Another salt water prep? Yup. This is for a salt water application reel. The Shimano Biomaster SW 2013 series. Even though it's a SW reel, there are no rubber seals for water proofing. It's all about loading in specially coated bearings which can withstand salt water corrosion. Past experience have shown that the bearings do have high resistance against salt water corrosion but it doesn't last a lifetime, hence the need to put in place some redundant preparation for prolonged reel life span.
Shimano Biomaster SW, a reel tasked for light tackle casting for Spanish Mackerels, Dorados and small GTs in our local waters.
EVA knob's a nice touch right from the factory, comes with one bearing and a teflon bushing. No complains there, one less headache as the teflon bushing does its job with out a damn about corrosion. Pack the shaft to prevent water seeping through to the bearing instead.
Stock drags are carbon fiber discs, nice one by Shimano. Just a little dirty.
Cleaned up trio of carbon discs, recoated with new drag grease.
Minimal parts in the line roller assembly. Single bearing operation, just need to be packed full of heavy grease for maximum protection and longevity.
Fully loaded line roller assembly, no chance for water intrusion, minimum chance of rust or failure.
Bone dry insides. Nothing new here.
All surfaces coated with Shimano's Heavy Grease, generously covered main gear bearing for that added protection against water intrusion.
Straight forward preparation, ready for some speedster stopping action.
A decent reel by Shimano with minimal SW specific designs included as one of the mid level salt water reels. A moderate upgrade from the previous model. It contains a collection of best-of parts from other series as well as high end models mashed into one.
It will hold its own for sure but durability and longevity would be a concern if this were to be fished hard. Only time will tell.
Pulau Jarak, located close to the center of the Straits of Malacca, famous for its deep waters and strong currents inhabited by hard charging pelagics and notoriously brash demersals. This challenging combo requires you to arm yourself with jigging gear of at least PE2-3 and sometimes up to PE4-5. Jigs ranging from 100g-200g depending on the current and depths.
The Shimano Stradic 6000FJ is ideal for the job as it is reasonably priced/built, spool ready for 300m of PE3 lines, and packed with sprinkles of hand me down tech from the Stellas. We live on board the 'GT Chaser' for 3 days and 2 nights of intense jigging and possibly popping around the island depending on the current.
Ready but not quite. Needs some pimpin before it even catches a glimpse of sunlight.
The Shimano Stradic 6000FJ doesn't have seals to stop corrosive salt water intrusion. Therefore, some pimpin is needed to beef up it's internals for durability and also performance tuning with a combination of full ceramics as well as hybrid ceramic bearings.
The first set of bearings to be swapped to full ceramics, main gear supports. Shim fitted for proper gear mesh gap. Coated the body housing with teflon grease for that extra bit of protection.
Another view revealing all its balls in full glory!
Next up would be to pimp the pinion gear bearings (x-ship) and also the worm gear shaft's teflon bushings starting with the front bushing after removing the anti-reverse bearing assembly from the body.
Full ceramics for the pinion gear support, both x-ship bearings replaced, only one shown here. Note the worm gear teflon bushing on the right, it's about to get chopped!
Slides out smoothly.
It takes a bit of patience to trim the bushing as it is very tough. Best is to make the primary cut lesser than the desired removal length (similar thickness to the hybrid ceramic bearings) and fine tune it further by trimming off or filing it away bit by bit. Any accidental excess removal can easily be tuned using micro shims.
Here's a view of the hybrid ceramic bearings supporting the worm gear shaft in its housing before sliding the trimmed teflon bushing back into place.
Moving over to the rear worm gear shaft support bushing, it's a straight forward swap with additional micro shims to reduce free play and sliding for a more consistent line lay over the spool.
Rear teflon bushing for the worm gear is out, hybrid ceramic bearings in. Micro shims go between the bearings and worm gear shaft.
Onwards to the next bit, pawl bushing swapped out with a hybrid ceramic bearings and some modified Stella parts ordered from Japan. This modification is to predominantly increase durability of the reel but after the modification, there was a surprising improved smoothness to the worm gear to a point where I can pull the floating shaft forward/outward, the pawl is able to drive and rotate the worm gear! Previously not possible with the original teflon bushing.
Original teflon bushing shown below the pimped bits. Hybrid ceramic bearings sandwiched between the pawl and trimmed pawl bushing from the Stella. Micro shims sit between the hybrid ceramic bearings and the trimmed bushing for a glove like fit into the housing.
The pimped up Shimano Stradic 6000FJ's ready for battle with it's new innards and new found smoothness. The smoothness and low cranking resistance will help me quite a bit as I'll be jiggin for almost 3 days with little resting periods in between jiggin spots.
Jigs ranging from 100g to 200g, jerk baits, stick baits and poppers ready for battle.
Barracuda bites, but I-eat-choo! Tasty turmeric ginger paste over pan fried barracuda blocks!
The pimped up gear took on the bashing without breaking a sweat and it's well worth the pimpin as I'll be coming back to Pulau Jarak again soon. Upon quick inspection after the trip, there were no signs of any salt water intrusion or premature wear on any part of the reel. Just needed some fresh coat of teflon grease around it's gears and metal to metal contact bits.
Next test would be off shore Kuching in 2 weeks time, slightly shallower waters and I'll be testing a sweet new combo with pimped up bits as well. Stay tuned!
Previously, 2 of the bearing sizes were slightly off the dimension I
ordered, 0.5mm thinner, numbnut who took my order discovered that they
didn't have stocks for the exact ones I wanted and decided to just dump
in the closest one found and shipped it to me without notifying me. Just great!
Exotic pimping stuff. Full ceramic ZrO2 bearings.
Beyond the thickness issue which can easily be shimmed up to reach my desired thickness, the bearings weren't of any ABEC standards and the radial and axial free play was rather alarming and you can visibly see and feel it's wobble as I rotate them using my fingers.
I needed 2.5mm and 3mm thick bearings and this is what the numbnut sent me.
I know for sure with such ill fitting specifications, I'm threading dangerous waters field testing them on the main gears as it is the point where there will be heavy torque loading and twisting from the handles. Theory won't mean anything unless I try them out and push it beyond it's limit to develop products that suits angler's needs and application.
Hybrid Ceramic Bearings for the pinion shaft and more.
For this particular Shimano 4000 sized reel, due to the 'wrong' sized bearing sent to me, I've decided to test the slightly thinner bearings on isolation to see if it still works with the use of shim fitment. Only 2 full ceramics were used on the main gear support (handle crank shaft) and I didn't have sufficient shims to tune it like a glove fit, hence a bit more than usual free play. The remainder bearings were hybrid ceramics (pictured), which was previously pimped out, field tested and abused hauling giant cats & gars in Thailand (up coming posts to show case some of the giants).
There was wobble and free play while cranking, slightly more than the original condition, yet I've decided to give it a go even with an inkling that something might go wrong. The only way to find out is to field test it and give it the abuse it deserves.
We rented a GT pond for 3 hours, shared among 4 anglers, and all 4 of us started with top water lures. Weird thing is that the locals insists that all of us must cast at the same time as the GTs were very picky to take lures only at the beginning of any session. They insist that we get everything ready so much so that we have to cast upon stepping into the pond. We thought they were just kidding, we entered the pond and took our time to tie the lures while standing next to the pond. The locals waited and hurried us, some GTs were already doing a double take, flashing their colour at us while swimming past.
All 4 of us casted, popped and reeled without a hint of bite. After 2-3 tries, the locals figured they weren't getting any hook-ups and quickly switched to bait instead. My buddy and I stuck to lure, tried a variety of lures. Hours went by, not a single bite no matter how we work the lures, not that we are experts, but enough to get some desired action out of them. The baiters hook up one after another, told us to just switch to bait as the fish in the pond's too smart and seasoned. We caved in and became master baiters ourselves as we were running out of time.
Only after 2-3 casts, it was fish-on. A big fat juicy grouper made sure to give my pimped reel a few good power spurts to break in the ceramic bearings. Power cranks and moderate pace lifting landed this grouper without breaking a sweat. Tasty grouper goes back into the pond, catch and release.
On my next few casts, a juvenile GT snapped up my bait and made a run for it. The GT made my reel scream and was determined not to be landed without giving it all. Midway through several minutes of fight, high speed cranks and hard lifts, my reel started to scream to a different tune as I could feel there was more and more free play as I crank. It started to scream louder and I heard popping, crushing noise and felt it through the handles. The locals looked perplexed, what's with the alien noise that's coming out of my reel? Told them, testing new products and that's the not so sweet sound of busted bearings & exploded balls!
The GT was still out partying hard as I cranked slowly, nursing the reel as to not damage anything else. The only option I have left is to let the GT tire itself out. Damn GT was only half the size my buddy hooked up earlier and it busted my balls, metaphorically and literally for the ceramics.
The cause of this? Simple, wrong sized bearings loosely fit in with excessive radial and axial play that resulted in premature bearing failure. It was torque loaded from the handle to the gear at various cranking angles beyond it's operating parameters. Therefore the spectacular screaming explosion and crushed balls.
Tiny balls, busted tiny balls.
Crushed balls. Don't let this be yours!
Good thing is that this happened as I partly expected it to and not during a long off shore excursion. More tests needed to ensure that these bearings are spec'ed to be battle ready. I've completed several good field testing sessions of hybrid ceramics on this 4000 and 2500 sized reel. Next up would be to test using properly sized and fitment of ABEC 7 hybrid ceramics on a 6000 sized reel, watch this space!
It's time for me to bust some balls off the numbnut who sent me these wrong bearings!
Tearing down and tuning the Daiwa Emeraldas 2506 INF prompted me to reflect on the pimping process done to both my Shimano spinning reels in preparation for the 2 days of battle in Thailand at Boon Mar & IT Lake Monster.
I've been fishing with my Shimano Rarenium 2500 Ci4 for a while and it's a decently made reel compared to the likes of Twinpower, Vanquish or Stella. You pay for what you get with Shimano reels and they are generally built to serve you well, durable and hassle free. Sometimes the itch gets to you and you wonder if you can do a better job at making the reel better in terms of cranking performance, smoothness and durability by upgrading its bearings/bushings to Hybrid Ceramic Bearings or tuning the handling feel to your liking.
And then there is this occasional but persistent itch that gets you wanting more, pimping the reel with extra bearing counts & exclusive parts that are only found in a Stella. For me, it's a bit of both but more so to have a reel that lasts as long as I can fish. Past experience with budget reels taught me to take precaution with certain parts of the reel that gets most abuse or water intrusion that causes bearings, bushings or reel failure altogether.
Hybrid Ceramic Bearings vs bushings
So here's what I did to both my Shimano Rarenium 2500 Ci4 and Shimano Stradic 4000 FJ in preparation to battle the monsters in Thailand.
Teflon bushings are ok but they can never outlast bearings when it comes to wear and tear. Better still, Hybrid Ceramic Bearings to replace them all for an even longer lasting reel. Reel longevity also depends on how well you take care or service your reels, I strip mine apart to be cleaned and checked every 2-3 outings.
Stainless steel bearings (left) vs Hybrid Ceramic Bearings (right). Close up reveals ceramic balls (charcoal black) on stainless steel races, hence 'Hybrid' and these are the commonly used Si3N4 material.
Bushing out, Hybrid Ceramic in!
Line roller bearings get the most water intrusion that causes
rust and bearing failures over time even with S-ARB or CRBB or HPCR.
Only a handful of Shimano spinning reels of this size offer double ball bearing supported worm gear shaft, namely the Vanquish and Stella. This part doesn't take much abuse but does give the tiny bit of overall creamy smoothness feel to the reel. Not all reels are created equal and there's quite a bit of free-play shaft sliding and can be tuned out almost entirely using micro shims as shown between the hybrid ceramic bearing and the shaft.
Main gear, Hybrid Ceramic Bearings with tuning shims.
More tuning shims for a perfect
gear mesh gap fitment tune up.
The main gear will be abused quite a bit with torque loading from cranking and it's vital that the gear mesh is optimally tuned with little axial and/or radial play when cranking with the use of high precision hybrid ceramic bearings and shim fitment.
Pawl bushing to be replaced with Hybrid Ceramic Bearings and Stella bushing.
Now this is where pimping gets a little tricky as some similar branded reels share a lot of common parts but with slight design tweaks and they fit a different reel. Note the original black bushing may look like a simple straight cylinder but the inside's tapered shape to fit the pawl like a glove without bearings. One option is to trim the bushing but risks damaging or cutting away too much. Another option is to get Stella parts as they share similar housing and pawl assembly. Not the white bushing has a flange and the original housing also comes with tapered edge.
Glove like fit!
Note how the pawl, bearing and bushing fits firmly into the housing, glove like fit.
Not pictured on this post, pinion gear bearings also swapped out with Hybrid Ceramic Bearings for a full on assault battle against the giants.
Bangkok, here we come!
We made prior arrangement with our Thai fishing guide AhBoy to pick us up from the airport to head straight to Boon Mar for our first day of battle with Barramundis.
When we arrived around the fish farm, not a paid fishing pond, we were awestruck by the amount of ponds stretching as far as our eyes could see. Some workers were seen on bicycles gesturing us in further and it took us a while to locate the actual pond allocated to us for that day. I managed to capture just a fraction of what was in store for us on video. We were literally greeted with explosive lure take ups every 2 to 3 casts for the entire 3 hours. The barras stocked there were very nicely sized of over 7kgs and they were all spirited airborne fighters.
Probably one of the smaller ones but boy do they put up some serious fights.
The next day, we got up early to take on monsters at the IT Lake Monster. Here's a video of what I managed to capture, lure take ups were tricky and needs a lot of hard work but once they take the lure, just be ready for a persistent bull like run from these giant amazonian catfish.
Battles for the day, nothing the Shimano Stradic 4000 FJ with Hybrid Ceramic Bearings can't take.
Battle heroes for both days at Boon Mar & IT Lake Monster.
All in all, an excellent 2 days of fishing, excellent field testing of the Hybrid Ceramic Bearings. I'd say the Hybrid Ceramic Bearings holds itself well against the giants on pure performance and only time will tell on durability and they are definitely a worthy pimp up for a start.
Here's a glimpse at what's to come next, some 'exotic stuff' in the pipeline. yum yum!
