what's different about this picture?

[alantani]

guys, do you see it?





how about a close up picture?



well, this one has drag grease on it already, but that's not it.






yeah, there you go! there is no retaining ring.

i opened up this avet a couple of weeks ago and got a little surprise. the drag washer was glued in. there was no retaining ring. i had to order up some parts and i asked the lady at avet about the change. she told me they started gluing the drag washers to the spool about 6 months ago because of problems they've been seeing with salt deposits under the drag washer. i think she was probably referring to something like this....



and this....



a full coat of glue should eliminate the risk of salt growing under the drag washer. unless they miss a spot. then the drag washer may develop high spots from corrosion underneath. it would be the same problem that is seen with some of the badly corroded drag washers from the penn internationals. if this glued in avet drag washer becomes sticky and can't be cleaned, it will have to be shipped back to avet for a new drag washer. i did not ask about the cost of this service for reels that are out of warranty. old finnor reels also had a cork drag washer that was glued to the spool. i can imagine that it would have created problems if a finnor reel with a drag problem could ONLY be returned to the manufacturer for this service. i hope avet fares better with this decision.

[Mitchw123456]

its great and all that they came up with a "fix" but I don't understand all these problems. I currently have 6 Avets and everytime I've broken them down they've been spotless. I honestly cannot believe some people do not take even half assed care of their tackle. It doesn't take much to prevent these problems, I just for the life of me can't figure out why people don't do it.

[alantani]

mitch, for me it is simply enough to know that it can happen, and does.

[jig]

Alan, thanks for the heads up. I don't like the sound of that at all. Is it just this series, or all the avets? I can't see the benefits of gluing a washer in as compared to the downsides. Esp. with a simple fix like grease. Question for you: if they like the drags dry, why not just grease the side that faces the spool and leave the other dry? Would is soak thru the weave?

Maybe they are just stubborn and cannot admit you're right about the grease. :-)

[alantani]

so follow me on this one.

first generation reel - an old penn long beach 68, holds 300 yards of 30# dacron, small drags that deliver 7-8#'s of drag at most.

second generation reel - an old penn long beach 60, holds 300 yards of 30# mono and delivers 7-8#'s of drag at most.

third generation reel - a penn torque 200, holds 300 yards of 30# mono and delivers 25#'s of drag, well suited for almost 400 yards of 65# spectra and a 30, 40 or 50# topshot. this is an example of a TRUE third generation reel.

so what is a jx? it holds 280 yards of 30# mono and can deliver ONLY 15#'s of drag at strike before losing freespool. is this reel truely worthy of third generation status? well, in a word, no. berkeley high test breakes at 80% over it's stated line rating. consider a jx loaded with 65# spectra and a high test topshot of 20# mono. i would be looking at a 50% drag setting of 20#'s at strike and maybe 30#'s at full. the jx can simply not deliver. many star drag reels in this size class can deliver this level of performance. only one lever drag reel can. right, the accurate.

so then let's call the avet jx a "second generation" reel suitable for 280 yards of straight 30# mono and a strike drag setting of 7.5 to 15#. at the risk of sounding harsh, let's call the avet jx unworthy of spectra. it is possible that avet may have bought into the idea that they might loose drag range if they grease the drag washer. this might then explain their reluctance to grease the drag washer. the drag range is weak enough as is and they might not want to risk losing any more. no longer is a large spool capacity considered an advantage. properly set up, how many of us would actually run the risk of getting spooled with 300 yards of line? i would think very few.

and as far as drag grease goes, i think that they are trying keep the drag grease as far away from their reels as possible. once they crack open that door, they will never be able to close it.

[captdeej]

You were dead on in your previous posts about this situation!