TackleTour

I just purchased and received a Daiwa 14 SS SV 103SHL new from a Japanese seller on Amazon. The reel is nice and I like it a lot but the drag is so weak. My Shimano BFS reels have stronger drag. It doesn’t seam to start tightening up until the very last bit of adjustment, is this normal and if so how can I fix it ? I have other JDM Daiwas and Shimano’s and this is by for the weakest of them all.

yes it sucks. Spend the 8$ for carbontex drag from smoothdrag. Tackletrap usually has it in stock.

Edward78 wrote:I just purchased and received a Daiwa 14 SS SV 103SHL new from a Japanese seller on Amazon. The reel is nice and I like it a lot but the drag is so weak. My Shimano BFS reels have stronger drag. It doesn’t seam to start tightening up until the very last bit of adjustment, is this normal and if so how can I fix it ? I have other JDM Daiwas and Shimano’s and this is by far the weakest of them all.

I put a SLPW Steez SV105 spool in mine and it pulls power finesse duty now. The drag thrust washers on mine were a little flat, so I actually put a steeper arch in them with pliers and the drag's max pressure increased a good bit. I also put a Steez EX drag star on it, so it being aluminum vs. plastic might have also helped. With this reel having a magnesium frame, I never considered needing a stronger drag, because power techniques call for an aluminum-frame reel imho. But, as stated above, carbontex is a quick-fix.

Yeah, it's not a strong drag, but it's about the smoothest stock drag I've ever felt. Like they said, mag finesse and you're golden.

Super smooth but super weak drag. A drag upgrade is mandatory unless the reel is being used as a BFS reel. It is that weak.

LowRange wrote:Super smooth but super weak drag. A drag upgrade is mandatory unless the reel is being used as a BFS reel. It is that weak.

That’s how I feel, the reel is nice and the drag feels smooth but I know my SS Air has more drag and that’s unacceptable to me.

Mine is super weak too. Washers would help, but I think the 8 gear conversion helps more, due to the eared washers. It helps to grab hold and give you a few more pounds or so of pressure. I use mine on a 7'Medium cranking rod, so for now it is OK. There have been times though where medium sized smallmouth have pulled me all over though. At least I don't have to worry about hooks bending out or breaking...

iabass8 wrote:yes it sucks. Spend the 8$ for carbontex drag from smoothdrag. Tackletrap usually has it in stock.

I have been looking for the Carbontex drag washers but cant find ones for this model, do i just need to order them for another model and if so what model ?

Edward78 wrote:

iabass8 wrote:yes it sucks. Spend the 8$ for carbontex drag from smoothdrag. Tackletrap usually has it in stock.

I have been looking for the Carbontex drag washers but cant find ones for this model, do i just need to order them for another model and if so what model ?

I never know either man, sorry. Their kits don't list many models. I always reach out to the TackleTrap and they let me know which one to order.

iabass8 wrote:

Edward78 wrote:

iabass8 wrote:yes it sucks. Spend the 8$ for carbontex drag from smoothdrag. Tackletrap usually has it in stock.

I have been looking for the Carbontex drag washers but cant find ones for this model, do i just need to order them for another model and if so what model ?

I never know either man, sorry. Their kits don't list many models. I always reach out to the TackleTrap and they let me know which one to order.

Wasting time, call TT

hoohoorjoo wrote:

Edward78 wrote:I just purchased and received a Daiwa 14 SS SV 103SHL new from a Japanese seller on Amazon. The reel is nice and I like it a lot but the drag is so weak. My Shimano BFS reels have stronger drag. It doesn’t seam to start tightening up until the very last bit of adjustment, is this normal and if so how can I fix it ? I have other JDM Daiwas and Shimano’s and this is by far the weakest of them all.

I put a SLPW Steez SV105 spool in mine and it pulls power finesse duty now. The drag thrust washers on mine were a little flat, so I actually put a steeper arch in them with pliers and the drag's max pressure increased a good bit. I also put a Steez EX drag star on it, so it being aluminum vs. plastic might have also helped. With this reel having a magnesium frame, I never considered needing a stronger drag, because power techniques call for an aluminum-frame reel imho. But, as stated above, carbontex is a quick-fix.

That's true. I have the same spool in mine and it's on a 65ml/rf rod for mag finesse. I swapped the star out to a Zaion one and had to add a washer to make that work, which helped increase the pressure without impacting the smoothness. I forgot about that until you said something about a plastic drag star.

I ended up ordering Tackletraps 8.1:1 Brass gear set that comes with stacked carbontex drag kit. Installed it today with some cals drag grease and it’s still very smooth but very strong if you tighten down on it. I also installed a SS Air tension knob, a cheap 95mm carbon handle with cork knobs and have a Rey’s Studio Carbon dragstar on the way. This reel ended up becoming a costly project but it is looking and feeling good.

I had one and could never find a satisfactory way of making the drag stronger, so sold it. Shame as it was a nice reel otherwise.

Tim Kelly wrote:I had one and could never find a satisfactory way of making the drag stronger, so sold it. Shame as it was a nice reel otherwise.

Its kinda strange how weak that drag is ? I'm not one of those guys who want a 25lb drag locked down to fish but this is the lightest drag I have ever had and i own 4 BFS reels, including a Aldebaran 16 BFS that I thought was the weakest drag ever made on a modern reel until i purchased this reel.

The finished product with a strong and still smooth drag.