Scorpion missing the sting.

A customer sent in a Shimano Scorpion XT with the complain that it feels like a reel he used to know. There's something amiss with it that he cannot pinpoint. Everything seems to be working fine, accept that there's a weird kink or grind on a downward stroke of the crank handle.

It's one of those things that isn't going to stop the reel from functioning or create further damage when in use. It's a tiny splinter that gets under your skin that it's not 100% to your liking. It irritates the hell out of you with that niggling sensation resulting in a self imposed handicap.

We're off to taking this reel apart to see if there's anything wrong, worn off or perhaps just misaligned when reassembled together.

Excellent condition from the outside. Cranks creamy smooth with the exception of a weird kink on downward crank.

First to be eliminated, free spool support bearings. Both are in excellent condition spinning freely without any grittiness.

Not much to do with the weird kink but does look like it needs a bit of a clean up and regular grease rub maintenance.

Spinning the crank shaft without the gears produced the weird kink. To confirm this suspicion, a quick reassembly with the gears and crank case somewhat indicated to the crank shaft. When free spinning, it didn't look like it was bent or wobbly. Possibly a misalignment during installation. A total removal of the crank shaft should reveal the issue.

The culprit discovered. With closer inspection, the crank shaft support bearing seemed to be scrubbing against the shaft retainer metal piece. The outer ring scrubbing against the metal retainer (red). Another quick test this time with a thin shim slotted in (green) in order for the inner ring to be the contact point against the metal retainer/shaft so that the bearing can function properly with the outer ring flushed against the reel housing.

A tiny thin shim is all it takes to sort out the weird kink. Free spinning of the shaft doesn't produce the weird kink anymore. Light oil in the bearing, grease rub down all over and the reel's ready to be reassembled.

The entire drag disc systems just needs a clean up and new coat of marine grease for protection and smoother drag action.

The weird kink was quickly eliminated with an additional shim for proper bearing fitment. My suspicion is that minor wear and tear on the related parts may have generated that weird kink. It's just a matter of tuning the fitment to 'fix' the issue and give this Scorpion the sting it deserves.

Freshies on lures!

Fishing in our local waters are getting tougher and tougher over time. Paid ponds are a dime a dozen but catch rates have recently been mediocre at best as the fish somehow smarten up rather quickly within 2 weekends of bashing. My friends & I have to constantly check in with the fishing communities from various channels and connections for any new news in the likes of new fish stocks arrival in paid ponds or new fish species introduction.

We heard about this paid pond which recently introduced several tonnes of Giant Snakeheads to attract some anglers who regularly seek them out in the wild. This news was already 2-3 weeks old and we're wary that it's probably all fished out. We've heard people boasting about plenty of catches and exciting top water explosions when they first went there and hasn't had recent news about the latest catch rate. I guess we'll have to fill the numbers and find out ourselves.

My friends and I reached the pond just as they were opening the session for business and there were already a small group of anglers moving into position for their battle. The group were casting from 'the spot' where it is rumoured to be best spot to get most hook ups.

We quickly huddle next to 'the spot' and started casting top water lures, frogs and spin baits. Before we could start working out the areas to pepper our lures with, the guys at 'the spot' were getting plenty of top water explosion and hook ups. Giant Snakeheads after Giant Snakeheads, we too get plenty of top water explosions near our lures but none got a proper hook set. Seems like there's a batch of ambitious Giant Snakeheads with eye sight problems as they kept missing our lures. After an hour or so of frustrated misses while the other group was getting all the action, we moved on to another area in search for some decent Giant Snakeheads without vision problems.

As we worked our way around the pond reaching the far end, I noticed some commotion near an abandoned drainage piping and I quickly a crank bait in, hoping to land myself a nice Giant Snakehead. A violent take and dash. Not a Giant Snakehead but a strong fighter nevertheless.

A Pacu takes on Realis Crank. Easily tamed with a medium heavy setup of combo of a pimped up Shimano Conquest matched with Evergreen Temujin's Crossfire "The Stallion".

Pacu must be very angry with the crank bait's disturbance.

Moving around further with no Giant Snakeheads taking any of the jerkbait minnows as the sun starts to gain intensity, I switched to bottom bouncing Geecrack's Swing Chatter jig head. Too hard to ignore by some bottom dwellers. Not the target, nothing to complain about since hook up rates aren't looking good.

Cat on a chatter!

Geecrack's Swing Chatter jig head too hard to ignore.

As we monitor the surface, plenty of Giant Snakeheads surfaces to gulp air and it's just too hard to ignore the fact that they are holding at some depth in there. After all, this visit is supposed to stir up Giant Snakeheads. So I switched back to a jerkbait minnow and repeatedly pepper the same spot. A violent take followed by several strong spurts. I'm guessing this is finally it.

A nice sized & colourful Giant Snakehead, not exactly a giant yet but puts up a nice bull fight.

Majorcraft's Jerkbait minnow repeatedly worked into the same area to stir some curiosity of this healthy Giant Snakehead.

Further casts around the area didn't get anymore strikes nor do I see that many surfacing for air. Time to search a variety of water column with a vibe instead.

A few casts into the center of the pond with some structure in place really got this Pacu agitated and struck this DUO Tide Vib Score. Perfectly matched medium heavy tackle of a pimped up Shimano Conquest and Evergreen Temujin's Crossfire "The Stallion". A mouthful!

A good hook set without complications, no chance for the Pacu to chew and damage the DUO Tide Vib Score.

As the session quickly come to a close, a last few casts didn't produce much while searching different columns of water but instead a slow retrieve near the bottom got this little cat excited. I'll happily take it with such a slow day overall.

Small cat gets the vibe on!

DUO Tide Vib Scores a small cat.

As suspected earlier, 4 of us in total only managed to land about 10 Giant Snakeheads, we're old news to the fish in this pond. We later heard from friends that the catch was worse following the next few weeks in. Fish here smartened up very quickly but we had some fun, just not exactly something to brag about. As usual, enough to settle some score when we're in between big trips.

DC popped a spring!

Here's another freak CSIesque case I received recently from a customer. This somehow involves someone's foot and a popped 'spring' as well as it sounds weird and rough when cranking. This Shimano MetaniumMg DC is a very solidly built reel using an ultralight magnesium alloy.

The popped spring in question sounds like it's coming from the inside of the crankcase. Shake it hard enough, you hear light rattles.

Mint condition reel, well taken care of but had an unfortunate incident resulted in a need to stripped apart, repair the offending bits as well as give it some new coat of lubrication.

First thing that comes of is the handle cap screw. Some signs of damage from misalignment of screw and crank shaft. Or perhaps from the unfortunate freak incident. I can't tell. Then comes the nasty rough bits from the mechanical brake side spool support bearing.

Slight damage (red arrow with metal shavings) from handle cap screw and crank shaft, no deal breaker. Note the damaged bearing shield (white arrow) and dark pits around the bearing. Hidden surprise when the bearing's removed with rust all over the inside of the bearing as well as the crank case housing. The bearing seemed to have crushed balls inside.

The crushed balls and rusty bearing has created some pits within the bearing housing. Luckily, there were no damages inside of the crank case. Crank case inside looks rather well used and dirty.

Dirty inside. Degreased, contact cleaned and gave it a nice coat of marine grease for water displacement and protection. One way bearing's also given a thin film of one-way bearing oil. No damages, works fine and stops without back play.

Upon cleaning the crank case cover, the bearing housing also given a scrub down to remove rusty bits, some pits have emerged from the rusty concoction soaking for long periods of time. Nothing serious, just some minor cosmetic damages so far.

Notice the light pits in the bearing housing. Offending bearing's replaced with hybrid ceramic bearing.

Popped spring wasn't hard to spot. It's just there, stuck to the top layer of drag discs. The spring looked like it's been crushed a little. Hopefully no between the main gear and pinion gear.

Popped spring spotted (red arrow). Where it's suppose to be. (green arrow). This spring is suppose to pop the centrifugal brake side cover open but somehow got dislodged and went rogue within the crank case. Case still opens fine without the spring, best is just retire the munched up spring.

A thorough clean up by degreasing and dirt removal scrub is definitely needed for such a well used reel. This is probably the first time the insides of this reel seen light.

Visual inspection reveals no major damages. Just old dirt and grease all gunked up.

There are however some permanent dirt stuck on the drag disc as it is an ultralight alloy material that isn't really the most durable material against corrosion and pitting.

As clean as it can possibly be. Looks rather new actually.

Took quite a bit of elbow grease to remove stubborn dirt stains on the drag discs. There seems to have some corrosion and pitting over long periods of time.

Drag discs inner surface shows some minor pitting. Outside looks new & fine. Drag washer material's good as new after cleaning. Pinion gear looks ok after visual inspection. Only a full assembly crank will it reveal if there are any damages sustained on the gears.

Reassembly was rather straight forward without complications. Interspersed with grease coating and assembly to ensure all surfaces is being coated with marine grease for lubrication and protection.

Grease, assemble, grease, assemble, grease, assemble. Repeat after me.

Handle bearings a little rough too. Quick clean up with contact cleaner is all it needs to remove dirt and repack it with marine grease for longer lasting protection and durability.

Contact cleaned and packed with marine grease. Smooth as silk.

Case solved without breaking a sweat. Offending bearing's removed, popped spring removed, gave the internals a new coat of marine grease and it's back ready for some long distance casting.

Ready to fly with one less spring.

The reel now feels like a new creamy smooth reel. Gave it a good few cranks and there seems to have no indication of a damaged gear, just a nasty spool support bearing that's causing most of the roughness. The reel is as good as new now and ready to battle once again.

Cardiff in body bags!

CASEFILE : Shimano Cardiff
Status : bodybagged!
Cause of dismemberment : Complicated one-way bearing rebuild (anti-reverse bearing)
Others : misalignment of line lay roller, internal bleeding of oil, dehydrated drag discs, worn off teeth.

One sunny Sunday afternoon, I received an instant message from a client with a picture of a dismembered part. Before I could read the instructions that comes after, I immediately recognised that there's a need for help to fix this. My response was simple, bag it and I'll know what to do with it. Tell me where and I'll be there for the pick up.

Luckily for my client, not a single part was missing or unintentionally bounced off when disassembling the entire reel including the one-way bearing. Otherwise, this will be a totally different job of damage limitation and not putting humpty back together again. The parts were bagged according to its function and section where it was disassembled, another good point.

Body bagged Shimano Cardiff, your argument is invalid!

When there's an opportunity to reach the insides, it's only logical to give it some TLC or touch ups if necessary. Here we'll start with the spool. Bearings seem to have run dried and the drag disc almost bone dry.

Bearings dry slightly rough. Drag disc is bone dry. Some speedy oil for the bearing and drag grease for the discs.

The crank case looks wet but from oil. Curious. Gear bits has minimal grease but a mix of grease and oil. Possibly a result in over flooding of bearings causing the excess to flow all over the crank case causing the grease to separate from mechanical parts.

Wet case, mostly covered with over flowed oil from bearings with minimal grease on where it really matters!

The parts where you need grease has them at the wrong places possibly displaced by oil, a weird attribute of accidental mix of oil and grease making it look like curdled jelly.

What this calls for is a complete degrease on the parts involved. Upon degreasing, generous amount of contact cleaner needs to be used to thoroughly remove any oily residue.

Parts degreased and contact cleaned. This is when worn parts will show. Some normal wear and tear on the pawl and main gear teeth. Nothing to be alarmed about, just normal aging.

Upon degreasing and contact cleaned, the entire crank case and relevant parts needs to be nicely lathered with marine grease to displace water for a longer lasting reel.

Marine grease coat everything. Light coat of bearing oil ensuring excess oil is being absorbed using paper towels. This is to reduce the chance of oil flowing everywhere in the reel.

Now the part where it starts to go awry. The one way bearing. The insides of the housing looks too wet and seem to have some diluted grease in there. The viscosity & texture of the oil surely didn't feel like a one-way bearing oil. A quick check with my client reveals that he used normal bearing oil with the assumption that they are the same for any kinds of bearing.

This is not true especially with a one-way bearing where part of it's function is to generate enough friction to stop rotational motion. One-way bearing oils are specially designed to provide lubrication but no friction reducing ingredients. Therefore the viscosity & texture feeling when rubbing them between the fingers feels very different from a typical bearing oil.

Degreased and contact cleaned before assembly. One-way bearing oil lightly coats the entire system with excess absorbed using paper towels. If it flows or drips, it's excess.

Humpty is slowly and steadily being pieced back together. One-way bearing rebuild and reassembled into the crank case.

Humpty was also being haphazardly put back together with parts not aligned as well as wrongly oriented. This was evident with the line roller bearing looking like a disaster awaiting to happen.

Line roller shaft wasn't seated properly around it's keyed indentation and the line roller cylinder being pieced in the wrong direction (red arrow). Luckily, no damages was done as it wasn't fished with or heavily loaded when screwing back together. Bearings just need a simple cleaning and oil top up.

The assembly of the line roller bearing takes a lot of bashing when fighting fish and water intrusion is a given as water from the line will splash all over the entire assembly. Best bet is to replace as much space within the assembly as possibly with marine grease as it doesn't really hamper the function of the line roller bearing much but provides lots more protection and blocks most if not all water intrusion.

The screw itself was already bone dry and needs a new dab or threadlocker. Remember to give it as light of a coat as possible to avoid catastrophic disaster like this Certate here with a jammed up roller bearing.

Give it a donut of marine grease on the shaft before sliding in the bearing and line roller cylinder. Give it another donut after the line roller cylinder is in. This screw is bone dry without threadlocker in side. A nice wire brush scrub to remove remaining residue and give it as light a coat of threadlock as possible.

Here's a direct comparison of before and after assembly on how it's suppose to look like.

Wrongly assembled together left, done right on the right. Note the differences of seating position of the shaft and also the line lay roller closer to the bail wire.

Looks as though it didn't skip a beat.

From body bag to ready to battle reel. Just another day at the office.

Light game excitement!

In between off shore trips, we regularly develop an itch to battle fish or put our gear to good use. We've also heard about a pond we frequented have just released a new batch of fish and opened up more saltwater ponds just for catch and release. We have no reason to say no to such an opportunity to temporarily soothe the itch a bit. This calls for light tackle & light game excitement!

Goal keeper in the making, a cast across the pond to a quiet corner, Red fish appears courtesy of the IMA Sasuke shad.

These Red fish put up quite a serious fight and regularly bust lines taking your precious lures with them. Easily tamed with a medium light Major Craft's Sky Road bass rod.

A quick lure switch, another cast to another quite corner, another Red fish. The wobbly Jackall Aska was too tasty to ignore.

The Jackall Aska, tiny but ultra effective lure that's too hard to ignore. A decently sized fighter Red fish.

The fish in this pond smartens up rather quickly because we noticed a trend that for every lure casts, they produce less and less fish as you progress. They seem to be able to recognise them and ignore your lures. This means a quick switch to another pond and try our luck with some other species.

We found a spot where most groupers are holed up. The attractive fluttering fall of an IMA Honey Trap generated a reaction bite from this hefty grouper. Frantic fight ensues as the grouper was aiming for some structure.

IMA Honey trap delivers when you let it do its intended job. Catch fish.

There was a similar theme in play, the groupers also recognises lures previously used and are easily spooked. Hence the need to switch lures about to produce further catches.

This hungry fella fell for the IMA Sasuke with a sinking behaviour. slow twitches, pause, light tap, pause, KAPOWW!!

Chubby fella nonetheless. This one opt to swim away from structures.

Further bite shut down indicated to us to switch ponds once again.

A double hook up as the first 2 lures that hit the water. No one was interested to battle small barras that day. It made for easy-peasy catch and release.

Barra's favourite lure, IMA Sasuke. Trust the lure to do its intended job!

When the clouds clean, sun overhead, this calls for a diving crank. The IMA Ikuri sinking crank bait. I don't remember having any other brands with a sinking crank bait. Awesome lure!

A little bit of light game excitement a day keeps the doctor away. For a little while at least.

Picture courtesy of TackleSource & full catch report can be found here.