I have a couple dozen Lews, and most have held up well for several years. I've noticed especially the Tournament MB have developed a very 'gear-y' feeling. general cleaning isn't helping much anymore even when breaking down and stripping and all new grease and oil on all moving parts. Any suggestions for fixes or time to move on?
Nothing makes a fish bigger than ALMOST being caught!
I’d move on.. I don’t have many casting rods, and 5 of them are outfitted with Lews. Out of those reels, 3 of them have had drag issues (tournament MB, MG and speed spool) and another one just feels like there’s a ton of resistance when casting (tournament pro). They are 4-8 years old, but I only fish 15-20 times a year and they are cleaned every winter so they see little use and are well maintained. 4 out of 5 have had some type of issue. That’s enough for me to write them off. Even my ardent reel seems to be more reliable.
Weird thing is, my gen 2 Revo SX Has been flawless even though they are made in the same factory as Lews.
when I feel like buying a new reel, I’d be looking at Shimano. Should’ve stayed with them to begin with.
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
I have 6 Lews tournament pros that I really liked when new but it seemed that they would loose their smoothness with very little use and needed cleaned and lubed often. I have retired them and now use Diawa tatula Elites and Steez SV TWs and so far they have held up very well.
Move on. Lews are Ok reels, but they don't hold up well.
Clean them up, use them as loaners, gift to a kid starting up, donate to a charity fishing event, etc.
Two years ago I had over $10,000 worth of rods/reels stolen from my boat at Sam Rayburn. Had content insurance, and decided to go back with one brand. I spent about 4 grand on brand new lews reels including the pro ti, hypermag, custom pro and tournament mp and a few of the bb1 reels. Since then I’ve sold everyone of them except 3 of the tournament mp reels and the bb1’s. The grade of aluminum used to make the main gears are terrible, the gears wear out quick. I got fed up with fighting with lews about replacement gears, even though these issues were within one year of purchase. In my opinion, the only lews reels worth owning have brass main gears period.
Move on. Like others above, I had my fling with Lew's. Sold them all and now am all Daiwa with a few Shimano.
2019 BCB Classic
Merc V8 200 4S
I have a bunch, TPs, BB1s and MBs. Most are over five years old and holding up well. The BB1s still cast great. Have a few newer SDs and a TP. Have heard that the older models hold up better than the newer. Also think the lower, "price point" reels, have lower quality components. If I was to switch think I couldn't pass up something in the Daiwa Titula lineup.
2017 Phoenix 819
2016 200ProXS, s/n 2B359849, Mod 1200P73BD
Same here. It seems like the main drive gear and pinion go bad after about a year of fishing. I am switching back to Shimano.
Like pretty much all reels not named Daiwa or Shimano, Lews seem to have a limited lifespan. Some may get a few years out of them but based on most comments they start wearing out sooner than that. I had a few of the original Tournament Pro's when Lew first relaunched their line and really got back into it producing reels again...
They are nice reels for a year to two, anyway. They get's lots of press/ad time now falling under the BTD umbrella with Strike King and HSS - with lots of pros forced to change to Lews in a combo Lews/SK sponsorship deal setup.
As other posters mentioned, there's Shimano/Daiwa as the gold standard, and everyone else a notch (or several notches) below. Most other reel companies source product from offshore factories that support multiple brandings, while Daiwa/Shimano (for the most part) design and engineer their own product.
I don’t see why anybody would use anything other than Shimano or Daiwa
Gosh guys, I dont know how many I have but too many like everybody else. I have never had a problem with them. The hypermags are my go to reels with a bunch of the lesser cost reels as fill-ins. I hope they continue to be usuable with no problems for a long while.
+1. I’ve got two Lews casting reels with limited use that are still ok. I’m sure they’ll end up like every other Doyo I’ve owned. The rest of my casting reels are Daiwa.Originally Posted by Jaredn
It's common for Lews to feel geary after awhile. The only fix is replacing the gear set on each of them. Typically that's all you need to do, but in some cases the bearings supporting the pinion gear corrode/wear also and should probably also get replaced.
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