New to Site - Need Bearing Suggestions

Craiger9er

Hey guys, I've been reading the topics on this site for a while now and all of your knowledge is amazing to me. I hate to admit it, but i've neglected my reels for quite a while now. Sure i'd "clean, lube and oil" them, but not really the right way. I'd just throw it in there from time to time and call it clean. Now, the reel that I bought 16 years ago, my Shimano Curado has lost some performance, and I'm looking to get it back. I bought my oil and grease, and now I need to upgrade some bearings. Shimano puts in Abec 3's stock from what I've learned. How much of a difference will 3s to 5s give me? Or is it worth it to go with 7s? I'm tight on cash too and want an upgrade but don't wanna go too nuts. Plus, I'm a little nervous that the 7s would be too much for me also, how much would I have to relearn with them, casting-wise....

Thanks all, this site rocks

ChuckE

Hi Craig, welcome to the forum.

I think you will see a noticable difference just by cleaning and lubing the stock bearings with a light spool oil. Hot Sauce, TG Yellow Rocket Fuel and other light oils will work. Just don't go too light, or you'll be re-oiling more frequently.

You should also see a nice improvement in casting performance with higher precision spool bearings, especially the ceramic hybrids. Most notice you can cast the same distance with less effort, but you can also eek' out some additional distance if you back off braking and fine tune spool tension a bit. You won't have a problem with reel performance, once you get used to the upgraded settings.

Some cannot tell a lot of difference from Abec 5 to Abec 7, especially if they run tighter braking and don't spend much time on the water. Abec 7 bearings are getting easier to find and are being offered in more sizes, and a few forum members are beginning to use them more over the past couple of months. However, you may notice you have to add spool oil a little more often if you go with some Abec 7s (especially with lighter oils and dependant on a few other factors).

You can get them from several sources -- since you said cash is a little tight, I'll focus only on those that cost less and offer a good performance improvement. You can look up the links in Google.
- ZPI SIC ceramic hybrid bearings can be purchased from Japan Tackle, Plat or Brooklyn Bill -- They perform like Abec 5s in my opinion, but are on the higher end of pricing. Many forum members use them.
- Boca Bearings and VXB can be purchased from their respective websites. Boca has Abec 5 ceramic hybrids, and VXB has Abec 7's. Both offer good performance for a good price. [Bocas are fairly popular with forum members.]
- Shimano offers Abec 5 SS bearings, at a competive price.
- Jim at Heartland Tackle offers Abec 7 SS bearings also at a good price.

You can page back through the forum or even use the search feature (blue line above advertiser pictures), to get more info.

Chuck

Bass Pro · Platinum Angler Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 1253

Bearing upgrades are a favorite of mine. Generally, they really help bring out the max performance of a reel (casting and pitching.)

For budget conscious upgrades, look at the ABEC 7 stainless steel bearings from Jim at Heartland Tackle- they run $8 per bearing : ABEC 7 STAINLESS BEARINGS

But if you want to splurge and get the absolute max the go with VXB ABEC 7 Ceramic hybrids- they run $15 per bearing: VXB CERAMIC HYBRID BEARINGS

KoYak · Platinum Angler Joined: 15 May 2003 Posts: 1094

I agree with Both BP and ChuckE. The SS ABEC 7 bearings from heatlandtackle are a great bang for the buck. And he ships very quickly.

Just put them in my Metanium XT and works very nice.

Mike

Craiger9er

Thanks for the help guys...I was intent on buying Abec 5's as I thought the 7 would be too much, but with the right nudging, I ordered 7's from Heartland. I've been checking Heartland, Boca, VXB, and Mike's Reel shop for bearings for the past year but was never 100% sure of any of em, I just needed the encouragement. Thanks again for all the help, and I'll let you know what I think of them when they come in and are installed.

Texas_bullet

Jim can also supply you with a SS version of the bearing behind the spool pin (the original can rust and stick to the spool).

I put TG Rocket Bearings in my Green Curados, and was pleased with the results. After thoroughly cleaning the stock spool bearings in my new Curado D 200 and 100 and lubing with Yellow Rocket Fuel, the casting performance was terrific! Maybe SuperFree is a bigger win than ABEC 7?
I also had good results upgrading stock Shimano spool bearings with the A-RB open design bearings for Inshore fishing.

TB

l2yan · Elite Angler Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 222

Im pretty new to this whole supertuning too. Should i replace all 10 bearings in my revo (thats a ridiculous amount of money), or is just the spool bearing supposed to be replaced? Also, how do i know what size bearing to order?

ChuckE

12yan,
You will only need to replace the two spool bearings in your Revo. Upgrading frame bearings (e.g. the other bearings in the reel), won't make that much of a difference since they are low speed and lightly loaded. VXB Abec 7 ceramic hybrids will give you good performance improvement over the stock -- they come dry.

Here is the info on the size:

http://www.tackletour.net/T3Forum/viewtopic.php?t=12887&start=0

Chuck

Craiger9er

ChuckE

Craiger wrote:

l2yan · Elite Angler Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 222

Thanx a lot Chuck. I just saw that topic by D.R. last night. Perfect!

Craiger9er

Decisions, decisions.....I think for now, I'll throw in the Abec 7s and see what that does. If i'm happy with it, I'll leave it be, if not, I'll give it a shot.

I'm pretty excited about souping this baby up, it's gonna be like a new reel when I get done.....

I also ordered Carbontex Drag Washers for it, and will be using Reel Butter (which I know is still be reviewed by a lot of people on the board). Is there anything else I should be doing too, since I'll have it mostly taken apart when these parts arrive? Besides a thourough cleaning and lube of course