Daiwa Saltist Drags

[Gray Fox]

Has anyone upgraded there Daiwa Saltist drags to the drags offered by Tuna Tom? I tried doing a search but it returned no results. Just curious as I am going to send my reels out for cleaning and general maintenance and it was noted in the email that there is a drag upgrade for the Saltist. At this time, I am very happy with the existing drags, just curious if the upgrade is worth the little bit of money. Im a firm believer in, if its not broke, dont fix it... but may try the upgraded drags.  Thanks for the opinions.

[Sk8man]

I bought the upgrade drags for my new SG3b's but found the drag that came on them works great so I'm just holding on to the drag disks for the future....I figure that it might be worth it on older reels but why mess with it if things are going fine...

[Thun]

If I was sending my reels out for service, I'd definitely opt for the drag upgrade. Check out this tutorial from Alan Tani on the Saltist and note that he compares the stock drags to paper.

 

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=227.0

[GAMBLER]

Upgrade a Saltist drag?  Why bother?  The drags are super smooth right out of the box.

[Silver Fox]

For 180 bucks I better not be upgrading anything!

Sent from my XT907 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Tim Bromund]

For 180 bucks I better not be upgrading anything!

Sent from my XT907 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Tell that to Tekota owners

[Silver Fox]

Yeah, I had one of them. They are bad out of the box though. Got rid of the pos in a hurry.

Sent from my XT907 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Gray Fox]

Love the drags out of the box was just curious if the upgrade is any better... thanks for the responses

[capt ace]

The problem with the Tekotas which only occurs with the 700/800 series has to do with the size of the drag washers that they employ. They are about near the size of a half dollar coin. Will they work just fine as they come from the factory? Yes they will but you have to prep the set-ups the right way. Here's what happens. when you crank the drags down on the Tekotas. The fiber washers and the metal washers compress. Remember that the drag washers are good size. What happens is that the grease that's on the washers( these are wet drags)in between the fiber and the metal washers causes a hydro lock due to the compression. When you back the star drag off, the washers remain stuck together with the grease. Hydro locked!!!  So... The way to combat this other than putting in a dry drag system, is as follows; First back the drag off. Next, put your thumb on the reel spool putting pressure on it so that when you crank the handle  the spool doesn't spin. This maneuver will break the hydro lock free and the drags will work when you reset them. The problem is that if you forget to set the reel up this way every time you put it out, the drags can lock up and create dyer consequences.

  Personally, I will not run a wet drag system on my charter boat. For the $9.00 or so that it costs for the turny drags from Tuna Tom's and the fifteen minutes it takes for me to install them, I think it's well worth the time and effort. We use Tekota 700lc's for our 30lb dipsy set-ups and what a difference it makes, especially for women and children to successfully fight and land our eastern Lake Ontario kings. It also makes it a lot faster for us to reel and or clear these rods with the bigger reels. And yes, they do have the tournament drags in them from Tuna Toms.

   After reading Alan Tani's take on the Saltists reels, it did leave me a little bit confused. Alan is a big fan of running wet drags. I'm wondering if one, the Saltists drags are as big in  circumference as the Tekotas are and two if they are, then should I grease up the turny drags and try them that way?  Right now running them dry for the last couple of years they have been working just fine.  In the reels that I have taken apart to service and inspect, the dry drags are wearing just fine and appear to have several more years of hard use ahead of them. The nice thing is that I don't have to grease the drag washers every year to keep them functioning smoothly. Before I installed the dry drags, I used to have to grease the drags even on my 600lc Tekotas to get them to function silky smooth for the entire season. It's a lot easier when I don't have to!!

Edited November 27, 2013 by capt ace

[Thun]

Here's more from Alan Tani on wet vs dry drags

 

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=47.0

[spoonfed-1]

The problem with the Tekotas which only occurs with the 700/800 series has to do with the size of the drag washers that they employ. They are about near the size of a half dollar coin. Will they work just fine as they come from the factory? Yes they will but you have to prep the set-ups the right way. Here's what happens. when you crank the drags down on the Tekotas. The fiber washers and the metal washers compress. Remember that the drag washers are good size. What happens is that the grease that's on the washers( these are wet drags)in between the fiber and the metal washers causes a hydro lock due to the compression. When you back the star drag off, the washers remain stuck together with the grease. Hydro locked!!!  So... The way to combat this other than putting in a dry drag system, is as follows; First back the drag off. Next, put your thumb on the reel spool putting pressure on it so that when you crank the handle  the spool doesn't spin. This maneuver will break the hydro lock free and the drags will work when you reset them. The problem is that if you forget to set the reel up this way every time you put it out, the drags can lock up and create dyer consequences.

  Personally, I will not run a wet drag system on my charter boat. For the $9.00 or so that it costs for the turny drags from Tuna Tom's and the fifteen minutes it takes for me to install them, I think it's well worth the time and effort. We use Tekota 700lc's for our 30lb dipsy set-ups and what a difference it makes, especially for women and children to successfully fight and land our eastern Lake Ontario kings. It also makes it a lot faster for us to reel and or clear these rods with the bigger reels. And yes, they do have the tournament drags in them from Tuna Toms.

   After reading Alan Tardof's take on the Saltists reels, it did leave me a little bit confused. Alan is a big fan of running wet drags. I'm wondering if one, the Saltists drags are as big in  circumference as the Tekotas are and two if they are, then should I grease up the turny drags and try them that way?  Right now running them dry for the last couple of years they have been working just fine.  In the reels that I have taken apart to service and inspect, the dry drags are wearing just fine and appear to have several more years of hard use ahead of them. The nice thing is that I don't have to grease the drag washers every year to keep them functioning smoothly. Before I installed the dry drags, I used to have to grease the drags even on my 600lc Tekotas to get them to function silky smooth for the entire season. It's a lot easier when I don't have to!!

 

Are you running the dry washers on your 600,s Jimmy?

I got 16 or so to do this winter and have been considering going with the dry washers. 

 

Thanks

 

Capt. Glen Gervais

[capt ace]

Are you running the dry washers on your 600,s Jimmy?

I got 16 or so to do this winter and have been considering going with the dry washers. 

 

Thanks

 

Capt. Glen Gervais

Yes Glen, I am. It makes them that much less worry free. I've had a few of the other charters in my marina give me their 600lc's to service. Eventually, the wet drags will need to be serviced by cleaning them and regreasing. If you don't service them, at some time they will begin to get sticky. If I don't get to service the dry drags, it's no big deal. In fact, I usually service my reels once a year anyways and  the one thing that doesn't need any maintenance is the dry drags.

[spoonfed-1]

Yes Glen, I am. It makes them that much less worry free. I've had a few of the other charters in my marina give me their 600lc's to service. Eventually, the wet drags will need to be serviced by cleaning them and regreasing. If you don't service them, at some time they will begin to get sticky. If I don't get to service the dry drags, it's no big deal. In fact, I usually service my reels once a year anyways and  the one thing that doesn't need any maintenance is the dry drags.

 

Thanks.

I will convert them over rather than cleaning and regreasing the originals.

[capt ace]

 I think that's a good idea since they will be apart anyway. I have seen the drag kits on e-bay for around $9.00 with free shipping. You can call me anytime if you have any questions when you get into the project.

I'm glad to help if I can.