Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

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OldTackle
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Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

Abu's Cardinals are really nice reels which almost never fail to give you a great support while fishing. As there were almost no tutorials on disassembling one I thought it might be nice to picture what I am doing and share it here. I received my set of ReelX oil and grease and there was a little noise when the anti-reverse was switched on so a maintenance was necessary on my 33.
Here in pictures I show the steps of disassembling the reel:
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OldTackle
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

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OldTackle
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

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OldTackle
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

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Correct order.JPG
I used ReelX oil on the bearing and any sliding part. On the worm shaft I used ReelX grease soft and partly medium a thicker grease it useful. Then reassemble the reel following the steps backwards and you are done. You will have a serviced reel that you won't have to open again for years!!

Nice little things they are and I would call the the AK47 when it comes to spinning reels. Wonderful engineering!

Hope you enjoyed that,
Christopher
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Last edited by OldTackle on Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bobby Marlene
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by Bobby Marlene »

Thanks for posting this. Excellent tutorial. I love cardinals, my favorite reel is a 44. I am now looking for a 33, hope I find one soon. Best, Bobby

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Nobby
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by Nobby »

I sometimes do similar projects but don't like to always put them on this forum for fear of over-posting, so put them on our other forum instead.

I did do an Abu 66:

http://www.thepathbythewater.net/bb_tpb ... +66#p19794

Nice reel, though I took one bail arm spring and one bail arm release spring out, for ease of use.

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OldTackle
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

Afternoon Nobby,

I just read through your description in this other forum (to me one forum is more than enough - I could not handle two at the same time). I found something strange concerning the drag of your reel. To my poor engineering abilities it appears incomplete. Having a rounded metal plate pushing against a washer seems not correct to me. If you have a look to the braking package of my 33 you see at least 2 more metal discs. Curved metal disk, another not circular shape flat metal disk and then followed by the big washer, another metal disk, the thinner washer and another flat not circular metal disc to make it complete. I haven't had a look to the schematics of the 66 but I am almost sure these parts should not be different or missing...

Respectfully,
Chris
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Nobby
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by Nobby »

I'll look into it, thank-you.

It looks as though they changed the clutch:

http://kalastus.com/keskustelu/messages/16/85011.jpg

http://www.cimcom.ca/Zebco/cardinal_6_7.JPG

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OldTackle
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

The first version you can see here by this japanese guy. Seems to be very free running and must be a special designed ball bearing I suppose. The Zebco version to me looks like a reduction of one metal seat so here the washer touches the plastic gear and equals your reel. But as these washers are supposed to spin they should have a flat base to do so. In my opinion either the ball race as well as the first version (like my 33) should give the best clutch. In your case I would simply add a metal disc between the spring type metal base and the thick washer. And there is also a strange distance with that anti reverse gear. See my pictures. In my case there is a lot more touching distance so your hint with a thicker disc might count. Or it was wrongly assembled or missing a piece? With such a large reel like the 66 the anti reverse lever should get more surface to prevent damage to the gear. Nice technical discussion anyways. As always a pleasure with you Nobby.

Chris
Schematic of the 33:

http://www.realsreels.com/servicing/Man ... atics6.jpg
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OldTackle
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Re: Maintain / disassemble a Cardinal reel

Post by OldTackle »

Is it a lost spring that makes the anti reverse silent? I personally do not like them. Too much plastics. And I think the old Cardinals contain of unnecessary plastic parts already but for me there's the limit.
I wonder who decided that it's better to have the anti-reverse button at the back of the reel? How much more parts because of just that... :Confused:

Chris

P.S: Maybe it's better to rename our posts and split them. This might be better for people on the search for their particular reels...Or I rename this post to make a collection of disassembling tutorials. Anyway I like those pictured tutorials. They really help people a lot!
Last edited by OldTackle on Sun Feb 22, 2015 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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