# Ceramic Bearings



## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Thinking about getting some for the 7500 CT. I know I said I don't like tweaking but do these things improve ditance? Do you oil them like the stock bearings?

Thanks-


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## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

Distance can be achieve on techniques.. consider working on your cast instead of twicking your reels. Unless you're a distant caster... then just ignore my post.... I've thrown all of my reels about the same distance, with the exception of the blue yonder.


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

I'm a pretty good caster, but sometimes it takes just a bit farther...like around ramp 27-34 getting over that bar or something....and it's fun to see it fly.

I got the BY but won't tweak that as it really goes far but with the 7500, I use 20-25# test so sometimes distance is an issue.

I'm gonna get the super smoothie drag for the 7500 so I was just wondering if the ceramics will do anything for me as well????


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## chris storrs (Aug 25, 2005)

i had me bearings cleaned,polished and a special oil put in them by a friend of mine and im getting 30% more distance on my shv 30 and mag elite


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

are they ceramic now?


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## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

chris storrs said:


> i had me bearings cleaned,polished and a special oil put in them by a friend of mine and im getting 30% more distance on my shv 30 and mag elite


You need to clean you bearing more often...    I mean...to gain 30%, the bearings must be clothed up real good.... I clean my out just about after every trip... drop them in lighter fluid for 10 min, a shot of oil...that's all you need...


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Me too, I soak em and oil em about every third trip (oil em before every trip) but I just want to hear some opinions about the ceramic bearings and if you maintain them the same way.

Thanks-


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## Shooter (Nov 14, 2004)

Lipyourown said:


> I'm gonna get the super smoothie drag for the 7500 so I was just wondering if the ceramics will do anything for me as well????


Ya might want to check with Hatteras Jacks on the new Carbon Fiber washers, heard they add some extra.


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Thanks Shooter, I think Ryan can help...but will he be unbiased? I'm sure he will be as he is a really cool guy.


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## chris storrs (Aug 25, 2005)

i always take extra good care of my bearings...lighter fluid(ronsonol)...and then a drop of red rf.....but polishing isnt just cleaning them....it makes them faster than a reg. bearing which has been cleaned..(if you had the two side by side and clean and dry the polished would spin longer)and its a permanent treatment.....the bearings actually get faster and faster the first 10-15 casts or so after they have been polished.....then max out....the oil was also very thin...dont now what it was..wasnt rf..he wouldnt tell me what tho...im sure some of the tournement casters out there on the board use polished bearings


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## Fish Hunter (Jul 31, 2002)

*Speed Demons*

Some of you guys have been around here and other boards for a while and some of you are relatively newbies ( I assume). Anyway, about 4 or 5 years ago , the debate about "fast oils" and "slick Bearings" started surfacing on a regular basis. At that time it was regular ABU oil or 3 in 1 or somthing else. After a period of 18mth to 2 years, the discussion came to mags to control those "fast" reels. It seems as though it has almost come full circle.

IMHO, tweaking reels is wonderfull and fun. But, you can get too much speed and have little to no control for fishing.

Proper technique as was mentioned will get you further than bearings and oil alone. Fast oil and fast bearing can and will make a reel uncontrolable.

I have ceramics in my ABU's for the simple fact they tend to require less maintence. I use a oil that was developed by Boca Bearings that molecularly clings to the bearings and does not "throw out" as fast as some of the rocket fuel.
My Avets are magged and have stock bearings and Liquid grease to help control them. I like to fish rather than untangle fuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzies. :--| 

Any way that is my take on it.


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## bstarling (Apr 24, 2005)

*how do you polish bearings??*

Chris,

 How do you polish a ball bearing?


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## chris storrs (Aug 25, 2005)

i like my reels fast.....i dont fish with the Abu 6500 mag elite( the reel is my "toy") but i could with the mags on all the way....for casting just a sinker i have them up quite a few clicks from all the way on....the shv 30 i do fish with.....its fast but still very controllable in the fishing situations i use it for(5-8 and bait).if i really needed to i can simply pop an extra mag in the sideplate...but i havent needed to yet even fishing with the wind in my face.....Im not exactly sure how the bearings are polished...i had a friend do it for me...i know H.O. sells pre polished abec bearings tho...alot more than i paid however...(0$)i think they sell theirs for 40$.Neither reel blows up unless i get too cocky when casting and get ahead of myself...or or forget to put the mags back after ive winded them off during the cast


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

So in general do you think the ceramics will give me more distance or is it a gimmick?


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Good info on this thread. The 7500 CT is a great casting fishing reel. Be careful trying to super tune it or it will become an unfriendly beast.

Make sure the spool is centered and has just a slight hint of lateral movement or "knock". You can use the nurled knob to adjust spindle tension also.

Brake blocks. Initially use 4, as your skill improves drop down to 2. This will liven up the reel quite a bit.

Line level. A full spool is going to run faster than one slightly underspooled. Use this as a tool to help control line fluff.

Bearing oil. Thicker oil for control - thinner for speed. I use red rocket oil for the 7500.

Spool balance. One of the most important but least utilized tuning methods. A well balnced spool will improve your distance and make the reel much more pleasant to use.

A few years ago I switched to ceramics for tournamnent reels. After hours of side by side comparison it appeared that a good set of cleaned and lubed ceramic gave me about a 5-6%increase in distance. That is in a tuned distance reel.

Be very careful try to hop-up a 7500. You can make it fast.... too fast for fishing into a headwind. Time in the field or on the beach improving technique will pay more dividends than time spent tweaking an already good fishing reel.

Like Fish Hunter said... well sorta... 

Why spend time speeding it up just to slow it back down.

A well balanced, properly tuned reel is a wonderful thing, an uncontrolable beast $ucks.

Tommy


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Thanks Tommy, good info. I have pretty good technique and get it out there (20#test) as far as most guys throughing 17# but just love to go far in general....however, your comment about casting into the wind (when fishing happens to be the best) has made me decide to hold off on the ceramics...but I'm still gonna upgrade the drag. That awesome you put in a lot of time with the side by side comparisons.


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Lip,

If you want ceramics, get em. The ceramics alone will not make your reel any more prone to blow up. Thin oil, too much line and too few brake blocks will... 

I personally like the ceramics, they are smoother to me and I use them in tournament reels. I just don't think they are worth the expense in a fishing reel. 

Do you use the hatteras cast or OTG??

Tommy


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

darn it Tommy, I was gonna forget em now your telling me not to. We'll see. You had good info anyway.

I think I use the Hatteras cast...

Leave about 5-6 feet hanging...slowly swing it back and when the line is almost straight with the rod...I hammer it. What do you call that? I get a wee bit over 100 with 20# and 8nbait on the big loomis.

I can get my 10' (custom/blue yonder) farther with 14-17# test and 4-5 ounces. 

I do experiment with different trajectories but seem to go back to my normal aim which is to release it when I feel the time is right.


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Tommy, are you the record holder I read about on RDT?


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## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

You should come to fish at L.I.P or Avon Pier during the drum runs... those 2 places have some of the very good casters and FHB's. I've learned alot from watching them cast, from the foot work to the finish.


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Lip,

Get em if ya want em..... 

Sounds like you are throwing the hatteras cast. 100 yrds using 20 lb test with 8nbait is very respectable.

Yea, I had a pretty good year casting in 05....  

Tommy


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

*Ditto*

to what Tommy said, Lipyourown. I have been playing with ceramics in one of my Penn525s and like them. While I don't advocate putting them in ALL your fishing reels, if you enjoy casting for distance, they are well worth the cost for one or two reels. I use the ceramics and yellow rocket fuel in one 525 and have standard bearings and red rocket fuel in two other 525s. 

I only break out out the one with ceramic bearings for fishing when I need maximum distance(and for casting distance practice) and use the two regular 525's, along with a Daiwa 30 for the bulk of my "normal" fishing situations.

You'll find the ceramics should reduce vibration, running smoother, get a little more distance, and are just plain fun to toss.


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Thanks again Tommy and congradulations. Care to describe your winning equipment for us again?

Thanks Surfcat and all the others that spoke up.


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## LarryB (Apr 29, 2002)

Lipyourown,

You couldn't ask for any better advice on this subject. The one thing that I will add is that you may also want to consider ABEC 5 bearing instead of the ceramic for fishing. They allow you to increase spool perfomance and do not overwhelm the levelwind. I wish that we had an upgrade for the 7500 levelwind like we have for the smaller Abu reels. I have this configuration installed on my 7500 and it works great. The other thing that you may want to keep handy is the Red Rocket XS oil. It's thicker than the standard red label and really helped to control my 525 mag. As Fishhunter, Tommy and others have stated practice, practice, practice and try keeping your arms extended out away from you body when practicing. That will also help increase your distance without any reel upgrades.

LarryB


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Lip,

Tournament gear is specialized but there are quite a few guys that fish with the high end zzippy's and century's.

My primary tournament rod is a Zziplex Primo Full Tournament. SIC guides. It is 14'2" with a 12" reducer that brings the total length to just over 15'. 

I use a couple of different reels. For the 150 wieght I usually throw a 6500 abu with a Benfield conversion sideplate. For casting the 125 I use a similarly converted 5500 abu. Ceramic bearings and rocket oil, red for the warm days and yellow for the cooler days when going for max distance. 

That's about it.

Tommy


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Thanks again...


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Not trying to pirate the thread, but I think Tommy's advise may have just helped me solve a problem....Was out practicing today, havent practiced in a month or so. I have since, respooled with 17 suffix......Since its been a month or more since ive thrown the 525mag, i tighted down the brakes and backed the mags back up 8.....I blew it up about third cast. I couldnt understand why though? I was casting so well with it earlier right after I bought it. Really well at that. Read that part about Tommy put about how full the spool is and I think that is the problem Since Im only going to be striper fishing and need not worry about getting spooled by some critter unknown, I think Ill take 30yds or so off and see how that does. By the time drum/ some other big critter season comes back around when Im down there, I should have it back like I want it. 

Enjoy readin all the good info out there. Thanks all that have posted


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Treed,

Is the blowup coming mid-flight?? If you swapped from 20 to 17 then there could be another tuning issue. The 20, being a larger diameter line will reduce effective spool diameter (spool and line) quicker as the line goes out giving you more natural braking. The 17 will drop the diameter slower giving you less natural braking thus being more likely to blow mid-cast. 

Hope this makes sense. I think you are on the right track though.

Tommy


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

16 Ande to 17 suffix....sorta lettin the thumb ride this go round too, no thumb with the ande.....could it be because the 16 Ande is a stiffer line than the suffix? Not sure, havent done the research but is the 17 suffix a smaller diameter than the 16 Ande?...


Thanks Tommy

P.S. Well I had one blow up deffinately opperator error as opposed to opperators tuning abilities lol.....Loose line on the spool when I casted, was careless....but yeah, was gettin some loose line mid cast.....winds were....example..casting south to north....wind was SSW to NNE....sort of a back wind which is good I think?........Also think I was trying to use sheer brute force rather than finese and technique that I used when I was first trying to learn the reel. I do think I had too much line on the reel, but also wasnt using as much proper technique as I should have..................... The one that puzzled me was a break in my line mid cast? In the running line, minimal fluff on the reel when it broke? New line, 3rd cast or so, in an open ball field?


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Try spooling up about the thickness of a nickle from the spool lip. With 17 this should give you better control and still plenty of line. Be carefull with your line lay, crisscrossing the line on top of the same spot while reeling in creates a blow-up waiting to happen.

Good luck

Tommy


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Ok...you know how the spool is level from the middle almost all the way up then tapers off to maybe 1/8-1/4" to the edge, where it comes flush with the side plates?...I spooled it to where the taper starts. Going to strip some off, gonna have to anyway to get this bird nest out


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

About a nickles thickness down from the taper should get you in the ball park.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Thanks Tommy. Always great to get info from an expert!

Justin


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Don't know about expert..... lol, I've just had LOTS of blowups... 

Let us know how it casts,

Tommy


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

Wont have time to cast again until maaaaaybe Christmas Eve mornin....But Ill play with it on the beach Monday mornin when I get up....gonna be in Rodanthe Sunday 25-Sunday 1st...Ill keep ya updated on how I do...or what I havent done lol 

Thanks again!


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