felt washer life in spinning setups

[lifeofRiley]

How often for those who freshwater fish, do you change the felt washers in your spinning reels? I just ordered some replacements. It's not like any of my current washers are destroyed, but I have a feeling replacing them might relate to more consistent drag performance on the drag curve.

[BRONZEBACK32]

In all my years of fishing I have never changed my felt washers.

[cadman]

I changed all mine over to Carbontex. Probably won't have to change them now as I maintain all my reels yearly. I personally like Carbontex over felt. JMO

[lifeofRiley]

In all my years of fishing I have never changed my felt washers.

Do you have any reels 5 plus years old that receive heavy use? I agree that it's usually not necessary, but when I clean the drag stacks on some of my reels that get used extensively and have caught a lot of 10 pound walleye and 5 pound trout, I'll see an amalgam of drag grease and felt material on top of the key washer that has come off during use. I have had a few spinning drags get that uneven feeling over the years. Washers are dirt cheap so I bought some on my last shimano order. As for carbontex, Bantam had a great post about cross-carbon vs. felt drag washers. What it came down to is that felt is much smoother and allows lighter drag pressures than cross-carbon. This is the reason on the newer shimano spinning reels cross-carbon tends to only be used in larger sizes, 4000 and up I believe. Carbontex has the advantage over felt when greater drag pressure is needed, which is honestly rare in freshwater.

[Slazmo]

If you can top to bottom and change their positions in the stack, seems to give them slightly longer life.

Also back off the drag after using the reel while out fishing, takes the squash load off them - takes a second to set up the drag again before use.

While carbon gives ultimate life, the felt washers give better feel and I've been backward modding my reels back to felt in smaller reels for that smooth feel.

[adam lancia]

I've switched all mine to Carbontex as well. I also lap my drag washers on a diamond board and grease the Carbontex with Cal's drag grease. I'm able to get really smooth, light start up and big stopping power depending on how tight I have the drag set. The only reel I haven't changed is my mackerel reel that I fished with a locked drag.

[cadman]

I've switched all mine to Carbontex as well. I also lap my drag washers on a diamond board and grease the Carbontex with Cal's drag grease. I'm able to get really smooth, light start up and big stopping power depending on how tight I have the drag set. The only reel I haven't changed is my mackerel reel that I fished with a locked drag.

I took all of my drag stacks and polished/lapped them to shiny finish by using 5000 grit sand paper on a piece of glass. If you hand lap them like you mentioned, you get them perfectly flat. I put a black marker on the bottom of my drag stack plates before polishing, and it is interesting to see that the plates have little burrs on the edges, and some are not perfectly flat. Hand lapping solves that problem. I like your thinking and I personally would not go back to felt washers. I use Cal's as well on my Carbontex.

[BRONZEBACK32]

In all my years of fishing I have never changed my felt washers.

Do you have any reels 5 plus years old that receive heavy use? I agree that it's usually not necessary, but when I clean the drag stacks on some of my reels that get used extensively and have caught a lot of 10 pound walleye and 5 pound trout, I'll see an amalgam of drag grease and felt material on top of the key washer that has come off during use. I have had a few spinning drags get that uneven feeling over the years. Washers are dirt cheap so I bought some on my last shimano order. As for carbontex, Bantam had a great post about cross-carbon vs. felt drag washers. What it came down to is that felt is much smoother and allows lighter drag pressures than cross-carbon. This is the reason on the newer shimano spinning reels cross-carbon tends to only be used in larger sizes, 4000 and up I believe. Carbontex has the advantage over felt when greater drag pressure is needed, which is honestly rare in freshwater.

I do have a few, I will take a look and see what they look like, they are still smooth though, but I understand
checking them and I should haha.

[adam lancia]

I've switched all mine to Carbontex as well. I also lap my drag washers on a diamond board and grease the Carbontex with Cal's drag grease. I'm able to get really smooth, light start up and big stopping power depending on how tight I have the drag set. The only reel I haven't changed is my mackerel reel that I fished with a locked drag.

I took all of my drag stacks and polished/lapped them to shiny finish by using 5000 grit sand paper on a piece of glass. If you hand lap them like you mentioned, you get them perfectly flat. I put a black marker on the bottom of my drag stack plates before polishing, and it is interesting to see that the plates have little burrs on the edges, and some are not perfectly flat. Hand lapping solves that problem. I like your thinking and I personally would not go back to felt washers. I use Cal's as well on my Carbontex.

I always knock those edges off first with a fine file after I'm done lapping them. I just never liked the idea of those sharp edges potentially cutting into the Carbontex.

[eklikewhoa]

I've had some felt washers that see heavy inshore use for a season that becomes a mess once serviced. Now these are fished heavy and sometimes end up with big fish on the end.

Also have some that are maybe a decade old that just look aged but still function.

Either way I prefer a cleaned up drag stack with carbontex and some good Deuthlon drag grease