Reel bearings

[HDMarc]

Thanks for the responses guys. I contacted Avet and ordered a few of the pinion bearings from them. I figure that since it is the one bearing that seems to take the brunt of the load out of all of them that I should have a couple on hand in the event one of my other SXs experience the same issue. Being that I can tear the reel down and change the bearing in a matter of minutes, it's worth it to stick with what it came with. I don't go real tight with the drag setting but have had the reel for two years, for the price of one bearing to make it perform like new again is absolutely worth it.

[MrAC1980]

What's up Marc? I highly suggest you pull the shields off the new bearings and clean/pack them with grease before you use them. You can either put the shields back or leave them off. Those blue shields are easy to pop off/on so I put them back. I clean them with TCI oil that Alan recommends and then pack them with some kinda grease of your choice. While you're at it, take some of the same grease and lightly coat the entire reel. Next year you can take the reel apart and it'll look like the same way you closed it up. I do this too all my Avets and they are smoother then when they come out of the box. I've never had to replace a bearing yet except from old reels I've picked up from others. Facebook message me if you need a link to check out that TCI oil.

[NJ Dave]

I have a first generation MXL that is due for an overhaul as it is grinding away.
Avet offers a rebuild for 39 bucks which includes return shipping.
Is it worth it or would a local shop be better/cheaper?
I am sure I need a bearing which is covered under the program.

[MrAC1980]

I'm not gonna knock either... Although it's always good to support our locals. Bearings are like 10bucks each and around $25 for the service. There are like 6 bearings in there that "could" be bad and be replaced.

[HDMarc]

New bearings from Avet arrived in the mail today. I ordered 4 of the pinion bearings being that they seem to be the most problematic of the bunch, for $5 each I figured it was worth it to have a few extras. Took Anthony's advice and popped the new one open, barely any grease in there I was surprised being that it's a brand new bearing. Anyway, packed it tight with some Quicksilver marine grease with Teflon (just happen to have a new tube handy), put the shields back on and the reel feels like brand new. If you're mechanically inclined, the Avet is a pretty easy reel to work on, just print out one of their schematics from their website for reference. If not, there's a lot of local shops that can do it for you for a really good price too.

[Gerry Zagorski]

One upgrade I'm considering for a few of my Avets is the South Florida or Kodiak Cams. The problem it solves is common on most lever drag reels and that is you you have very little drag adjustment between the bait and strike setting. Once you move the lever from bait you almost immediately go to strike.

This would allow you to make adjustments to line out tention and in my opinion, would make them better for dead sticking drift baits as well as live lining larger baits like bunker.

http://www.avetreels.net/ACCESSORIES.html