# Reel repair question



## tigerfly (Apr 4, 2019)

I’ve got a Stradic FJ that has been great so far but lately it has an odd vibration/light grinding when holding the rod tip down and when the spool is traveling “up” (traveling towards rod tip). Any ideas what would cause this?


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Take that reel to a qualified repair station or send it back to Shimano for repair - and maybe, just maybe they'll have the parts needed to sort you out. 
I've been repairing reels for many years and I wouldn't even attempt to diagnose a reel problem without having the reel in hand to see what's actually going on...

I've also quit buying Shimano for my guide skiff operation... I got tired of not being able to get parts for older reels.... (understatement....).


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

I recently (thank you Covid stay-at-home) performed reel maintenance on all my reels. I have half a dozen Symetre's and Static's. Plus a Stella and a few Penns. In all the reel I removed all the internal components, soaked them in a reel cleaning agent. I like Ardent 4130 Reel Kleen. Then using reel grease for gears and reel oil for bearings lubed and rebuilt each reel. Took me a week but I did it in off times and went slow. If you have crunchy feeling there are two main areas this commonly comes from. Bearings or the gears. On my older Symetre's I replaced some bearings and replaced the main drive gear. These are hard to find but I was able to order them from Shimano. One place that's a common annoyance is the roller bearing. It gets saltwater in it and the bearing get's crunchy. Good luck! Lots of great youtube tutorials and if you have time it's a fun project.


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## Copahee Hound (Dec 21, 2017)

Pinion bearings, drag washers, and bail roller bearing have been the most common problems on stradics for me. I think you can still get FJ parts off Shimano's website, it's more of a problem when they're out of stock, or after 5-7 years years they just quit stocking parts. Like the capt said, you can send them back to Shimano in SC and they will have them as good as new... for awhile, until next year... 

Great reels when they work, but every year they have temper tandroms like a toddler in the toy isle


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## Dadvocate (Jun 26, 2011)

Boca Bearings is a good source and they usually have most of the common bearings in stock. Pretty fast shipping.


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