Calcutta D..rag

A friend recently discovered that his rarely fished Shimano Calcutta D's drag force has dropped tremendously to a point that lines can be peeled off the reel effortlessly even with the star on full lock down.

I'm tasked to diagnose this phenomenon and the best way around this is to strip it down for some quick tests to determine the cause for such weak drag force.

Top, Calcutta D ready for check up. Bottom, a curious design choice by Shimano to swap the places of the star drag and handles resulting in a permanent fixture of one way bearing sleeve onto the handles.

Compared to most modern bait casting reels, Shimano made a curious choice by swapping the places of the handle and the star drag. According to their marketing literature, this design will reduce rotational vibration if the handles are placed closer to the crank case. The down side to this design is that most commonly available 3rd party hot pimp-up handles will not fit this reel.

Top 2, grease splatter all over including the anti-reverse bearing. This needs proper clean up and re-lube. Bottom left, inner crank case plate is made of composite. Bottom right, externally adjustable centrifugal brakes not available for this model.

For a mid-level priced reel, you would expect some trickle down goodies from top dollar reels. Even entry level reels would have some niceties from higher end models such as externally adjustable variable brakes, 1-2 ball bearing supported pinion gears etc. This reel seems to be built with minimal gimmicks with a focus on anglers who wishes to use it as an all purpose reel with minimal care given for it grind-on day in day out.

Top, 4 drag washers, 2 different materials. 2 left most washers were fused onto the main gear. 2 right most look frail and thinning. Bottom, relevant parts that needs unclogging and cleaning takes a dive into the ultra-sonic cleaner. Note the main gear pitting around the shape of the drag washers.

Weak drag issue was immediately identified when disassembling the drag stack. Both thicker drags were fused onto the main gear resulting in 2 lesser friction surface. I suspect that the drags were installed dry and with some water exposure resulted in the drag discs fusing onto the main gear. 2 of the thinner drags look like it's already half way through its lifespan, so there's opportunity here to upgrade the drags to over sized carbontex drags.

Main gears scrubbed and scrapped clean off pitting. 2 of the thicker drag washers look to be in excellent condition to be back in action, just needs lubrication to prevent fusing with main gears. 2 thin drag washers to be replaced with over sized carbontex washers.

As a reel designed for daily beating with minimal care, teflon bushings were used in place of ball bearings as they have no chance of rust failure. They just keep going.

Teflon bushing in place of ball bearings. Not designed to achieve casting distance or finesse application.

The inner crank case plate is made of composite compared to aluminum used in higher end reels. Both materials resist corrosion and I suspect cost was the deciding factor in using composite inner crank case plate.

Reassembly means layering marine grease in between most parts and drag grease on all drag system surfaces. Marine grease on composite plate isn't to prevent corrosion but to displace water build up within the crank case.

Ball bearings which took a dip in the ultra-sonic cleaner needs to be packed with new marine grease for durability.

Out comes the weak drag washers, quick line pull test indicates that it's ready for some serious fish stopping power and most likely stronger than stock drags.

The Shimano Calcutta D isn't your regular 'casting' reel or with a specific type of fishing application. It's a general purpose reel where you are most likely not bothered to regularly strip it down for maintenance or pimp up. It's a reel to just catch some fish, any fish.

Dog don't wanna fight

What do angler's do in between seasons? Some scratch the itch by means of locally stocked pay ponds. Some go chasing after fish elsewhere. Some play with their tackle, pimping. This owner decided to make sure his tackle is in battle ready condition. A Daiwa Saltiga Z6500H Dogfight, built like a tank, for the most part at least.

As shown here, dogplay vs dogfight.

This generation of Saltiga is packed with seals. Seals everywhere to keep them nasty salty water at bay. There are plenty of smart designs built into this reel and there are also some not so perfect solutions which can be frustrating for top dollar reel like this. We'll start with the handle.

Top, blue pointer, rubber seal to keep the knob bearings spinning happy. Simple solution that just works. Bearings are both spinning happy. Bottom, precision machined for snug bearing fitment.

Up next, line roller. The part where there's most exposure to water. 2 rubber seals to protect the bearings. On top of that, Daiwa did good by using machined stainless steel shaft for outright durability. Shimano on the other hand have been using hardened aluminum across the entire '08 Stella SW range. The aluminum shaft regularly experience premature wear failure or damages sustained on reel sizes over 6000-8000. Shimano probably noticed this weakness by the number of replacement parts ordered and replaced the part with a stainless steel version for their '13 Stella SW models.

Top, machined stainless steel shaft for durability. Machine fit into bail wire resulting in lesser individual parts and lower chances of failure. Bottom, 2 rubber seals sandwiching 2 bearings within the line roller cylinder.

Moving towards the shaft, we have not 2 but 3 rubber seals for the spool seat cylinder. 1 rubber seal seated inside the spool seat cylinder to seal between the cylinder and the main shaft. 2 rubber seals outside of the cylinder to seal off any water intrusion into the spool core where the drag system is housed.

Top left, spool seat cylinder. Top right, 2 seals to seal off bottom of the spool drag system. Bottom, inner rubber seal for the main shaft.

Freaky Jigger fixed

Remember this racketing Ocea Jigger with a wrong set of gears? The right parts arrived and it's time to replace the offending gears and get it ready back to the owner for some proper jigging action.

The moment of truth!

Brand spanking new gears. The correct set.

Left, factory installed main gear. Right, correct set of main gear. Note the opposing orientation of the helical gears.

Left, factory installed pinion gear. Right, correct set of pinion gear. Note the leading edge with the pin catch side (green pointer).

Wrong set of gears out, correct set goes in. Gear's nicely coated with Shimano's heavy grease.

Ready for some jigging battle.

As shown above, racketing's gone. No damages done internally from the previous racketing and offending parts as they are built though. Shame about the booboo Shimano made.

Conquest Rust Bust

This is a trusty veteran Conquest that's been through countless hours of battle despite it's tiny size. It's been in action non-stop for about a year or more without any issues and it's starting to hint to the owner that it needs to be juiced up asap. It's starting to squeak and rough riding, which usually means way past overdue for a check up.

Having this tiny reel in hand never seize to amaze me at how small this reel truly is. Pictures cannot do justice as to how compact and solidly built this reel is known for. The initial impression build up quickly died with the squeaky crank and overall roughness felt. I suspect we'll have a blast busting some rust while servicing.

This Conquest came with a specific instruction to maintain the mechanical 'light feel' and therefore dictates how this reel would be serviced and tune up. So here goes.

Poster shot before diving in for some rust bustin.

Owner gave it a bit of natural pimpin, wooden knobs to match. New bearings that came with the knobs just need a bit of salt water protection.

Spool support bearing on the centrifugal brake side also showed no signs of rust or roughness. A clean up and light oil application is sufficient.

First rust bust, mechanical brake side knob and bearing doesn't look so good. Rust seem to have chewed the bearing up good. Some deep pitting found on the crank case (bottom left, red pointer) and rust particles found all over the crank case (bottom right, orange pointer)

Rust seem to have covered the spool shaft with some light damage. Some rust removal solution rubbed in, followed by polishing and buffing to fully remove any traces of rust. Luckily, there are no major pitting on the shaft.

Seized bearing covered in rust. Needs some elbow grease scrubbing and a few rounds of ultrasonic cleaning to see if the bearing can be revived. (Right) Mechanical brake knob internal was a straight forward brush down and bearing nicely brushed, un-jammed and ready to be dunked into ultrasonic bath.

The drags were also well worn with plenty of debris on the entire crank case mixed in with rust particles. (Red pointers) Pinion support bearing seem to have sustained some rust damage and lightly fused with the pinion shaft. The bearing seem to be spinning a bit rough but fine, possibly light damages internally. Pinion shaft just needs a nice scrub down and also ultrasonic cleaning to remove tough bits.

The pinion support bearing shields are removable thus visual inspection of the inner balls for rust is possible. Light rust found mostly around the inner races. Balls are rolling fine, just dirty inside. Nothing major.

Main shaft support bearing's also rusted up real good. More elbow grease scrubbing needed. Looks nasty but infact, the bearing's still spinning smooth. Most likely damages are on the surface of the metal bracket.

Another rust bust here on the worm gear support bearing. Rust particles tarnished the plastic drive gears, easily cleaned. Bearing seized but a few turns after rust removal shows no major damages.

2 rounds of ultrasonic bath needed for this. All parts flipped about for the second round of cleaning.

Initial impression out of the ultrasonic bath looks promising for all the rusted bearings. Light lube test on all bearings indicated that all bearings are fit for battle except for the free spool support bearing on the mechanical brake side has some permanent damage resulting in some serious roughness and occasional seizure.

Before and after elbow grease scrubbing and ultrasonic cleaning. This bearing passed the fitness test, survived to fight another day. Light grease coated for that 'light feel' instruction.

As for the pinion shaft, close up inspection of the rust infested part didn't reveal any permanent damage to the shaft. Fit for battle once again.

No damages or premature wear on the gear teeth surfaces. Built to take some serious beating.

With the 'light feel' instruction in mind, only a few bearings can be packed with marine grease for maximum protection against rust. Some others need lighter grease in order to maintain that 'light feel'.

Fully exposed worm gear needs thorough grease coating as well as the pawl compartment nicely packed in.

Light grease needed for the spool's inner support bearing. No heavy stuff here for that 'light feel'.

Above as before, bottom shows after thoroughly cleaned drag system. Main gear looks tattered but they are merely cosmetic stains and not a deal breaker. Drag discs are made durable for light drag, not all out stopping power like carbon fibre discs. Upon cleaning, they are back at their best with smooth and firm stopping power.

All surfaces brushed, degreased and contact cleaned in preparation for a new coat of marine grease. One way bearing's perfectly fine too without a hint of rust. Some pitting found around the free spool support bearing compartment.

All surfaces coated with marine grease for protection. Pinion support bearing's packed with marine grease which doesn't affect the 'light feel'. Main shaft support bearing with light grease to maintain 'light feel'.

Drag system layered in with light drag grease. Gears lightly coated with Shimano's heavy grease for that signature creamy smooth and light feel.

Mechanical brake side spool support bearing took a while to arrive as it was a unique size to this 50 size bait caster. Mechanical light feel was achieved with a few quick cranks to spread out all the grease coating on all mechanical parts.

Plenty of rust bust and yet survived to fight more battles with the exception of one unfit bearing that needs to be replaced. It is now fully restored to its full glory and would keep up with the solidly build feel in hand and creamy smooth mechanical feel that it's well known for.