Daiwa Sealine Great Lakes 47LC drag replacement

[wallaholic]

Hey gang I have a pair of these and wanted to update the drags on them.  Contacted Tuna and Andy said there is no update to be done to them.  The carbon fiber material doesn't  work on them due to the lack of surface area on the actual drag washer.  Any avenues out there with anyone else we can steer towards on these?  Thanks in advance

[garrymny]

Not good to hear. I just bought one. Drag seemed weak, or not much adjustment, so I made it a 5 color Walleye rod.

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[Xxx]

Whoa!! That sucks I bought a pile of them!!! But where there’s a will there’s a way🤷‍♂️

[wallaholic]

Well if anyone has a lead please share. Currently stumped


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[Sk8man]

I had a couple of them which Andy replaced the drags with carbon fiber  a few years ago and they work very acceptably and definitely better than the original drags. I only use the setups on the Finger Lakes and for leadcore with walleyes but they work very acceptably. By the way, when he went over the reels and replaced the drags the reels came back to me in close to brand new shape despite their age and the cost was very reasonable and quick turn around time. Might be worth just having a couple done and see what you think

[thumbburn]

I did the same as sk8..... pretty darn near a new reel for 20 bucks or less... I can’t remember the price for certain.....


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[Mmw]

I bought 4 of these and found the replacement washers, but I dont remember where.  They didn't have many left, and that was a year ago.

[wallaholic]

Well, not sure what to do now.  I have these two, they are in good condition, drags sucks and are very sticky, they crank in an offshore board twice as hard as a penn, or daiwa accudepth and three times as hard as a tecota,  I reduced them  to only flatline duty but broke off some big fish with them because of the drag.  I hate to see them go to bone yard they have great line capacity and a lot of good memories.

[Sk8man]

It sounds to me that the present drag elements may toasted. Sometimes oil gets to them and that doesn't help either despite what some folks may think. The reels have a 5.1:1 gear ratio which allows them to be retrieved quite readily in addition to decent line capacity. I have managed kings on them but they aren't the best at that. For somewhat lighter duty they perform adequately when the drag elements are updated. Do they compare with a Saltist? No. and that is what you want if fishing mainly or frequently for kings. For the $20 or so to upgrade the drags it isn't a bad investment if you do much  fishing for browns or walleyes etc.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Sk8man

[mr 580]

Several years ago Daiwa stopped supplying parts for these reels so by now parts are likely limited.  If you are having issues reeling in that is a sign of bushing wear.  The spool was bushed on these instead of a bearing.  You may find drag washers on eBay or an aftermarket supplier like smooth drag.  But unless you replace bushings you’ll probably still have issues.  You might call some other reel repair shops too for advise.

[Sk8man]

I was focused on the drag problem but Mr. 580 may be right

[mr 580]

I checked my reel parts box and I don’t have any Great Lakes 47 parts left.  I used to have several of these reels and updated them several years ago so my parts probably went with reels.  I did find an invoice from 2013 from Tuna’s that had a carbon fiber 47GL drag kit for $12.99 on it.  My guess would be they stopped offering drags when normal wear parts supply was gone. To check bushing wear hammer drag shut and then reel in with load- if spool is catching and difficult then bushings are worn.  With carbon fiber drags and new bushings, these reels were ok.  That being said they don’t compare to a current LC3 IMO.  

[wallaholic]

I tried to get Tuna to send them but here is what Andy's responses were:  

As far as the Great Lakes 47LC reels go, I'm afraid we're unable to still help out with that model.  As of a few years ago, Daiwa discontinued all service parts for that reel.  Sorry about the bad news on that one.  Thanks again, and talk to you later!

The Great Lakes 47LC is unable to utilize carbon fiber as a drag material due to the lack of surface area on the actual drag washer.  We've tested carbon fiber drag washers in those reels before, and the drag pressure isn't up to where it needs to be, and the drag creeps out in high pressure settings.

 

Hello again,
We no longer manufacture that carbon fiber set for that reel.  The drag pressure of the result didn't match our expectations.  Sorry again.

 

So its retire and move on as those reels definitely don't owe me with 25 years of service or continue the quest to keep them alive and in service.

[Sk8man]

Well, that clarifies the issue I guess as Andy Copenhaver is about the most knowledgable and competent reel person I've ever encountered. Maybe I got lucky with mine....but again I don't use them in king country

[wallaholic]

So I just looked on E-bay and  there are some drags available but these reel in hard so its a combination of both so no sense in moving forward.  If someone comes up with bushings for 2 reels then maybe I will pursue the rebuild.

[wallaholic]

Ok so upon further research:  

Daiwa Sealine Sg47lc Carbon Fiber Tournament Drag Washer ...

 

www.ebay.com › … › Fishing › Reels › Reel Parts & Repair

Find great deals for Daiwa Sealine ... This Drag Washer Kit is not compatible with the older Daiwa Great Lakes GL47LC

The kits that are available for these reels that are the correct ones are very incognito.  I have not been able to find them.  The bushings are findable but the drag kits seem to be obsolete at this point.  I guess I should have not procrastinated this project.  Sorry for the bad news and hopefully brought some closure to those in need.  So long to my two Daiwa Sealine Great Lakes 47 LC's

[kingpossible]

Walloholic - Take the reels apart yourself and clean off the drag washer that are in there.  I've soaked them in dish soap and water for a few days, rinsed them off and let them dry.  Might be worth a try.  The thing is that these reels don't have the largest drags to begin with.

 

I think these washers have then felt drags?  If so, put a drop of oil on them before reinstalling.

[tj13825]

You should google Alan Tani he rebuilds reels and his website has step by step pictures on how to do it. I too received the same answer from Tuna Tom and found this site which uses Penn drag washers they improved my reels significantly. They even have the part numbers listed

Terry


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[tj13825]

The Diawa 50H is also the same drag pack as the 47LC one more place to look.Here is one of the links, there are a few.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=13748.0

[Borch]

Another option is to by the regular daiwa 47 drag washers and use a dremel tool to resize them.  I did this before Tuna troubles came out with them.  I tested some of the early prototypes.  They are smooth but still have more creep than Andy found acceptable.  Still better than the felt washers.  There are still some places to get obsolete daiwa parts.  Call Daiwa and they will give you some options.

[luv2rapala]

I found a guy in Kewaunee WI that just rebuilt 2 of them for me, I haven't picked them up yet but he said they were done and in working order.  He said does have some parts and sometimes can rejuvenate washers if they are salvageable.

Ill keep you posted once I pick them up later this month.

 

luv2rapala

 

[steeliesteve]

that's funny they said that to you about the drags they sold me the carbon tex earlier this year and never said a word about that i  put them in and they work great

[Getreel]

Wallaholic, the ebay listing for carbon fiber drag washers is not for the Great Lakes model 47 line counter but the SG47lc. Not the same internal components. I have seen tutorials on youtube for making  your own from a sheet of carbon fiber and Andy does sell the sheets for those who what to do this. 

[tj13825]

Steeliesteve,

TunaToms reel repair told me the same exact thing they told him, they said they used to offer carbon fiber but they did not think the surface area was sufficient and that they only offer OEM drag washers. I bought enough to rebuild my six reels. I also performed the Penn carbon fiber drag rebuild that I posted a link to and have been happy with the results.

 

Other options I have researched but do not have experience with are:

Smooth drags sells an Extreme Smoothie for a 50H which from my research is the same drag pack.

 

I am not affiliated with any of these mfg's in any way.

 

[tech2526]

have you taken the reels apart yet? i had the same problem on mine, the grease on the lower portion the reel just under the drag housing had dried out, if you clean and relube the complete reel and lightly sand the drag discs with 220 sand paper , no new drags required, these drag clutches are very thick, i think thats why no carbon clutch discs