Fred Crouch Jet

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Henry88
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Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Henry88 »

Hi all,

I've just got myself an as new Fred Crouch Jet, and I was wondering if anyone whos got one could tell me if they make an ever increasing din (and slow down substantially) when the reel face / spokes are turned to face downwards.

My trudex does it as well, but to a much lesser degree - and as I'm not planning to fish with it faceing in this direction it dosent really matter, but I was just curious.

Many thanks,

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Watermole+
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Watermole+ »

Henry,
I don’t have such a reel, but can tell you what the problem is!
The line drum is held captive on the spindle by a small tongue in the middle of the locking fork-the one which you lift to detach the drum. The face of that little tongue rubs against the outside face of the spindle groove when the reel spindle is pointed downwards and if the end-float clearance of the line drum is excessively slack-or tight, reels can make really nasty grating noises, especially if there is a build up of fine grit in the spindle groove.
It is often-quite wrongly-said, that true centrepins don’t run well when faced downward anyway. The friction drag and noise occurs when the reel is not set up correctly, not because of the nature of it.

A quick remedy would be to firstly thoroughly clean both the spindle and inside of the spindle bore with GT85 or similar, several times, then put on one-or two drops of “3-in1” thin oil, adjust the end float screw until only a tiny amount of movement is detectable and try again.

If the noise persists, the reel drum will need a little fine tuning..

Hope this is of some help..

wm+

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet one of them shall not fall without your Father knoweth" ..Jesus of Nazareth, King James AV

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Henry88
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Henry88 »

Ah, ok, that makes sense.

Is this perhaps the reason why when I see pictures of pepole fishing with centerpins, they often have them on a slight angle so that the spokes / face of the reel is pointing upward'ish?

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Willsmodger
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Willsmodger »

It's a hard habit to break that.
I used a match aerial for a while and even now that it's been replaced by Okuma bearing reels, which run just as well vertically, I still find myself turning them sideways.
There was a tantalizing article I read on pins, some years back.
This stated that with some kind of engineering fix, an aerial could run just as freely vertically as horizontally.
Frustratingly, it didn't give any more details, and I've always wondered.
All the best.

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Watermole+
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Watermole+ »

That is absolutely correct. A well set up centrepin will run almost as efficiently at any angle..IF..and only if, it is correctly put together in the first place!
Unfortunately, there is no instant fix to do this. It involves some patient work on the parts involved and this takes time to do..
Time is very costly to the manufacturer and so they just assemble the parts when a reel is put together and hope that, after a little while, they will run in with each other and that the user will both accept-and live with it.

I make reels as carefully as I can, yet still sometimes get a little 'ticking' when running it at a certain angle. There is then nothing for it but to take the offending parts off, do a bit more work and try again, which can be intensely annoying and very time consuming to say the least. Eventually, it all comes good, but commercial manufacturers just cannot afford to faff about like that and that is why running one face up is accepted as the norm now..and probably why ballrace reels are more fashionable..

wm+

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet one of them shall not fall without your Father knoweth" ..Jesus of Nazareth, King James AV

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Henry88
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Henry88 »

Ok, I see how this makes sense from a buisness perspective, and as long as its not out of the norm, I'm not going to worry too much.

The only thing I cant figure out now is why it spins for practicaly the same amount of time with the spokes / face pointing upwards as it does when turned on its side with the face / spokes facing right or left as it would then mounted when hanging down from the reel seat...

So many questions haha

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Watermole+
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Watermole+ »

Please fire away with as many questions as you like..it is always nice to try and answer them

It's quite easy..When the reel is hanging from the rod in perpendicular fashion-as in normal use-there is no side pressure on the locking tab. The line drum just drifts-or floats-from side to side within the clearance set by the grub screw on the end. In fact, in theory, this should be it's optimum running position.
When the line drum faces upwards, the main bearing surface is between the end of the spindle and the face of the grub screw, theoretically the smallest area and so your reel runs forever..

The odd thing is that, as serious wear starts to develop between spindle and line drum bore, instead of the increased amount of free play improving the running, it actually deteriorates because of local drag and vibration causing the drum to 'bounce' on the top part of the spindle and also from side-to-side. This can be temporarily improved by oiling but that is all. When wear gets too bad, the only answer is a new spindle and bush.

With a new reel, with the correct running tolerance between spindle and bore, if it is kept clean from minute particles of abrasive grit and regularly oiled, you would never live long enough to wear it out! Look after a new one and it will repay you by lasting a lifetime.
But it is like everything else, neglect and abuse will take it's toll..

Regards,

wm+

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet one of them shall not fall without your Father knoweth" ..Jesus of Nazareth, King James AV

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Tengisgol
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Tengisgol »

What a great thread! One day I would dearly love to sit with WM+ (no, at the feet of!) and talk centrepin engineering (no, listen to!)...and discuss how a perfect (to me) trotting pin might look and work.

In the meantime, my advice (as a ‘user’ of ‘pins) is not to worry too much about what is happening at the reel end and think only about how and where your bait is travelling through the water ‘cos that’s the bit that really matters for the catching of fish.

Don’t worry if the reel is upside down, so long as you’re optimising the presentation of that bait and can strike and grab the handle when you get a bite. There are a lot of scruffy anglers that catch fish and immaculate ones that don’t!
Where the willows meet the water...

https://sites.google.com/site/tengisgol/

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Troydog
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Troydog »

Absolutely brilliant posts - I get it, even though I don't have a technical bone in my body.. Thank you all!!
Trouble is, the fish just don't read the books......
John Harding

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Henry88
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Re: Fred Crouch Jet

Post by Henry88 »

I agree - some fantiastic advice being handed out, thanks

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