another saltiga problem

[alantani]

hoo, boy. i really hate these. i only have the one set of pictures for the spool issues, but i've had two guys come to me with broken spools from daiwa saltigas. you've seen this one before.



now i've come up with another issue. check this out. it's a saltiga 50.







so what happened is this. i added a small bead of grease to the screw hole. done that a thousand times with other reels. just as i gave the screw driver that last turn, i heard a "snap." i was horrified to see that the frame had cracked at the screw hole. um, $200 worth of horrified, i might add. that's the cost of a new frame. i spoke to another guy that does alot of reel work and he says he had the same thing happen, only he used corrosion x on the screw thread.

so what i think happened is this. the tolerances on the threads of the screw holes are so tight that there's no room for air, excess grease or excess oil to squeeze out when tightening down the screws. this causes a crack at this one weak spot of our $200 frame. a guy sent this reel for me to service and there's no way that it's going back broken. i just have to eat this one.

thank you for listening to this brief public service announcement. you may return to your regularly scheduled program ....

[stickbom!]

Gosh, just when I thought it was safe to help my buddy service his Z20... better ask him to let the pros do it!! Thanks for the heads up Alan

[shineshy]

oh my god...? shld i abandon my z30 plan then ..

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by shineshy

oh my god...? shld i abandon my z30 plan then ..

Guys ... before coming to a conclusion ....... this is a follow up post from Alan in another forum to clear up "misconceptions" that may arise based on his thread ........


"yes, this spool broke under the load of a northern california salmon.

you know, i goofed, and big time. this is what i get for rushing through a post. when i said "i hate these things," what i meant was having to post about problems about this reel. i've fished with a saltiga 30T before. it was a GREAT reel. i hate having to post about problems about a great reel like this. jeez, i hope this makes sense!!!!!!!

anyway, the saltigas are beautifully made reels, through and through. i have seen two spools break. both of them were replaced by daiwa at no charge and with no questions asked. ok, i do not like the drag washers and strongly recommend carbontex and cal's grease. this frame issue is a work around. everything else about the reel is fine. and is it worth the hefty price tag? i think it is.

man, i and really sorry about the screw up. alan"
__________________

[stickbom!]

Actually I understood what Alan meant by his statement... he's not against the reel itself... he just dislikes having to tell others about such issues Anyway the Saltiga is a great reel ever since Ctex came into the picture... at least for me!

[DaFrogman]

Alan,

Thank you for the heads up on this issue. I would also like to thank Mak for the clarification.

Up to this point, I was certainly impressed with what I had seen on the Saltiga overheads and was contemplating Saltiga OHs for my lighter tackle work due to their size and line capacities, they looked and felt to me to be very well built reels indeed and Daiwa were rumoured to have better metallurgy than other Japanese manufacturers.

Stripped screw holes are nothing new to me, most of the time, they are caused by corrosion issues and sloppy tolerances, but a frame crack from over tightening a screw?.... man. Anytime you introduce a stainless steel (harder) screw into an aluminium screw hole (softer metal) you run the chance of stripping threads with an over zealous tightening of the screw anyway.

Alan, I understand your thoughts on the tolerances being too tight to allow grease or oil to squeeze past, but to be honest, I don't think that Daiwa tolerances are that much tighter than saaayyyyy Shimano's or Accurates. Similarly, I am not sure that "hydraulic lock" (steal a quote from a Western Angler post) from the forces you can exert with a screwdriver should result in this catastrophic a failure.

I am more inclined to think that this is either a QC failure or an inherent design flaw. I recall that in my Tiburon SST12, you had to be careful when tightening the screw on the right hand sideplate screw that also held the removable reel harness lugs. The screw thread on that particular screw hole was due to the slot to fit the lug, too shallow and did not give enough thread to secure tightly before stripping.

If you still have the cracked frame, could I ask could you take a picture of the reel frame from the inside of the frame at the area of the crack?. Sometimes, in their quest to make lighter reels, I think that some manufacturers remove too much metal mass from key stress areas like screw holes and also at points on the reel spool.

Anyway, thanks for the information, I will keep it in mind if I get any of these reels to work on

Regards,

Saimee

[alantani]

guys, thanks for the back up. i posted this original thread from work and was in a hurry when i did so. i got home and realized my mistake. posting these on 30 boards, i'm afraid this one did not get corrected.

so here's the deal. i have personally fished with the US version called the daiwa saltiga 30T. great reel. very smooth, beautiful fit and finish. and yes, the tolerances are very tight! but you all know the mantra by now; greased carbon fiber drag washers, open spool bearings, grease in all non-spool bearings, GREASE IN ALL THE SCREW HOLES, grease on all of the non-exposed metal surfaces, over-sized handle grips, more spectra and shorter topshots! it's this "grease in the screw holes" business that is going to cost me. i have a saltiga 50 frame on back order that i have to pay for myself. there is no way that i can return the reel in this condition. i did not think to ask daiwa about replacing this for free. they have their own service protocols and i am simply not in the loop.

still, this whole issue is concerning. lots of guys service their own reels. shortly after this disaster, i spoke to another local reel repair guy that said he had the exact same problem, only he added corrosion x to the screw. i just finished working on a saltiga 30 and a saltiga 30T. i changed out the stock drag washers for carbontex drags with cal's grease, i opened up the spool bearings, cleaned, lubed and re-installed them open. one bearing was bad already. the drive shaft bearing was opened, packed with grease, closed and re-installed. they spin great and the drags are very smooth. like i said, it's a great reel. i just wish i would have known about this frame issue. but at least now all of you know. thanks! alan