Jump to content

Tekota drag washer upgrade


Recommended Posts

I have 2 shimano 800s & 1 shimano 700. I use these for my copper setups. However, the drags are sticky, one click on the drag they go from tight to loose. I was going to replace the washers with carbon fiber drag washers. Has anyone done the same? If so, was there vast improvement. I have a bunch of tekota 500&600s and don't have a single issue with the drags.

Thanks

Al

Hookup 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't recall what tekotas come with from the factory nor do I have any, but I can say that generally speaking, you will not be dissapointed with carbon fiber. For the 10 or so bucks to do them, once you do one, you will want to do them all. Can dial em right in.

[ Post made via BlackBerry ] BlackBerry.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Tekota drag didn't work from the day I bought it. I had carbon fiber drags installed and another defect fixed and now it works great. I thought I was the only one with a poorly assembled Tekota but it sounds like its a common problem.

High Bidder

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cant offer you a answer but thats been done as I see.

Just a little reminder to everyone "back off the drags between trips" some disc and drag systems can take the abuse,but most factory drags can form a memory with time ..And I assure you it wont fail in the driveway,nuttin worse than failure when you need it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our Tekota 800 reels had almost no range from the day we got them, just like you say...two or three clicks, at most, was enough to go from too loose to too tight. I had Tuna Tom upgrade the drags on them during a reel overhaul this winter, but I haven't fished them yet. Keith might be able to answer whether this gave us better dynamics on the drag; I think he had them out with Scott this past weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was so impressed last year with the Tuna upgrades on my Shimanos that now all of my reels have them. There is a trick with the Shimanos that you have to watch out for. It involves the click pin. Definately check out the schematic for these reels and any videos that you can find on the process. You tube is a good place to look. If your not comfortable doing it on your own, Tuna Tom's does an excellent job of installing them.

The problem with the larger Shimanos is that the larger disc drags hydrolock as the grease is sqeezed out from between the drag washers when the drags are tightened down. They will not release on their own. A few years back, Capt. Andy Bliss told me how to fix this by backing the drag star off and then thumb the spool while cranking the handle to free up the hydrolocked drag washers. After installing the Tuna drags, this is not neccessary as the dry drags release on their own when the star is backed off. There is also much more incremental adjustment with the dry drag system.

No more kicking yourself in the butt for loosing a fish because you forgot to use Andy's process for setting up the wet stock drags when a monster king smashes your copper off of the big boards and breaks everything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just ordered a kit from Tuna to fix my 800LC. Do you know what the trick is with the click pin? It's truly amazing to me that one of the most expensive reels on the market can have such a crummy drag, they should install the carbon fiber drags and charge an extra $10, $250 vs $260 is nothing if the drag actually works!

Nick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got my new drag washers in the mail today. It took me about an hour to do the install for 3 reels. 40 min for the first one then 10 min each for the orher two. The drags seem great. Nice and smooth. I put them in dry. The trick for the click pjn is to insert a toothpick from the top to hold the clicker gizmo in and at the same time spin the star back on. I will post how they work on the water this week.

Al

Hooknup 2

[ Post made via Android ] Android.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...