All of my reels have been upgraded to boca OS 7's or better spool bearing with the exception of a curado 70 I bought last fall for my dad. It rarely gets used and casts fine, because he doesn't want to learn how to cast a baitcaster. My question is, are the stock bearings of a curado the same as the ones out of my metanium mgl? Would it be an upgrade to the curado?
I could be wrong, but I believe the Metanium MGL has different bearings.
I would think a $400 reel would have better parts than a $160 reel, but who knows. I just got the metanium back from The Tackle Trap, they recommended putting a brass gear set in it. I found it hard to believe Shimano puts plastic gears in a $400 reel but they do, and that is where this question came from.Originally Posted by BigBass94
I'm a huge Shimano fan, but I'm not a fan of them putting plastic in their reels nowadays. So I agree with you there. You're question is very valid. However, with that being said, I own 8 Metanium MGL's and have had zero problems with them. I've owned them since they first came out and they get a 10/10 from me. Maybe the plastic gears are good, maybe not, who knows. Haha. I should mention that I also own a bunch of Chronarch MGL's and I think they have the plastic gears too. I've had zero problems with them too. In fact, in my opinion, the Chronarch MGL is better than the Metanium MGL as far as performance. The new Chronarch's cast a mile and are buttery smooth. I guess I won't change anything in these reels since they perform so well for me.
If you want, put a set of brass gears in there and see how it goes.
P.S. I have Boca Orange Seal Bearings in all of my reels.
Tackle Trap did put the brass gears in the metanium, super tuned with Hedgehog Air HD's and carbontex drag. It feels like a completely different reel now with the brass gears, it so smooth. I only made a few casts in the backyard after getting it back, but the difference is noticable.
What gears are you referring to? Idle gears? Certainly not main gears, I don't know of any reel that does not utilize metal gears. The switch I think you are referring to is swapping out the main gear/Pinion from the stock aluminum to the brass set from a Curado K. Also the reason they use the aluminum is weight savings as they are significantly lighter than brass, they are still both very light but there is a weight savings with the aluminum.
As far as bearings goes most stock bearings are heavily greased from the factory, my guess is Shimano does this to up there corrosion resistance. That being said its bad for casting performance. You should see a significant improvement from flushing out bearings and properly relubing them. However for ultimate performance it is hard to beat a quality set of ceramic bearings.
2008 Stratos 294 XL
2008 Evinrude etec 200 HP H.O.
The gear where the drag washers are held is plastic
.http://tackletrap.com/index.php?main...ducts_id=12147
Just to clarify, Shimano does not use plastic main or pinion gears in any of their reels! They are aluminum and brass...again NO PLASTIC main or pinion gears are used in Shimano products! Furthermore, you can swap brass out from a K but from what we've seen, they tend to wear quicker than they should. Not an advised swap
IMHO. They will work, but I don't like the way ours felt after 3-4 months of use.
Dan
Last edited by reelex; 11-20-2017 at 11:48 AM.
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you would know better, I'm sure. It looked and felt like plastic to me, but I didn't examine it very well. My mistake. None the less it felt cheap in my hands. Can you help me with my original question, Dan?
The plastic everybody is concerned about is actually poly carbonate, the same material used to make a lot of gun parts and triggers
Yes, the MT 16 bearings are IMHO a better bearing than CU 200/70i spool bearings....
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Ok thanks
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