Shimano TLD5 inspection, rebuild and conversion

[peguinpower]

Its pretty much SOP to crack open any new reel that goes through my garage

KABLAM!


Don't panic. I came prepared


Cursory inspection found very little corrosion. The outside threads of the frame screws had some salt, and the lever drag body was turning a little green. No pitting. Just surface reaction. I degreased the entire reel with white gas and a toothbrush. All the bearings were smooth and free spinning. Just to be sure, I soaked them in white gas and blew compressed air thru them using an RPM bearing blaster. The bearing blaster channels the air or any compressed cleaner thru the seals and drains them onthe other side. I re-oil with Tri-flow. Works good



I have really wanted one of these reels due to their graphite body



Titanium Drag Plate



and stainless gears




semi-sealed level drag design (great for kayak fishing) if you heavily grease the threads on the drag cover plate and the center hole, I think it will be waterproof to 2 feet



These days, I think only Accurate has reels with that kinda parts combo.

Johnny took pretty good care of this reel. It had a new original drag.



Given that this is almost 20 year old technology, I thought an upgrade would be in order.







I gave it a good coat of grease inside out and oiled all the bearings. I also took out the shields facing inside the reel and kept the shields facing out. That will give it some protection and also allow them to drain.



I checked freespool just to make sure that there was no binding. I recently read an article by reel designers regarding reel free spool. The article said extended free spool time can be designed into a reel by making the spool heavy. More mass equates to more inertia resulting into longer free spool. However, a light spool will be easier to start, ergo longer casts (specially casting light objects), and easier to stop (less dependence on cast control) resulting in less likelihood of bird nesting. You don't really want your spool to keep spinning when the lure has stopped pulling line. Does that makes sense? Anywho, let me know when you achieve 30 second flight times on your lure or chovie With everything else constant, a light spool won't free spool as much as a heavy spool. To each his own.

Off she goes tomorrow for spooling.



My new old 20# reel If this thing ever broke, I wonder if Shimano would still honor its life time warranty?

See you guys at Catapalooza!

/bing

[Fiskadoro]

Great little reels.

I fish thirty spectra on my TLD5 and forty spectra on my TLD10s and have landed fish to fifty pounds on them. Great reel not a good caster but excellent for bait or trolling. I especially like dropper loop fishing with them.

I love TLDs and have every model up to the the 30.

Check out this one I got today.





That's a TLD30 two speed, with a topless aluminium Willfish frame, a Tibron Tib Lite handle, and internally it was upgraded by Coffe, with an oversized drag plate and enhanced freespool.

It's the size of a standard 25 but can fish eighty for Cow tuna.

You'll love that 5, like I said great reels, it has a good of a drag as the Avet, with less maintenance issues.

Jim

[peguinpower]

Oh man! Love that frame. I gotta see if they make it for the 5. Maybe they'll have some at the next Fred Hall show

I have a saltist 20 ld for casting. havent tried it, but its got a light spool so it should do ok.


/bing

[-scallywag-]

Good timing on this thread, I just serviced some reels last night and will finish the rest tonight.

The TLD leverdrag series are my favorite kayak trolling reels but the one weekness is the factory "dry drag washer", as soon as it gets a little wet they start sticking, the greasable carbontex washers are the ticket.

That bearing blaster is cool, but I like running the brearings in my trolling rods with the shields removed and packed with grease. On my sealines/penn 545's i like to just bite the bullet and put new bearing on the spool when they start feeling rough, I would like to try the bearing blaster with these reels, but IMO nothing beats new spool bearings and greasy washers (they're only 10-15 bucks a set at squidco).

Having a dedicated light flyline setup is a good idea, especially in the spring/summer, and the TLD perfect, but you should seriously consider spooling it up with 30-50lb spectra, and using an assortment of flouro leaders connected via a barrel swivel. Kayaks allow you to put your bait in the ambush zone near the kelp and having 50lb spectra with a short #20 or 30 flouro leader will most likely be the difference between being a hero or heartbreak.
I can't wait till sat/sunday, we finally get to fish again!!!! see u guys OTW

[Oolie]

i was gifted one of those awhile back, i found it impossible to find a replacement gearset, so i made due with the rough one it had, it's a great little thing, i landed my PB yellow on it, a little 30 pounder.