Bearings replacement for Stradic 1000FJ

[Aardvarking]

Sorry for making heaps of new threads recently, but I've just had some trouble servicing my reel for the first time. Despite having gained a decent grasp on what I'm doing from extensive research, it still hasn't gone right. After hours of cleaning, servicing, oiling, greasing and trying to decipher reel schematics I had my stradic back together, before realising that it was even worse than when I started with. At first I was really confused why, but I've figured out that it's the bearings at fault. I didn't think they were too much of an issue because they felt smooth enough when spinning them with my finger. But then I realised that most good bearings can spin for about 10-20 seconds at least when spun on a pencil, and the longest any of my 4 internal bearings would spin by itself was 0.2 seconds, with the others not being able to continue spinning once I had stopped spinning them manually.

I was thinking that if I'm going to replace them why not upgrade them. I was looking at Boca Bearings, but gee are they expensive. I bought the reel for 60 bucks used, so it seems a bit counterintuitive to me to spend double what I payed for on upgrading the reel. I'm also itching to get my reel back in commission and don't want to wait ages for shipping from America, so it would be nice to find an Australian seller. Can anyone recommend a good place to get some new bearings, and is it worth shelling out extra for ceramic bearings?

Edited May 19, 2018 by Aardvarking

[xerotao]

sorry about hearing about your reel.

either buy from shimano or purchase off an ebay seller starting with a P.

I use them to replace my bushings

[Welster]

I have used the Pxxxx branded bearings for the line roller with no issues. 

[PaddyT]

Just had bearings replaced by Shimano and a general service including internal seal replacment done on a Stradic 8000 that is about 14 years old- the entire job cost $70 including postage-the cost of new bearings will be $10-15 with original parts- ceramic bearings will not have any dramatic effect- Jack Erskine was changing the spool bearings on baitcasters and overheads a few years ago for casting performance to ceramic ones- I had a chat to him about it at the time and they were really only of benefit to high end baitcasters where they had extremely fine tolerances - the tolerances in a Stradic would be "sloppy" enough that you wouldnt notice any difference. As a general comment- a nice mid range reel like a Stradic is well enough made (certainly comared to the gear that i started with) that you dont really need to fiddle with anything to improve them, they are relatively water and idiot proof which means that service should really consist of a good clean and thats about it- unless something (like a bearing or a seal) wears out. I understand as a young bloke you want to play round with your gear and get a better understanding of it all but todays gear is FAR better than anything i started with 40 years ago. Just hose, wash with a mild detergent, hose again and dry and spray with a bit of Tackleguard and put it away. 

[Aardvarking]

I'm going to order a set of new bearings from that certain P ebay seller. Seems like their products are pretty good quality. I've also seen some people talking about replacing the nylon worm gear bushing with bearings. Has anyone tried doing that, is it worth it?

[xerotao]

1 hour ago, Aardvarking said:

I've also seen some people talking about replacing the nylon worm gear bushing with bearings. Has anyone tried doing that, is it worth it?

I do it to all my shimano reels with the plastic bushing on the worm gear. Do i feel a difference? The answer is no. But replacing a plastic bushing with a bearing has to have less friction right?

[Green Hornet]

Check your parts diagram. If your Stradic has a spool bush, located on the spool shaft, you can change that to a bearing quite easily. It virtually upgrades your Stradic to the same spec as a Sustain.

I've used this mob's bearings before and they're good value for money. If you can manage, measure it and order an extra line roller bearing. They tend to wear out faster than the rest.

[Aardvarking]

2 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

Check your parts diagram. If your Stradic has a spool bush, located on the spool shaft, you can change that to a bearing quite easily. It virtually upgrades your Stradic to the same spec as a Sustain.

I've used this mob's bearings before and they're good value for money. If you can manage, measure it and order an extra line roller bearing. They tend to wear out faster than the rest.

Funnily enough the line roller is the only bearing on the reel that is working properly. I'll just order one of each of the bearings, and leave the current line roller bearing as a spare. 

What do you mean by a spool bushing? I know what a bushing is, but I'm not sure which exact part I'd replace

[Welster]

3 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

Check your parts diagram. If your Stradic has a spool bush, located on the spool shaft, you can change that to a bearing quite easily. It virtually upgrades your Stradic to the same spec as a Sustain.

I've used this mob's bearings before and they're good value for money. If you can manage, measure it and order an extra line roller bearing. They tend to wear out faster than the rest.

If you put the part number off the diagram into eBay the corrrect bearing will pop up.   Measure to check.

[xerotao]

3 hours ago, Aardvarking said:

What do you mean by a spool bushing? I know what a bushing is, but I'm not sure which exact part I'd replace

The stradic FJs did not come with a spool bushing/bearing. So dont worry about it.

[Green Hornet]

14 hours ago, Aardvarking said:

Funnily enough the line roller is the only bearing on the reel that is working properly. I'll just order one of each of the bearings, and leave the current line roller bearing as a spare. 

What do you mean by a spool bushing? I know what a bushing is, but I'm not sure which exact part I'd replace

My bad, didn't see you were talking about a FJ. Later models have them.