Team Lews drag upgrade

[aprestonSEK]

Has anyone upgraded to carbontex on this reel? I have experienced my drag slipping when setting the hook even with the drag star tightened nearly all the way down. Thanks.

[Chode]

would love to know the same thing on the tourney pro

[Evintos]

As far as I know, most if not all of the Lews baitcast reels have carbon fiber drags.

I know for a fact the Tournament Pro does (I just took mine apart to do annual maintenance. 3 carbon fiber washers.).

One thing you might want to make sure is that there isn't excessive drag grease on the washers.

[kingkong]

No, my bb1 comes with carbon washers.

Which model do you have? Do you know if there's grease on the washers?
I'd call lew's before replacing the drag washers.

Side note
I talked to rick collins (service manager at lew's) last week about drag grease because I am planning to do maintenance on my reel. He said all lew's baitcast reels don't use grease on the drag. Clean them and that's it.

[aprestonSEK]

No, my bb1 comes with carbon washers.

Which model do you have? Do you know if there's grease on the washers?
I'd call lew's before replacing the drag washers.

Side note
I talked to rick collins (service manager at lew's) last week about drag grease because I am planning to do maintenance on my reel. He said all lew's baitcast reels don't use grease on the drag. Clean them and that's it.

I have the 2012 team pro. And no the washers are dry like they're supposed to be.

[tim3716]

The Tournament Pro has CF drag washers already and if you want a lot of drag, clean your washers in a cleaning solution to get rid of the grease and re install them dry. If you grease them, your drag will be smooth but not as powerful.

[TravHale]

I have the Team Lews Pro model and it does have a CF drag washer, but it also has a red "fiberglass" washer under the main gear. I was thinking about replacing this washer with CF, but I'm not sure if it makes a lot of sense.

[pro reel]

All the lews reels use carbon fiber. They use a thin washer with a tight weave. Some say that the coarser weave of other carbon fiber washers grip a little better. I don't know, I have never tested a new set of both to compare them. Most reels with CF washer come with them dry. It's up to you to decide if you want to add drag grease. Drag grease will make them slip a lot smoother at consistant settings, but you do lose some max available drag. If you want to increase you max drag, you might try adding another belevile washer. The beleviles are the curved washers under the drag star. You probably have several flat washers and maybee a thick spacer between the belevliles and the anti reverse sleeve. remove the spacer or a few flat washers and replace them with an extra set of curved washers. that will allow you to increase the pressure from the star to the drag system.

[TravHale]

These are the only drag components of the Team Pro. I've been thinking of adding a bit of grease to the CF washer, but i'm worried i'll lose too much drag since it's low to begin with with only the one washer.

[21farms]

any updates? my team lews pro slips on the hookset too even with the drag tightened down. even though lew's rates its drag at 14 lbs. like their other reels, the team lews pro is the only lews i have that does that. i love the reel but have relegated it to use with hard ripbaits only because of the lack of drag power.

[TravHale]

any updates? my team lews pro slips on the hookset too even with the drag tightened down. even though lew's rates its drag at 14 lbs. like their other reels, the team lews pro is the only lews i have that does that. i love the reel but have relegated it to use with hard ripbaits only because of the lack of drag power.

To be fair, the Lew's website does state that the Team Pro has 14lbs of drag pressure, however, that simply is not the case. Some of their other reels, with their multi-stacked CF drag systems, likely approach that rating. The Team Pro has a single CF drag washer, which puts it at a disadvantage when compared to the drags systems in their other reels. I would say you would be lucky to get 10-11lbs of drag out of the Team Pro's drag system, which is fine for most of my fishing needs.

I would like to know if it's possible to add another drag stack to the system just to increase the drag surface area, which would likely produce a smoother drag system.

[78Staff]

i believe the specs on the lews site are for the current team pro, which is 14lbs, and a 6.1 oz reel. The older model which wieghed 5.9 oz was only rated to 10lbs.

[TravHale]

i believe the specs on the lews site are for the current team pro, which is 14lbs, and a 6.1 oz reel. The older model which wieghed 5.9 oz was only rated to 10lbs.

They had the same stats up for the other model as well. Maybe it's true for the new reel though? It's call the Team Pro 2? I'll have to check my model numbers when I get home. I do know that I tested my reels with my boga grip and the drag was right around +/- 10lbs.

[grantman83]

The newer model also has an 85mm handle as opposed to the 80mm on the previous generation

[TravHale]

The newer model also has an 85mm handle as opposed to the 80mm on the previous generation

That's good, it's nice to see fast improvements.