Boca bearings upgrade

[ssaamm]

Sorry if this is a repeat. Upgraded the bearings in my Citica E tonight. Followed a you tube video. Seemed to go pretty well. The spool seems to spin like a mad man. Going to try it on the lake on Tuesday. Anyone try these before. Seems like a decent way to get some more miles out of a older reel.

[CHM]

I just put Boca ABEC 5 ceramic lighting hybrids in a Citica, a Revo Winch, two Curados and a Cruxis. After a lot of research I decided to install them dry as supplied. They are a bit noisy but spin like mad! FYI- I bought them in a 10-pack for $69.95 with free shipping. The part number for the 10-pack is SKU: #FTP103C-YZZ#5LD

Then I cleaned up the old Shimano 3x10x4mm bearings (actually very high quality bearings) and put them on the left plate in my old Quantums. I bought some Boca SS 3x8x4 (tensioner) and 5x11x4 (right plate)to replace the other Quantum bearings. Some of the Quantum bearings have a plastic race which makes it really hard to clean them with acetone. All the bearings for the Quantum got one little drop of Hot Sauce. I leave the shields off for easy cleaning and re-oiling every year.

[ssaamm]

How did you decide between abec5 vs 7's. I thought the performance would be better than it was. Fun to tinker tho. My Curados cast great. Don't know if it's worth adding the Boca's to these. Thanks for the feedback. I put mine in dry as well. A little noisy, but not a big deal.

[CHM]

My research found that 5s were just as good as 7s unless you are talking about pitching very light baits.

My Curados were fine. The Shimano bearings come full of grease. If you flush them and lightly oil they are just great. But, my Quantums needed new bearings, so I did what I did.

If I can get 5' more on a cast it's a win for me.

[RK]

Some good info here from CHM...

A lot of stock bearings are actually not bad, but in a lot of cases new reels tend to be over-lubed. Abus are terrible for it in fact. There can definitely be too much of a good thing with oil and grease. In a lot of cases you can get just as much performance out of cleaned and properly (i.e., lightly) lubed stock bearings as you can with upgraded bearings. I've run bearings dry too, but the chatter bugs me for some reason.

I do upgrade some reels with new bearings. It doesn't make a huge difference but it can be noticeable in some cases.

You can definitely get carried away with upgrading reels, but...it's something to do during the off season.

[delmuts]

I agree wit RK. The first thing I do with a new reel is to clean and re-lubricate them. Doesn't matter if it's a Abu, Diawa, or Plueger.

[CHM]

In some circles you're just not cool unless you "super-tuned" everything and installed Orange Seals! LOL

The guys that see the huge improvement after sending their reels in probably only needed to flush and lightly oil their existing bearings. They could have saved a huge amount of cash. I almost fell for the myth until I did a bit of research.

I read a post on a bass forum by a reel repair sponsor. He said the stock Shimano bearings are very good, but some guys insist that they want them replaced with Orange Seals. So he does that, then uses the old stock bearings in his own reels.

RK nailed it! We have lots of time to clean up our tackle and work on rods and reels this time of year.

[CHM]

One thing I have never messed with was upgrading drag washers. I rarely catch a fish that can pull line off a reel!

[Deitz Dittrich]

I talked to a shimano reel designer once, and have talked to many of the repair guys at mother shimano. I was told that for the most part spools are too heavy to actually gain any advantage at all from higher end replacement bearings.

If you have one going bad, by all means replace it, but I have yet to have a problem with stock.

[mnbass80]

Must remember some people are enthusiast and will be willing to fork out money for very little gain or bling. In in hobby or passion, you can always spend a bit more to get more refinement or style. Some may not understand the concept but for some enthusiast knowing and feeling good about their gears makes fishing more fun. Like anything in life, if you are happy with it then it was worth it.