Daiwa Exceler Z series - Service and Maintenance

[REEFMAN]

Inside the Rotor lock nut, there is a bearing held in place by a tripod retainer.






















NB: DO NOT try pull the Drive Gear off now. It won't come. On the other side, you first need to take off the Bearing Retainer clip...






The bearing itself comes out laterally, unlike most other reels, where the bearing falls inside the housing.









This Rotating gear can be quite troublesome to remove. The bearing fits really tight and clips into place on the body shaft.




So we're left with this....




Clean all parts by soaking in Benzine and scrubbing with a toothbrush.
Regrease all surfaces, especially moving parts and oil/grease bearings.

Now we can start to re-assemble.




































On the box of this reel, it is advertized as a 7 bearing reel...

I can only find 5 bearings and 1 AR bearing. Thought I was going mad until I checked the schematics over, and over, and over again.... can only find 5 in the schematics... 

Update: so we found the other 2 bearings inside the handle...! It doesn't show them on the schematics. So it's a fair dinkum 7 bearing reel!

[MIKE PIKE]

Nice one , i see they've done away with the fold up handle and in the process also lost a bearing somewhere .. .... still a good reel though , looks much the same as the Exceller  Plus inside. and of course the colour and other subtle changes .. .

[REEFMAN]

Ya, I'm busy with a review of the Exceler range, from the E series to the Plus, to the S series and now on to the Z series. What's changed and is it better??

The handle still folds in, but you need to unscrew the handle cap in order to fold it in. The old Exceler had a button to press to fold it in....

[MIKE PIKE]

Ive noticed that in some of the Excelers that you buy , there are not always the spare teflon/plastic spacers that you can put under the spool to adjust the height of the spool when putting line on it ..... besides making  some , where else can one get them .. ??
 

[Kumz]

  great write-up !!!!

[REEFMAN]

Ive noticed that in some of the Excelers that you buy , there are not always the spare teflon/plastic spacers that you can put under the spool to adjust the height of the spool when putting line on it ..... besides making  some , where else can one get them .. ??
 

You are 100% correct Mike. What I used with this reel was a plain metal rivet washer  that I inserted between the 2 plastic ones. Not sure if it will have any ling term effect on the reel, but I can't see any real pressure on that area that will damage the reel. Still not great from Daiwa to not leave spare spacers. Especially seeing that the line lay is not 100%.

[super_daav]

Hi Tony / Mike,
 
Interesting on the 7 bearings. I have asked for some feedback and will let you know.
 
A metal washer can be used but we dont recommend this as a long-term solution. That said, as you mention Tony, as long as the metal washer is between 2 plastic washer, it should be okay.

[REEFMAN]

Hi Tony / Mike,
 
Interesting on the 7 bearings. I have asked for some feedback and will let you know.
 
A metal washer can be used but we dont recommend this as a long-term solution. That said, as you mention Tony, as long as the metal washer is between 2 plastic washer, it should be okay.

Thanks Dave, I will be fascinated to hear what they say.
I find it a bit irritating that they don't supply extra spacer washers as standard? This reel, that I recently bought, was badly out with the alignment of the rotor  - you would think that these things are checked in quality control, and an alternative to fix the problem would be readily supplied? (re: spare washers).

[REEFMAN]

Ya, I'm busy with a review of the Exceler range, from the E series to the Plus, to the S series and now on to the Z series. What's changed and is it better??

The handle still folds in, but you need to unscrew the handle cap in order to fold it in. The old Exceler had a button to press to fold it in....

Here's the review... http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=10869.msg166142#msg166142

[Cam Mundy]

Are there no bearings in the Line roller?

[REEFMAN]

Are there no bearings in the Line roller?

Nope. No bearings in the bail system, nor the handle.

[Cam Mundy]

Are there no bearings in the Line roller?

Nope. No bearings in the bail system, nor the handle.

That's the only thing I could think of does seem a bit shaky must be ghost bearings

[REEFMAN]

Ok, we finally found the 2 missing bearings. I opened up the handle and found 2 small bearings inside! Neither of these are on the Schematics... 

[Cam Mundy]

Mystery solved! would rather have had them in the line roller!

[REEFMAN]

Mystery solved! would rather have had them in the line roller!

Dunno hey, a bushing is ok in the Line roller for a reel in this class. Worse for me, usually in cheaper reels, the handle is bolted on and cannot be serviced, so to find (contrary to the schematics) that that Half of the beach that was blown into the nooks and crannies of the handle can actually be removed by simply taking it apart, is a very nice surprise! And then to find that it has bearings... lekka man!
NOTHING worse that having a reel that grates with sand particles stuck in the handle and you can't clean it...

[Cam Mundy]

Mystery solved! would rather have had them in the line roller!

Dunno hey, a bushing is ok in the Line roller for a reel in this class. Worse for me, usually in cheaper reels, the handle is bolted on and cannot be serviced, so to find (contrary to the schematics) that that Half of the beach that was blown into the nooks and crannies of the handle can actually be removed by simply taking it apart, is a very nice surprise! And then to find that it has bearings... lekka man!
NOTHING worse that having a reel that grates with sand particles stuck in the handle and you can't clean it...

Agree with being able to remove the handle it's a pain on reels that are bolted on but I reckon the line roller does more work so deserves the bearings if you've ever had a bearing go in the line roller you suddenly realise how much that little guy turns from the racket it makes!

[REEFMAN]

I have the Bearing sizes of the EXCELER Z. I won't be publishing them openly - too many plagiarists out there.
For those who are interested, send me a PM. (But please don't bother if you're a lurker with no posts.)

Update:

Having used this reel now quite extensively, I have editted and updated the review written above.

Further   to this, after using this reel quite heavily at Kosi Bay, it developed a   grating feel to the gears at certain points... was really bleak that   this could have happened so quickly.
Knowing this reel has Digigear,   which is a sophisticated computerized machining of the gears, which   ensures a greatly enhanced meshing of gears together, I couldn't believe   that it could have worn so quickly.

Opened the reel up and took   out piece by piece, keeping the handle on and testing the retrieve,   until the grating sound could be eliminated.

Murphy's Law!!!  It was the very last thing left in the reel!! 

So,   anyway, what I found, was that the Rotating gear that causes the Slider   to move was the culprit. Underneath the Gear, the machining is not very   smooth or precise, with some shards of barbed bare metal making some   very sharp ridges underneath. These sharp edges were biting into the   circular rim that is inset into the RHS Plate inner.





One can even see how the shards of metal wre forming a grinding paste - marked by the red arrow.





Time   for some Grinding and polishing with the old trusty Dremel. Carefully   smoothed off all the sharp shards and ridges on the inside of the Gear.





WOW!!   Totally gobsmacked at the result!! Truly made a HUGE difference to     the reel's smoothness. Actually couldn't believe that it would have     made such a difference. The reel is now MUCH smoother than it was out     the box... go figure!!

Not very impressed with the tolerances and finishing of the gears though... not good enough I'm afraid.