hotrodding a shimano tld 20/30 two speed

[alantani]

please! if you post this on another website, please notify me so that i can follow the responses. my e-mail address is alantani@yahoo.com. and i am not affillated with anyone in the fishing tackle industry. thank you, alan


a stock tld 20 two speed will typically deliver 17-18#'s of drag at strike before losing freespool. well, at least that is what i have seen. and you're looking at 10-60 seconds of spin time. there is a tremendous amount of variability. i've come up with modifications to extend the drag range and freespool time, and an aftermarket handle with a 9 degree offset that really hotrods this reel. i figured all of this out on my own. when it comes to custom reel work, northern california is a vacuum. it was only later that i found out that southern california reel guys do the same thing. guess i'm at least on the right track.



[FONT=[/IMG]TLD]

a couple of comments regarding the graphite tld's. stock bearings are fine. you just have to clean them out with carb cleaner, compressed air, and then lube them with corrosion x. greased carbon fiber drags are the only way to go. i've serviced a thousand reels a year for the last 5 years, and have not had a single failure with a greased carbon fiber drag. the stock tld handles are garbage and have to be replaced. frame failure is a real concern...



being strapped into the harness using the lugs at the top of the reel appears to increase the risk of failure. this little gem, available at Melton's, ...



... MIGHT decrease the risk of failure. drag settings in excess of of 20#'s at strike also appear to increase the risk of failure. tld 30 II frames appear to be a greater risk of failure when compared to tld 20 II frames. 18#'s of drag at strike should keep you well within safety specs. i personally fish my tld 20 II's with a full load of 80# spectra, short topshots of 40, 50 or 60# mono and drag settings of 30-33% and have had no problems. your experience may vary. so you are using this guide at your own risk. everyone clear on this? good!

here's is a stock tld 20 two speed belonging to a friend, john nakatani. the serial number of this reel is #00053. it as serviced on 10/18/05. this reel benched out at 22#'s of drag at strike before losing freespool and at best had 11 seconds of freespool. both john and this reel are older than dirt! but these numbers are not so bad for such an old reel. several guys have told me that the original tld 20/30 II's outperform the newer ones. that is certainly the case with this reel!



got the schematics? here's the best website,

Southwestern Parts & Service-Your Source for Fishing Reel Repair, Parts, and Service!.

you also need an extra pre-load spring (key #40A) from shimano, some 2 inch masking tape, carb cleaner, and air can/compressor and some tools. ok, here goes....

remove the preprogram dial (key #151) with the drag control lever (key #155) in the "free" position,



remove the dial spring (key#152), lever shaft body (key# 154) and drag control lever.



remove the quadrant screws (key #'s 158, 159, 161) and the lever quadrant (key #236).



flip the reel over and remove the two side plate screw (B)'s (key #177)



now back upright and remove the five side plate screw (A)'s (key #164).



set the side plate aside.



remove the spool and set it aside.



lube the click pawl (key #185), the click spring (key #188), the screw holes and the rod clamp bolts (key #224) with blue yamaha engine grease. set the frame aside.



remove the cooling shield (key #171) with the wrench that came with the reel.



remove pinion gear (B) (key #202), the drag plate assembly (key #'s 174, 245,172 and 203), and the drag washer (key #246).



flip the spool around



and remove the cross pin (key #229), the two click gear screws (key #184) and the click gear (key #183).



remove the main shaft/bearing assembly (key #'s 178, 181, 42A, 40A, and 13), two righ side ball bearings (key #117) and pressure release spring (key #176).



remove the "c" lock (key #13), remove the pressure spring B's (key #40A) and note there orientation "()()" , remove and discard the bearing thrust washer (key #42A) and the left spool bearing (key #181).



now let's clean the bearings. if the shield is pressed in, then pry it out with the point of a small pocket knife.



if the bearing shields are held in with a retaining ring, pry out the retaining ring with the point of a small hook and gently remove the shield with a very small blade. these bearings can be cleaned and the shields replaced if desired.



now rebuild the left side of the spool shaft with the bearing, FIVE pressure washers and the "c" lock. note that the orientation of the five pressure washers is now "((())".





now here's the part that no one knows about. note that there is a small amount of wobble in the drag pressure plate assembly. remove the seal lock (key #174) with a small screw driver.



the assembly now falls into 4 pieces.



apply 4 layers of masking tape to the back of the drag plate (key #245) and cut out the center hole with a small pocket knife.



now re-assmeble the drag pressure plate assembly. the seal lock (retaining ring) will not fit easily. take the blade of a small flat screwdriver and force the ring into place at the four corners of the pinion guard (key #203).



now flip over the drag pressure assembly and cut away the excess masking tape.



clean and regrease BOTH sides of the drag washer. place the drag washer in the spool and wipe the excess grease off the top contact surface of the washer.



rebuild the spool and tighten down the spool cap with the spool cap wrench.



and put the spool back into the frame. whew! almost done!



now we need to remove the handle so that we can get to the right side plate bearing. remove the push button shield (key #91) and screws (key #90).



to remove the handle bold plate assembly (key #'s 24, 92, 93 and 94), back out the screw (key #92) but leave it in place, push the slide plate (key #94) "in" and lift the assembly up and out. don't loose the side plate spring (key #93).



remove the handle bolt assembly (key #'s 69, 147 and 148).



remove the handle



push the drive gear assembly down at the same time you lift the right side
plate up, leaving the drive gear assembly intact as a unit on the working surface.



in this particular reel, pinion gear A (key #201) was rusted to the right side plate bearing (key #200) and had to be punched out.





corrosion in this bearing is common and it was replace with a new bearing that was packed with yamaha engine grease.



now reassemble the right side plate. i installed a new offset handle.







replace the right side plate and you're done! the end result was 30#'s of drag at strike before losing freespool and a freespool time of 77 seconds!

[Double Z]

Or just buy a SLT or AVET.

[Mstonefish]

Cool post. Thanks for showing us how it is done.

Do you make the offset handles?

[alantani]

i know what you mean, dayle. there's just alot of old tld's out there.

no, mark, a friend does. it's stainless steel arm and spindle and 9 degree offset delron grip! send me a pm if interested. t-bar also makes one with a patented 10 degree offset handle. apparently, the 9 degree offset is how avet got around the patent issue as well.

[Ali]

Nice write up Alan!

thanks for taking the time dood.,

[aguachico]

Great post. I like the way you oraganize your parts. My TLD 30 is trembling.

[Johnny B]

can i do this on my corsair?

that would be bitchen.

[alantani]

Originally Posted by Johnny B

can i do this on my corsair?

that would be bitchen.

jb, the corsair should be the same as the calcutta 400. there was an old post from last week. the upgrade is exactly the same.

[Johnny B]

just fuckin with ya.

i try to make jokes and make people laugh so that they dont realize i bring nothing to this board.

[alantani]

no problem, but you should really check out greased carbon fiber drags. they are definitely the way to go. i understand that cal sheets is switching over, and he's no idiot. greased carbon fiber will stay smooth for a lifetime, and it actually increased your drag range. nothing else will do this.

[alantani]

you might remember from my long range report, that i am definitely old school when it comes to reels. i prefer star drag reels to lever drag, and will go to a lever drag design because it's the only way that i can get two speeds. and all of my lever drag reels are shimano tld's because they were my best option when i bought them 10 years ago. if i had to replace my two speed arsenal, i would go with avet. absolutely no question. i had to go through all of this bs with my two speed tld's to tweak out the performance that i wanted/needed.

so what i'm down to now is this.... i have four tld 20 II's with stock graphite frames and the modifications that you see above. they are loaded to the top with 80# spectra. i keep my topshots short and will go with 40, 50 or 60# mono and drag settings of 25, 30 or 33%, depending on the situation. i can dumb them down as low as a 40# topshot and 10#'s of drag, or crank them up to as much as a 60# topshot and 20#'s of drag. this is just the way the numbers work out. now, i also have one tld 30 II with a will fish topless aluminum frame and the modifications above. this one reel is loaded straight to the top with 100# spectra for a short 80# topshot and 24#'s of drag. the frame makes my tld 30 II a true 80# reel. and last, i have a tld 50 II LRS with similar modifications and a will fish frame, loaded with 650 yards of 200# spectra and topshots of 80, 100 or 130# mono. the maximum drag setting i will use with this reel is only 25#'s. that is my physical limit. hey, i'm old and skinny. that's the best i can do!

[daniel-neill]

I have every TLD ever made and I do like them. They are light and tough. The 20II and 30II are both hot rodded. The 50II is stock. I was wondering if you had framed and hot-rodded these. The 20 and 30 are still pretty light, but the 50 may get heavy like my Tiagra. What do you think?

My favorites are still the TLD 5 and 10 for the Albie, Yellowtail and Yellow Fin Tuna under 30 lb models.