Help With Measuring Drag

[hottyscotty]

Today i bought a spring scale to see what the drags are pulling on my reels at locked drag. And i got some very strange results, possibly i did it all wrong?

1) Daiwa Catalina 4500H. I directly pulled the line through around the bail arm roller and i got 10KG. Its the same as what Daiwa stated, so i left it at that.

2) Shimano Ocea Jigger 5000. I directly pulled the line off and got 10kg. I then threaded the line through a 5'6" rod and pulled at an angle, giving me just under 12kg. I didn't get close to the stated 15kg. The only reason i can think of is because i measured it with a full spool and Shimano didn't.

3) Daiwa Saltist 30TH. This one is really bothering me! I pulled the line directly and its giving me 2kg. I thread it though a 6' rod and its returning around 3kg! This one was also measured with a full spool. I read one Alan Tani's carbontex upgrade on the Saltist 40 and it pulled 24lb with full spool! So going on that i doubt just the carbon drag washers can make a 7kg improvement. I did open up this reel once but i'm 100% sure it was put back together the way it came off in reverse. Should i send this one to Daiwa to check it out?

[caranx]

4500 Catalina...sounds right . Mine does the same.

Saltist 30th...too low. I am sure mine pulls more and I dont have carbontex in it yet.

Loading up through the rod will give you a different drag reading. I always test mine through the rod so I know what the combo will do in the field. Tie up to a tree and load up to test it out.

[hottyscotty]

would you be able test what your saltist is pulling? in your free time of course.

i think i'll have to go to daiwa someday and get them to check it out. i must have did something wrong when i re-assembled it

also with the ocea jigger, i used a pretty stiff jigging rod. would i be right to assume if i had used a softer rod, i might get closer to 15kg?

Edited February 25, 2010 by hottyscotty

[caranx]

No worries. Will run them through the drag meter. It should work , though the meter is for braid. Else will do the spring loaded scale.

Edited February 26, 2010 by caranx

[SZ1]

HI Hotttyscott,

I have gone throuh this excercise, with some of my reels which included a Saltist 40, the best i could get out of the Drag trhough a 6foot jigging rod was 9+ kilos, this rating was straight out of the box brand new reel with the star drag as tight as i can physcially get.

Cheers,

Sz1

[slinkymalinky]

G'day hottyscotty,

You should always test your drag through a rod... the friction of line over runners actually adds to the overall drag you get. That's one of the reasons big game fishos use fully rollered rods because it eliminates it. If you get say 5kg of drag at the reel you may get 6kg off the rod... but if there's a problem with any of your runners that may increase a lot.

You should also take note of any 'start up'. As you begin to pull line off the reel, it may take more pressure to initially get the spool turning than to keep it turning. The true drag pressure is what it takes to keep it turning but ideally you don't want any start up. In practice, if it is no more than 10% of the true drag, that's ok. That means that if it takes any more than 5.5kg to get the reel turning if it keeps turning at 5kg, you've got a problem that needs fixing.

The problem with the Saltist could be with the bellevilles (spring washers) beneath the drag star. If these haven't gone back in the correct orientation then the star won't apply pressure to the drag washers correctly.

Here's a link to the schematic...

http://www.mikesreelrepair.com/schematics/displayimage.php?album=24&pos=698

Alan Tani has done a full service tutorial on a Saltist 40H which uses the same schematic, and has kindly offered to let us reproduce his tutorials on Fishraider... here's the link

http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=46844

Cheers, Slinky

[stevefish]

The speed you pull off line changes the pressure required to take drag. your drag should be set at the speed the reel will operate at.