maylasian shimano tld 20 single speeds

alantani · Mar-16-2007, 10:47 PM

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......

sdfishkiller · Mar-16-2007, 11:34 PM

Fakes? or Japan is using Malaysia like USA uses China? Either way=crap!

alantani · Mar-17-2007, 01:15 AM

i only know about these 5 reels. i am concerned about this captain's remaining 25. if everyone chimes in and says "bullshit," then we do not have a large scale problem. this post went up on 29 websites. i will know more later......

AKSalmon · Mar-17-2007, 08:15 AM

I see these problems on a huge majority of the TLDs and Charter Specials I see in my shop. Almost all of the Shimano pre-ARB pinion bearings need to be replaced; only occasionally do the spool bearings go bad. This is not a problem of just the Malaysia made reels. These problems crop up if the reels are not serviced annually and water gets inside. My guess is you'll find water stains on the drag washers too...

alantani · Mar-17-2007, 09:29 PM

actually, bill, you can see the drag washers in the photo above. no water stains at all!

AKSalmon · Mar-18-2007, 08:21 AM

That's surprising, or at least different than the vast majority of the TLD20s and 25s I see in my shop. Up here people use tem for halibut with straight 80# spectra. The plastic frame means that the reel torques under the stress of a tight drag and a 100# fish. All sorts of problems crop up from the heavy stress: Very often the gears are shotand almost often the pinion bearing is bad. I'm not sure why the drag washer typically has water stains. It could be that charter captains keep their reels outside in rocket launchers all season long, but whatever the cause, it's very commom. When I replace the drag washer I use some Cal's Drag grease to smooth things out even on the canvas Shimano drags, but the new Carbontex drags are so much better (although also very expensive) that I no longer stock Shimano drag washers.

Pacific Fisher · Apr-04-2009, 09:53 AM

I bought a used but like new, made in Malaysia, TLD 25, and thanks to Alan's post about no grease on the main bearings, I opened it up. Sure enough, no grease except for a small dab in one spot on the outside. Clearly whoever assembled the reel was going through the motions on greasing. I probably would too considering how much they were being paid.
I was lucky, the reel had hardly been used if at all, and the bearings had no rust.

I then ordered and installed the TLD 2 speed carbon drag washer and modified the washer stack per Alan's hot rodding instructions. A lot more drag capability for sure now.
I do not think that there is any other reason to worry about the Malaysian models if you take them apart and lube, as the parts are still the same.

Thanks once again Alan for the heads up.