Shimano Slade 1000FB - Upgrading the reels

When I first gotten this reel at a Shimano event, I decided not to modify it, use it out of the box for as long as I can and see how long can it last. Mixed bags of respond from me, the good part is that the reel lasted with zero maintenance, bad news is that the bushing holding the Drive gear starts to create more friction that the inertia force required when you start to crank the handle increase quite a fair bit.

Thus make my way down to the ball bearing shop to get the necessary bearings, and do the change of the bushing to bearings. Of course, since I am dismantling the reel, might as well clean up everything and give it a full service.

And this reel also get my upgraded version of roller bushing upgrade to ball bearing. The previous version is hard to replicate as it is tough to find the necessary parts, and the need to trim down the bearing outer race to a smaller diameter. More on this on my further posting.

Single metal washer and drag washer only

 Before I go on, and what I have done on this reel, I need to get this off my chest. The drag on this reel is extremely disappointing, as with almost all Shimano 1000 sized reel, it's stated ideal drag is 2kg. But when I compared to the Shimano AX, this reel have less drag, seriously wonder why as this reel feels more sturdy then the AX. Why would I be disappointed? Because the Ofmer Axis6, a much smaller reel, have more drag then these 2 Shimano reels.

Prefect circle, no slot for dogged washers

Looking at the drag mechanism will reveal the answer why the 2 Shimano reel have such low drag, it is on a single drag washer. And there is no way to increase the number of drag washers as the spool does not cater to dogged washers. If anything that can be change, it is only the drag washer.
 

The original grease inside the reel body have been pushed into 2 corners, it's show that the coat of grease is not required as any excess will be squeezed and pushed out.

Reel completely stripped and cleaned.

The two bushing still look in good condition visually, no idea what cause the increase in inertia force required when cranking. As I have no knowledge on plastic material, but when a moving metal part (Drive gear) rubs against stationary plastic part (bushing) something have to go, I reckon it is the plastic as it is most likely softer then metal. Does this cause the increase in inertia force needed? I have no idea, but a change to bearing will solve this problem, so out goes the bushing and in goes two new bearing as replacement.

Old and replacement for roller bearing

Next to go is the roller bushing and replace it with my new version of roller bearing. There's nothing wrong with the bushing really, but eventually I will spool this reel with some light lines, I would prefer a smoother roller system since I expect this part get a good work out if I hooked up a decent sized fish.

Bushing and it's replacement bearings

All moving parts are re-lube with ZX-1 grease, as more likely then not I will use this in saltwater environment, and all 4 bearings get Corrosion-X oil treatment. In actual fact I intended to use Reel-X oil, but as I put the oil into syringes for bearings application these days, and I have yet to label them so end up using the wrong oil. However, I think it should do what is necessary, to prevent rust to form.

Finally, I conclude my experiment on using this reel out of the box, no major complaints. But if I can improve on it why not do it? just like the upgrade on the Shimano AX 1000 I have done recently, I am extremely pleased with the end result, the upgrade on the smoothness is well worth the effort put in to clean up and upgrade this reel.