brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

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mark poulson
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brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Wed Nov 28, 2018 9:15 am

The Quantum Icon baitcaster has brass main gears, and still only weighs 6.9 oz.

DirtyD64
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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by DirtyD64 » Wed Nov 28, 2018 9:25 am

So does the Daiwa Zillion SV TW, and the Chronarch MGL. Of course those are mid priced, and one has a composite frame. I think other reels that price that do include the new Tatula 100 (which you can find for around $100).

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Wed Nov 28, 2018 9:34 am

DirtyD64 wrote:So does the Daiwa Zillion SV TW, and the Chronarch MGL. Of course those are mid priced, and one has a composite frame. I think other reels that price that do include the new Tatula 100 (which you can find for around $100).
I have eight of the original Smoke Burner reels, that I got on sale for half off when they were discontinued. They are fantastic reels, and can handle anything from 3/16 oz on up with the right rod.
The main gears are aluminum, which get "geary" feeling after a hard fight with a big fish. Quantum no longer sells replacement main gears for those reels. :evil: :evil: :evil:
This never happened when my baitcasters had brass gears, which still feel smooth after 15+ years.
I just bought two Icon left hand retrieve 7/1 gear ration from TW for $79.99 each for my punching setups, and broke them down for lubrication before I fish them. I found that their main gears are the same diameter as the Smoke gears, but just a little thicker.
So I've order an Icon main gear in the same 7/1 gear ration, to see if I can make it work in the Smokes. I would love to have a brass replacement for the aluminum gears.

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by ss30378 » Wed Nov 28, 2018 9:43 am

Px68 and px type r are brass geared and are around 5.8oz. Alphas air and airstream custom are under 6oz with brass gears and aluminum frame.

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by LowRange » Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:30 am

Same with the new Tatula it comes in at 6.9 oz too. The Alphas can have brass gears, aluminum frame, handle side plate, drag star and are still under 6.9 oz because they are small. What a novel concept. Small reels made out of dense materials.

mark poulson
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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Thu Nov 29, 2018 9:43 am

I should have included the word "cheaper" in the subject line.
I know there are lighter reels out there with brass gears, but I haven't found any for $80.
I wanted a punching reel, not a finesse setup, so the extra 1 oz. isn't that big a deal to me.

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by DirtyD64 » Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:20 am

I think my old Abu Silvermax had brass gears (not quite 6.9oz though). I wish all manufacturers would go back to brass, especially on spinning reels. I totally forgot about Alphas variants, one of my favorite reels. I think the levelwind gear behind the main gear is even brass in them...

mark poulson
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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Thu Nov 29, 2018 1:39 pm

DirtyD64 wrote:I think my old Abu Silvermax had brass gears (not quite 6.9oz though). I wish all manufacturers would go back to brass, especially on spinning reels. I totally forgot about Alphas variants, one of my favorite reels. I think the levelwind gear behind the main gear is even brass in them...
I still use two Gen 1 Premiers in 6.8/1 for cranking, and an older Accurist, too. They all have brass gears, and are still smooth as butter. I don't think they have brass levelwind gears, but I haven't checked.
If I hadn't decided to go to left hand retrieve for my punching, instead of trying to learn to flip/punch left handed (I'm 71, so I don't learn like I used to), I would have just used the same BPS Pro Qualifier 7/1 reels I use now. They are light, and have a great drag.

mark poulson
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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:55 am

DirtyD64 wrote:I think my old Abu Silvermax had brass gears (not quite 6.9oz though). I wish all manufacturers would go back to brass, especially on spinning reels. I totally forgot about Alphas variants, one of my favorite reels. I think the levelwind gear behind the main gear is even brass in them...
I have eight Quantum Smoke Burners, the original ones, in a 7/1 gear ratio.
They don't offer those gears anymore, so I've been searching for another reel with the same gear size and ratio for replacements.
When I asked Quantum about new gears, they said send in the old reel, and we'll replace it with a newer version. I did that with one, and, while the new reel works fine, it's not as good as the original Smoke Burner I lost in the swap.
The Icon, with the 7/1 gear ratio, has the same size main gear, but in brass.
I ordered one, and just swapped it out last night with the aluminum gear in one of my Smoke reels. The perimeter face with the gears cut into it is a little taller, but the Smoke drag stack fits inside it perfectly, and , and it drops right in. The reel works perfectly.
The brass main gear weighs 9 grams more than the aluminum gear, but that's not a problem to me. And the original Smoke brass pinion gear meshes perfectly.
It feels smoother than another Smoke I have on another spinnerbait setup, but the gears are new, so they would feel smoother.
I put the reel back on a spinnerbait setup, so it will get a workout pretty quickly, since I use the same setup for small swim jigs, and that's another cast and retieve method.
Time will tell.
I am really just happy to find a replacement main gear that works. Smoother retrieve, and longer gear life is just a bonus.

mark poulson
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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:02 pm

Update:
As I said at the beginning of this thread, all I originally wanted was to find a 7/1 main gear that would fit these reels, since I have so many and they work so well.
So this is a bonus.
I've fished the Smoke with the brass main gear and one with an aluminum gear side by side for 4 trips now, on spinnerbait or swimjig setups, with the same baits on the same rod and reel setups. I purposely used setups that were chuck and wind, and that I used a lot each trip, to really give the new brass gear a fair test, side by side.
Granted, at 71, nothing on my body works as well as it once did, but my hands are still sensitive enough to notice when a knob bearing needs oil, or when a reel feels harder to crank, and needs service.
I hadn't really noticed how "geary" the aluminum gears felt on these otherwise smooth reels until I fished the reel with the brass gear next to the one with aluminum. I just figured that's the way the reels felt, and tried to ignore it.
But the difference between aluminum and brass is really pronounced. The Smoke with the brass gear is so smooth it feels like it's brand new.
I just ordered brass main gears for the rest of my original 7/1 Smoke reels. :D :D :D

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by Smelter96 » Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:22 pm

Mark, are you referring to the higher speed icon gears into the original smoke 150? Or 100 size? Interested in trying out some brass in em

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by mark poulson » Fri Dec 21, 2018 7:13 am

Smelter96 wrote:Mark, are you referring to the higher speed icon gears into the original smoke 150? Or 100 size? Interested in trying out some brass in em
My reels are all the 100 size. Here's where I got my gears:
http://www.tackleservice.com/Consumer/P ... uctID=6094
I don't think the make an Icon 150.
You can still get the gears for the Smoke 150 HPT 7/1 on the same site.

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Re: brass gears in 6.9 oz reel

Post by Smelter96 » Fri Dec 21, 2018 4:02 pm

Ah, thank you. I wonder if there are brass gears for the 150 size

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