Ceramic Bearings Vs Xtreme Reel +

[slinkymalinky]

I've been playing with ceramic hybrid bearings and I just got hold of a fantastic dry teflon lubricant called XTreme Reel+. I wanted to see what made the biggest difference to bearing performance so I used my Pflueger Trion LP baitcaster as a 'test bed'.

The importance of free-running bearings in a casting reel like this one is that it allows better casting distance, casting lighter weights, and surprisingly, fewer overruns (I think because less force is needed to get the spool spinning and to cast a given distance... I'm no engineer )

You might have seen in my rebuild of this reel that the original set of stainless bearings in perfect condition, lubed with oil, gave free spool time of 20 seconds (with the cast control and centrifugal brakes backed right off). When I swapped in a set of Ceramic Hybrid bearings out of the box, the freespool time increased to 35 seconds.

A bit of playing around with lubricants and bearing combinations and here's some more results...

stainless bearings lubed with TG's Rocket Fuel - 20 seconds

stainless bearings lubed with ReelX - 22 seconds

stainless bearings lubed with Xtreme Reel+ - 30 seconds

ceramic bearings oiled out of the box - 35 seconds

ceramic bearings lubed with ReelX - 35 seconds

ceramic bearings lubed with Xtreme Reel+ - 40 seconds

The verdict. This lube is great but in a small baitcaster (that has a relatively light spool) like this, ceramic bearings make a much bigger difference. I'll be using a combination of ceramics and Xtreme Reel+ but if you only were going to do one thing to improve a small baitcaster, swap the bearings.

Cheers, Slinky

[Hodgey]

Great feedback Tony.

I daresay a lot of the bass fishos will find this information particularly interesting

Cheers

Skip

[arpie]

Well done Tony - you are having fun turbo charging your reels!! I think we'll just have to rename you ....> Tony the Tool Man!!

cheers

Roberta

[GregL]

Hmmm interesting.....

Wonder what they would do to a Steez????

The Steez has to be the best light weight fresh water reel already and casts 20% further than ANYTHING else I own.

Then I have the Zillions and zillion PE's, now they could do with some souping up!

So when can I send them up to Tony's tackle? lol

G

[slinkymalinky]

Just swapped out the original bearings from my Daiwa TD Sol baitcaster this morning.

Freespool time with original bearings, out of the box... 12 seconds

Freespool time with ceramic hybrids from Smooth Drag, lubed with XTreme Reel+... 42 seconds

That's a 350% increase in freespool time for 10 minutes work.

Hmmmmm... I like it.

Cheers, Slinky

[woodch0p]

Where would one get there hands on some ceramic bearings? I have a small mitchell spidermite baitcaster that could do with an upgrade.

Cheers

Daniel

[slinkymalinky]

Where would one get there hands on some ceramic bearings? I have a small mitchell spidermite baitcaster that could do with an upgrade.

Cheers

Daniel

G'day Daniel...

http://www.bocabearings.com/

Just remember that there are trade-offs. Being lighter, the balls in ceramic hybrid bearings are also more sensitive to contaminants and over-lubing. If you put them in... keep them clean and well looked after. They are also noisier than stainless bearings. But for me, the casting improvement outweighs those issues. Before swapping bearings, make sure you try thoroughly cleaning and carefully re-lubing your bearings to see if that gives you the results you want.

Cheers, Slinky

[customcasting]

On my abus I can get over 240 seconds spin time from stanard bearings by removing the dust sheilds and use singer sewing machine oil and blancing the spool ,a blanced spool will cut down over runs and increase spin time without touching the bearrings ,in the world of touranment casting you only need the reel to spin for 8 seconds for a 300 yard cast .blanceing the spool is by far more impoarant for increases distance in any sort of overhead reels. as with balance comes control.

ceramic hybrid bearings work better dry than oiled in all test done for distance casting .

Edited March 15, 2010 by customcasting

[slinkymalinky]

On my abus I can get over 240 seconds spin time from stanard bearings by removing the dust sheilds and use singer sewing machine oil and blancing the spool ,a blanced spool will cut down over runs and increase spin time without touching the bearrings ,in the world of touranment casting you only need the reel to spin for 8 seconds for a 300 yard cast .blanceing the spool is by far more impoarant for increases distance in any sort of overhead reels. as with balance comes control.

ceramic hybrid bearings work better dry than oiled in all test done for distance casting .

Thanks Customcasting. Great info.

That certainly chimes with the mini experiment of the difference between the bearings dry, oiled and with the dry teflon lube.

How can someone who is interested (me for starters) go about balancing a spool? Are balanced spools an 'after market' item? How does that work once the line is loaded on the spool... does it effect the fine balance?

Cheers, Slinky

PS... a 300yd cast is absolutely insane

[customcasting]

Thanks Customcasting. Great info.

That certainly chimes with the mini experiment of the difference between the bearings dry, oiled and with the dry teflon lube.

How can someone who is interested (me for starters) go about balancing a spool? Are balanced spools an 'after market' item? How does that work once the line is loaded on the spool... does it effect the fine balance?

Cheers, Slinky

PS... a 300yd cast is absolutely insane

The best way is to use your first 20 to 30 mts of line to blance your spool ,a drop of super glue to hold the line to the spool no knot ,then lay the line on with out the level line ,lay the line on like reel of cotton ,dont cross the line hard up against the last turn of line ,on my larger over heads i use 50 odd meters of hivis line 20 to 30 lbs ,so you know when you are getting near your blance point of line ,I think you know what i mean ,when you get it right you will fell the difference in the cast as well hear alot smother spool spin ,