trouble with my symetre reel

[bulldogs195461]

i have a symetre reel 2500,today while fishing i dragged it a little in sand,when i tried to use it although it spun it was very hard to turn,i took the handle off but that didnt work.im only surmising it was sand,thats seemed to jam it up,any ideas on how to free it up,i dont even know how to pull it apart,hoping its nothing to seroius.cheers john

[Surfingant]

Pull the spool off and make sure there is nothing around the main shaft stopping it from turning freely, pull the handle screw out and give it a liberal soaking with some wd40 or similar to try and get it apart. Did it drop or was it just sitting there when you dragged it? You may have knocked a cog or something slightly out of place or slightly bent the main shaft if it was dropped.

[bulldogs195461]

mate im not real sure,i dragged it a litle ,not really dropped it,ok will try those things.

[Surfingant]

Sorry I read your original post wrong, I thought you said you couldn't get the handle off. Ok, take the spool off and underneath you should find a small screw and a nut, remove both of these and set aside in order. Take the rotor off and that will leave the main body. Remove any external dress up bits like the plastic cap/cover at the back of the reel and put aside. Remove the screws holding the side plate to the body and the side plate should come away. This will give you access to your gears and you'll be able to see without going too much further whether there is any sand or grit in there, I can't see how it would get in there but you never know. If the internals look shabby you'll have to pull it apart further and clean and regrease. Just make sure you keep everything in order and you can't go too far wrong.

[Surfingant]

If you need it I've got photos of my stradic 1000 pulled apart, I was going to do a service tutorial but got over that in a hurry lol. It will be pretty similar to the Symetre aside from a couple of minor things.

[bulldogs195461]

thanks,great reply,your right when i checked all around the reel in the light at home,i cant see how sand would get in,so im assuming its something ive knocked,it went from going great to turning like something was slowing it down.will go over it tommorow,with your instructions.john

[Stevodevo]

there's a big rubber seal in the bottom inside I think it's blue or grey lubricate it and see if it spins if it does keep it there if it doesn't just get rid of it ,it just means if it's out it means you'll have to wash it more because it protect the motor from salt, because I took mine out after it made it hard to wind

[mangajack]

If you can not feel sand grinding it will not be a sand issue. In these reels the chances of sand getting into a bearing is nil, water yes, but sand no. Water will take a week or so to damage the bearing.

I dropped a symetre overboard and retrieved it a week later from 8m of water in Moreton bay and two bearings were damaged by water but neither rusted solid. I replaced them after stripping it down completely and regreasing and reassembly.

The big seal under the rotor is the friction ring. The last few models of Shimano spinning reels use a rubber compound that swells with the use of INOX. Remove that ring and the reel will free up perfectly. CRC and RP7 do not seem to affect this compound.