Reel Dress Up Parts?

[Finnz922]

Is dressing up reels still a thing? Where do you all buy your parts? Seems like they are out of stock quite a bit and ebay the prices are insane.

[SSS]

All my reels have custom stuff on them. Handle and knobs is the minimum. And you can get good deals on ebay, or order directly from Japan. Quality stuff made in Japan is of course much more expensive than some no name brands on Ali, tho.

[Fishing4Fun]

I have about 70 casting reels. Daiwa, MB, Shimano. All but a few are customized a great deal inside and out. You can get parts about anywhere for the new platforms but the older platforms are tricky. Sometimes i have bought parts from JapanTackle, HH Studios, Tackle Trap, Brooklyn Bills when it was a thing and have bought reels sometimes just for the parts as well as getting parts in lots or for sale from people selling them on forums and such. I have a box now of parts I have accumulated over the years even after customizing a few dozen reels.

What parts are you after and what for what reel(s)?

[Finnz922]

Old pixy parts. Line guides, CCC, offset drag,

[hoohoorjoo]

Old pixy parts. Line guides, CCC, offset drag,

Aliexpress has custom parts for reasonable prices. In the past, Ive resorted to buying entire reels to scavenge parts from.

[godshippy]

I haven't ordered any, but I've seen a lot of parts on Aliexpress as well.

They have the brake dial screws, the one long shaft that goes behind the worm gear, screws, drag stars, etc.

I've been putting Gomexus handles and drag stars on all my reels.

[Firstoutfisher]

Does anyone know if anyone makes metal drag caps? I hate how cheap the drag cap feels on my high end rods

[bulldog1935]

Does anyone know if anyone makes metal drag caps? I hate how cheap the drag cap feels on my high end rods

A month late and a few dollars high here. If you're talking about spinning reels, MTCW makes TD System, available from Hedgehog Studio
These are only made for small-frame Daiwa and Shimano, and I have them on three small-frame Shimano, which I fish in salt finesse, targeting big fish sipping tiny winter glass minnows.


If you look at where drag load comes from in a plastic cap, it's the elastic-strain range of the shaped plastic - the load comes from squeezing the hollow plastic, and the full range of drag adjustment only shows up in the last 1/2 turn of the drag knob.


The all-metal TD replaces the plastic elastic-strain function with a spring, and they give you two spring rates to pick between - one light and extremely graduated, one stiffer and for reaching max drag. They also double the number of detentes (clicks) when turning the knob.


You accomplish 2 things with this - the full drag range is expanded to 3 full turns of the drag knob.
This gives you an extreme number of fine-drag-adjustment steps, especially if you're fishing light line and set your drag with a spring balance.
You can also push on the front of the drag cap to add finger drag.
It's a new trip in XUL fishing.
Makes all the difference landing a big fish that makes 50-yd runs against your proper drag set.