i received a box of reels from a local party boat captain several weeks ago. he tells me he bought 30 of these all at once. i don't know how old they are, but he says that are all acting up. now, remember, these reels live on the backs several of party boats in northern california. one had a main gear shaft that had seized up so badly that you could not turn the handle. i was lucky this time. i left it in the ultrasonic cleaner overnight and the next morning was able to pound it out. the last time i tried this, i broke the side plate. and all the rest of the handles had no evidence of grease at all! what really concerned me was the right main side plate bearing. four out of five of these $15 shimano bearings were rusted tight. again, not a drop of grease to be found. so check the bottoms of your reels, gentlemen! sorry about the bad news......
a few years back I saved a few bucks and bought a Shimano Sahara instead of a Symmetre - 1 bearing difference in the two - but the difference in quality between Sahara (Malaysia) and Symmetre (Japan) was quite noticeable both cosmetically and functionally even to this untrained eye. Ever since, I always check the reel foot on everything!
a few years back I saved a few bucks and bought a Shimano Sahara instead of a Symmetre - 1 bearing difference in the two - but the difference in quality between Sahara (Malaysia) and Symmetre (Japan) was quite noticeable both cosmetically and functionally even to this untrained eye. Ever since, I always check the reel foot on everything! Ya I guess my sahara is malaysian cuz i got it for my 12th b day or something, and it suckkks. now its just sitting in my garage. i greases it up every time, the handle is frozen i guess the bearings are rusted like those. Kevin
