i'll admit it. it's never as easy as you see

[alantani]

i'll admit it.  it's never as easy as you see in the posts.  sometimes i have to take a reel apart 3 or 4 times before i get it right.  the problem i always have is the height difference between the stock drags that i'm throwing away versus the carbon fiber drag washers that i'm installing.  the height of the drag stack always has to taken into account.  case in point is the daiwa saltiga/saltist 30T/40/50 line.  i used to install penn ht-100 drag washers, but the ht's were so thick that i could only used three drag washers inside the gear instead of the 5 drag washers that come stock.

enter carbontex (thank you hara-san!).  these woven carbon fiber drag washers are just as thin as the stock drag washers.  i mention these specifically, because they are that good....

i cracked open this saltist 40 yesterday.  i opened it up, switched out the drag washers, and bolted it back together on the first try.  total time was 30 minutes.   it was a nice change of pace to nail one on the first try!   the schematcs are not available anywhere online. i had to call daiwa and they e-mailed one to me.  i hope you saved the one that came with the box.  here's the link for the saltiga schematics, which are fairly close.

http://mikesreelrepair.com/schematics/schematic.php?url=Daiwa/Daiwa%20Saltiga%2030T,%2040,%2050.pdf

here's the reel.

first, let's zip out the left side plate screws (key #21), open up the left side plate, lube the bearings and grease the screw holes.  then back together it goes. 

off come the handle and star.

carefully line up all the pieces in order, including the handle nut screw (key #58), the handle nut (key #57), the handle assembly (key #56), the spacing sleeve (key #55), the star drag (key #54), the bearing washer and click spring assembly (keys # 53 and 66), two drag spring washers (key #52) oriented in a "()" position and bearing washer (key #51). 

back out all of right side plate screws (key #49).  don't forget the one hiding under the lever! 

the right side plate lifts off cleanly and easily.  set it aside. 

remove and line up the main gear (key #34) and all the drag washers. 

leave the anti-reverse ratchet (key #31) and the anti-reverse pawl (key #32) in place.  if they come off when you remove the main gear, make sure the pawl "grabs" the ratchet and does not just sit underneath it. 

here is the carbontex washer on the left, and the stock saltist washer on the right.  funny, the stock washer has the look and feel of paper.  it also tears like paper. 

so i slopped on some shimano grease....

and put the drag stack back together exactly the way it came apart.  i was amazed at how easily the stock drag washers tore.  just like paper. 

the right side plate dropped into place easily and i greased the screw holes.

in replacing the spring washers, note that the orientation is "()".

a little grease around the star.

now for the handle.  yes, about that handle.  here's a close up of the rivet that holds the spindle on.

i ground it down with a bench grinder and punched out the spindle.  this separated the arm from the spindle and grip.

i bolted on one of my own grips....

bolted the handle assembly back onto the reel and i was done.  total elapsed time was 30 minutes.  in and out and done in 30 minutes!

i took it down to the local shop and had it loaded with 350 yards of 65 pound power pro.  and like a dummy, i forgot to check on the maximum drag.  the carbontex upgrade for the last torium 16 that i did had maxed out at 24 pounds.  this one should easily exceed that.  i will get the max drag later this evening. 

so with a stack of saltiga/saltist "5+1" drags versus the trinidad/toriums "3+1" drag stack, the saltist should hit 25 pounds easily, maybe even more.  so does this make the saltiga/saltist reel better than the trinidad/torium line?  not really.  who would use more than 15#'s of drag anyway?   i'd say the carbontex washers pretty much level the playing field.  to me, that's what greased carbon fiber is all about. 

 

 

 

[alantani]

i'm not intentionally picking on daiwa. honest! sometimes things just land jelly side down.

the daiwa saltist is a perfectly good reel for the price. there are things that i do to any reel, even straight out of the box. the daiwa saltiga/saltist and the shimano trinidad/torium are no exception. i grease the screws, open/clean/lube the bearings, install greased carbontex drag washers, and bolt on a larger handle grip. i am no fan of these stock drags, nor am i a fan of the anti-reverse system used in these reels. when drag washers get sticky, the drag pressure surges and can cause the anti-reverse system to fail. the anti-reverse roller bearings simply slips at drag pressures of 15-20 pounds. once that happens, the "ambassaduer-style" anti-reverse dog has to catch. if it fails, the reel goes knucklebuster on you. you've all seen the photos of the shimano trinidad dog that failed. here's a daiwa saltist dog that also gave up the ghost.

this is a daiwa saltist that was shipped to me because the anti-reverse failed. note that the frame is not machined from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum. the frame is precision cast. as part of the frame, there is a small stub that sticks out from the right-side base plate to support the anti-reverse dog. well, it's gone.

actually, it's not gone. it sheared clean off leaving the stub and the dog to rattle around inside the reel.

here's what the stub looks like, and here's the proper placement and orientation of the dog.

to replace the stub, i drilled out a hole, tapped it and screwed in a 10-32 hex head cap screw from the back side. i thought this was pretty darned clever of me!

and it almost worked! i ended up damaging the spot weld on the dog and the "spring" came off, so i had to add a sleeve under the dog, then place a round spring in place. under pressure the whole stupid thing came apart at 22#'s of drag.

finally, i replaced the daiwa anti-reverse roller bearing with a shimano trinidad bearing (they're all the same) and the daiwa anti-reverse dog with a shimano trinidad dog (they're close enough) and benched it out to 22#'s without failure. the spool bearings were cleaned out, lubed and re-installed open. the stock drags were replaced with grease carbontex. the stock handle was replaced with full-sized kolekar grip and we're back in business.

so here's the take home message. sticky drag washers are the most common cause of structural damage to a reel. greased carbon fiber is the only system that offers 100% reliability. it will never fail. ask your local shop for carbontex and cal's grease, or go to smoothdrag.com. regarding the daiwa saltiga/saltist and shimano trinidad/torium in the 20/30 size, any drag setting over 15#'s carries a risk that the anti-reverse roller bearing will fail. if the the back up dog also fails, you're toast. upgrade your reel to carbontex and set the drag to 15#'s at most and you should not have a problem.

i think it was clint eastwood that said, "a man's gotta know his limits...".

 

[Land Locked]

Thanks Alan for sharing your knowledge with us.

 

[Psy]

Thanks Alan, especially the bit about the spring washers!!

 

[Def-e-nition]

psy wrote:

Thanks Alan, especially the bit about the spring washers!!

wasn't it drag washers , you Oaf !.

So How does One determine What 15 Pounds Feels Like ?

Hmm?

 

 

[Psy]

nope - see the 14th picture, you will realise when u pull the reel to bits!!
15lbs test - pull against a scale

 

[shadkilla]

hi alan,

from what reel is this spring from? or perhaps some dimensions of this spring to retrofit into my daiwa saltiga's and saltist's?

would you recommend leaving the thin metal plate on or removing it from the pawl?

thanks in advance...

 

[ejtango]

What is the price of a set of carbontex washers for the saltist 50?