Shimano Calcutta Bearings and Repair Work

Lex · Jul-07-2009, 04:53 PM

hey everyone. got a problem with my calc.400b. i have twins of the 400's and one work great. smooth, very fluid, free-spool is great(for a shimano). the second one just does not have the fluidness and free-spool that the other 400 has. there is no grinding of any gears going on, but the reel itself just feels "slow". i spin the spool and i get "maybe" 2 seconds. this is not right obviously and i just picked it up from getting serviced today and got really pissed because it was supposed to be taken care of.

my questions are: should i go ahead and replace the bearings on this reel? and: what else could be a common problem that results in a "slow" reel from shimano, ie: calcuttas.

i also have not ripped it apart yet so maybe there is a ton of grease and crap inside the bridge area, but im really leaning towards bearings. i dont remember the last time, if any, that i replaced any bearing in my calcuttas. maybe its time????

anyone have an idea on how to get them to spin like old squidders?? lol

REK · Jul-07-2009, 06:25 PM

Do you, can you, work on your own reels? Or do you just let somebody else do it? I can tell you what I would do before giving up on bearings.

Pull the bearings and soak in white gas to clean all the old oil/grease/gunk out and re-oil with a single drop. Pull all the idle gearing and clean and re-oil with a very light oil. Same with the worm parts. If you can't/won't do that...try flushing all this out with a can of contact cleaner and re-oil.

Or try sending the reel to somebody else. Try Shimano, let them know your concerns. Have them do a complete number on it.

babachu · Jul-07-2009, 07:08 PM

The levelwind might be gummed up or have grease in it. A common problem with small baitcasters is people try to use grease in them. Use something like reelx on the bearings, levelwind and other moving parts. Only use grease on heavy metal parts that rub together.

Lex · Jul-07-2009, 07:55 PM

thanks alot. im gonna try these methods tonight. never thought of contact cleaner though. worth a try. will post results!

Lex · Jul-08-2009, 02:24 AM

started at 11pm. ripped apart the calcutta and rip the bearing out to find one is fryed and the other looks like it was "attempted" to be pryed out by its past owner that i bought it off of 2 years ago. ordered 2 new bearing and hopefully, pretty positive that will do the trick.