Hey guys, just got my OJ 2000 F custom, and must say that I've been loving the feel of it. I'm wondering if anybody else have noticed increasing handle resistance when engaging the Fall lever? Not sure if this is normal (like a spool tension knob?), or should I have the reel serviced. Would appreciate other owner's feedback on this.
My drag setting does not affect the handle resistance. Just the Fall lever setting that affects it. Beyond the halfway (vertical position) mark, there's an increase in resistance in cranking the handle.
Sorry for the extremely delayed reply. My OJ F Custom in size 2001 does the same thing. I believe its just an engineering shortcoming. It seems counter productive to have to decrease the lever/spool brake every time, but mine is the same. Definitely limits how much I use the lever. Does your handle have any slop? Not the gear teeth type of slop, but horizontal slop where the handle enters the frame. It feels a tiny bit loose on mine where it connects with the main gear. No issue, but I hear a tiny bit of gear noise when reeling fast, but only IF the fall lever is set on little to no resistance. Increasing the fall lever (spool) resistance or reeling slower doesn't produce any noise at all
Seems incredibly silly and bad engineering for a relatively pricey reel. I do have the horizontal slop as well. I've only noticed it after a couple of trips, but it's definitely mildly annoying. However that being said, I'm really enjoying the ergonomics and smoothness of the drag.
Makes sense as I believe that «fall lever» is just a handle for a regular casting brake system. It puts slight friction to the spool and that friction goes both ways (freespool and under retrieve)
The fall level is actually just a spool tension knob replaced by the handle/lever. Shimano sell the fall lever knob and it is compatible with the non - F custom ocea jigger according to the shimano Singapore website.
That's what it seems like to me as well. The only part I would be concerned about is how quick each of the two take up tension. The fall lever takes up zero to full tension in about 45 degrees of rotation. I'm unsure how much rotation is needed on a non F model to take up the same amount of tension.
