Penn Clash 4000 Feedback.

In October 2015 I purchased 2x Penn clash 6000 spinning reels.
See the review here:
http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=100699&forum_id=1&highlight=penn+clash+6000

With the 6000’S I bought a Penn Clash 4000 spinning reel.

The specifications of the reel:
The Clash 4000 has the same parts and bearings fitted onto the reel as the Penn Clash 6000.
The only difference is that the main gear is an aluminum type which was driving the brass-like pinion gear.
Weight is around 303 grams.
Gear ratio is: 6,2:1 which amounts to 37 inches of line or 939mm of line on one turn of the reel handle.
Bearings are 8 + 1 which are all serviceable.
The drag is 15lb or 6,8kg and it is sealed and it is a carbon type which Penn call the HT 100.
So no felt washers which wear out quickly.
The body is full aluminum all around.
The reel also has a slow oscillation system which assists in laying down the braid nice and evenly next to each other.
This obviously assists in longer casts.
The only problem I have is that the factory fitted grease is not enough to assist with proper lubrication of the main and pinion gear.
It is common on all reels, that the main and pinion gear wears out quite quickly if no lubrication is present.
So regardless of the “amount of grease present” if it is displaced by running gears and there is no feeding system of new grease, then the reel might fail in its first year already.



My setup:
The reel was to be used with a Daiwa Exceller 9,6 fishing rod.
The reel was to be loaded with braid seeing it was the way to go.
Initially Power Pro 15lb braid was fitted, but later i moved to HMP 20lb and 25 lb braid.

The setup was to be used, to obtain live shad using spoons/ bait fishing and at times plugging while the big rods were waiting for the big fish to bite.

Spoons weights were around 18 grams to 3 ounce plugs “85 grams”
Sinkers and bait in the region of 3 ounce.

So, in the past 5x years, this reel has been used like a real miner and a big entertainer it was indeed!!!!
Work, work, work with not much rest in between.
In all, the reel had around 25 trips down to the coast over the 5 years.
So it might be even more.
The trips consisted of anything from a week to 10 days.
The reel would be used on a daily basis and casts could be around 50-80 per day.
So if it did anything from 8700 to 20 000 casts, it would be fair and that it lasted so long is a good sign.

I have taken good care of the reel.
It was stripped down and cleaned on numerous times after each season.
It is so easy as one only needs to loosen 4x screws to get into the gearbox system
In the 5x years, I have run through 2x sets of main gears and pinion gears.
The first set of main gear and pinion gear wore out quickly due to a lack of lubrication “factory grease not enough and no feeding system this was in the 2nd year of ownership”
No other parts have been changed.
No bearings ended up being seized…….and all seem to be fine.
The line roller bearing is still good and so is the line roller itself.
The reel has now been placed on pension as the costs to replace the main gear and pinion gear set is nearly half the price of a new reel.
Why this is so, is currently unknown and some enquiries will be made to determine why.
The bail arm slots are also worn out and the bail arm does not seat properly in the closed position.
Due to this, one needs to start placing spacers under the spool in order to correct the line lay onto the spool.
Thus retirement was advised.
I have replaced the reel with 2x other Penn clash 4000 reels.
They are now loaded with 20 lb Boss finesse braid.
The line lay on the new reels are also perfect.

What could have been done to better the reel:
1. If bearings were used on the bail arm system, then it would have prevented the oval wearing out of the bail arm holes.
2. The main gear / pinion gear could have been beefed up a bit in order to last longer before wearing out. Maybe upgrading to brass like main gears
3. Using a better lubricant and more of it in the reel.

Other then the above nothing else is advised.
Obviously one needs to make money, so parts is a common commodity which is needed in the proper running of equipment as they do tend to wear out.

I did play with the reel to a extent.
The gearbox system was sealed at a point and a grease/ oil/ sludge was placed in the gearbox system.
Over time, the mixture did leak from the bearings and main shaft area, thus lubrication was done on all of the needed aspects .
But it was never a dry system.
After doing this, the main gears lasted much longer then the 1st set.
But eventually the 2nd set also wore through.
Hooking Kingies and fighting them might have placed too much strain on the gear system too.
So, just like all other reels, they all will eventually wear out.

One of the best aspects of this reel is the serviceability of it.
You do not need to be a reel specialist in order to service it.
This makes life much easier for us all.

I have had Shimano spinning reels and their main gear and pinion gears also wore through eventually.
The big problem with Shimano is that one needs to strip down the whole reel to get into the gearbox system.
This can be a time consuming aspect as well as a technical aspect as not all anglers are great with tools.

So here is some pictures of my Penn Clash 4000.
 
the reel handle is of hardened foam and it too has signs of proper wear on the foam.
there is not much play on the handle as it runs on 2x bearings.
not too much of corrosion present.
 

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the spool has signs of wear too.
i had to smooth the spool on the lath as it was dropped and dents were present which would obviously damage the braid.
so the protection layer eventually was removed.
 

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the other side of the reel.
a oil screw was fitted at a point in time, after sealing the gearbox system.
 

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the reel gearbox present.
most of the lubricant already removed.
the slow oscillation gear is still present.
 

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the main gear also worn "left side gearing" the right gear is the slow oscillation gear which is still in a very good condition.
 

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the bail arm hole is oval and not round anymore.
well after the amount of casts is it no wonder that it wore out.
so bearings here, might have prevented the wear.
 

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another look at the main gear.
the shaft runs on 2x bearings.
thus no groves in the shafts.
thus bearings is doing what the need to do.

main gear tooth are worn off
 

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what is also nice is that the main gear is just pulled out.
one does not need to line it up with the oscillation gear at any point.
it just needs to go in, very user friendly.
 

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the line roller has clearly worked hard over the 5x years.
it is still smooth as it runs on a bearing.
the bearing is serviceable, so no worries
 

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