Quality of the materials used in this reel seem to have better durability compared to reels made today. Case in point would be the rusty bearings found to have no permanent damages and are easily revived compared to some of the bearings found on today's reels regularly fail without any chance of revival.

Twinpower Power Change

The time has come again for me to part ways with another one of my trusty Shimano Twinpower. We've had some fairly good run of hauling Spanish Macks and GTs with this reel without breaking a sweat.

To ensure a proper and smooth power change, a thorough strip down check and service will be needed for it to be in its tip top condition for the enjoyment of the new owner. On top of that, this reel's been pimped up with some Stella bits and fully decked out with hybrid ceramic bearings.

All exposed for visual and fitment checks.

Drags were in excellent condition. Just need a clean up and new coat of fresh drag grease application. All other fitment were tight with little to no free play. Some bearings were starting to run a little light and needs new grease packing. One way bearing were also in excellent condition with consistent stopping power with zero creep.

Bearings are all in excellent condition. Old grease removed to be packed in with fresh new marine grease for longevity and peace of mind from rust and corrosion. Main & pinion gears are in excellent condition without any signs of premature wear or tear. Impressive, given that I've fished quite hard with this reel battling drag peeling macks and school GTs.

As usual, line roller's dried up from plenty of speedy rolling action. Bearings' in excellent condition with no signs of rust nor corrosion. A clean up and marine grease packing is in order.

Cleaned up line roller, marine grease packed and ready for reassembly.

Tight as ever. Ready for the enjoyment of the new owner.

An excellent value reel as it's got plenty of trickle down goodies from the 2008 Stella. On most occasion, I noticed that the Twinpower generally has less teething or reliability issues compared to the Stellas.

As of this post, Shimano's started to showcase the 2015 Twinpower model on their Japanese website in preparation for the debut at the Japan Fishing Festival 2015. It's got plenty of trickle down goodies from both 2013 SW / 2014 FI Stellas and some fancy new stronger alloy material tech termed 'Hagane'. Indicative pricing show's that they are maintaining the same retail price as the old model. Can't wait to get my hands on the new model.