Lever Drag Reels and "Binding"
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Briny Bar
Forum Description: The place for general chat on saltwater fishing!
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=87447
Printed Date: 28 Jul 2026 at 5:18am
Topic: Lever Drag Reels and "Binding"
Posted By: reeldeal
Subject: Lever Drag Reels and "Binding"
Date Posted: 26 Jan 2013 at 5:08am
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Hi Guys,
so ive had alot of people asking about why when the drag is maxed out on a lever drag reel does the reel start to feel heavy and everything stiffens up on the reel, otherwise know as "Binding"
I know this is technical but i think it will help alot of guys who are looking at lever drag reels and will help them choose the right reel for the line class they want
This has been written for Avet reels, but will apply to alot of the Lever Drag reels on the market.
The term "binding" is a bit misleading..there is no contact with moving parts or rubbing when this happens. What you are feeling when very heavy drag pressure is applied is added drag from lateral load on a radial bearing. It is not the pinion gear bearing that you feel, its the outside spool bearing. When the Drag lever is applied, the cam pulls a drawbar that goes through the pinion gear bearing, the pinion gear, the drag plate, the spool, to the outside spool bearing. This compresses the spool to the dragplate. When the drag and spool are compressed the load is equally distributed between the pinion gear bearing and the outside spool bearing. The pinion gear bearing is housed in the drive-side plate and is much larger than the spool bearings, and capable of taking much higher side loads. The outside spool bearing is much smaller.
The outside spool bearing was intentionally engineered smaller than the pinion bearing to reduce rotational mass of the spool and reduce the rotational drag of a larger bearing to make a lighter better casting spool. The smaller diameter spool bearing also allows a smaller diameter spool hub for it to fit into, creating much more line capacity for an overall smaller, lighter spool. It would have been much easier to use the same outside spool bearing as the pinion bearing...fewer parts to stock, simpler engineering and machining, as all the bores would be the same...etc..but the reel wouldnt cast anywhere near as well..and the overall size of the reel would have to be significantly larger and heavier to get the same line capacities. For a great casting, small light leverdrag its a great design, and using a reel within the limits it was designed for its a small trade-off to have it all. With the Avet Raptor reels, the lateral load issue is eliminated using a different drag compression configuration...keeping similar bearings and spool/reel dimentions.
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Replies:
Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 26 Jan 2013 at 11:13pm
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and how do you expect the normal fisherman to understand that???? do's the Avet reel have any problems when drag setting is altered without backing off the lever drag before hand???? ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: Richard34482
Date Posted: 26 Jan 2013 at 11:39pm
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Yup totally understand, its abit like The wheels on the bus go round & round & round, until the brakes are applied and the inner bearing on swizel joint goes slower than the outer bearing on the main output joint, this of course causes a lot of pressure, the result is anyone standing falls over. Reckon I now know about problems with my lever drag eh, hey if you have a tech prob your tackle contact Debbie on --- 032014502 sorry just bored |
Posted By: Titahi
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2013 at 12:14am
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All lever drag reels gonna have problems if you dial in more or less drag with the lever engaged anywhere oither than freespool Eric Think about how a bearing has an inner and an outter, now imagine the inner being pushed sideways real hard while the outter is held in place....... Welcome to Axial bearing load and whats commonly referred to as Binding... The smaller the bearing the greater the effect... load disspiation ------------- "I love standing by the ocean and just knowing what its for" |
Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2013 at 12:54am
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still a lot less moving parts in a Lever Drag reel compared to a Star Drag, although the new style Stars are way better now than they used to be.... ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: the angler
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2013 at 8:02am
| took me a couple of reads - slowly , but yep got the drift of it. |
Posted By: reeldeal
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2013 at 9:23am
| It's all about putting the right weight line on lever drag reels, as everything has its limits |
Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2013 at 1:35pm
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i am using Penn 225lds that are 16/17 years old and are still as smooth as the day i brought them.... hard to fault a lever drag reel, the one drag washer are normally the size of the spool so heat is dissipated rather quickly, and most these day have a shield which stops water intrusion completely... yeah totally love em...  ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2013 at 9:26pm
Is this why you loose free spool as well? We can't put more than 8kg of strike drag on our Trynos 30's  |
Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2013 at 6:37am
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Nah free spool loss is normally because the drag washer makes contact with the drag plate under higher settings. depending on how much throw on the Cam determines the amount of max drag setting retaining freespool. Generally though its a more aggressive cam with less sensitivity and harder to move etc. Titahi, Only way around it is with thrust style or tappered bearings but they don't seem to go that road for some reason, be it price or some other failing with that idea. |
Posted By: Titahi
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2013 at 7:55pm
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I am aware that people recommend angular contact bearings mike, and I initially thought they would solve the issue as well..... after reading this I dont know any more????? http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=3373.0" rel="nofollow - http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=3373.0 Swordfishsteve being a mechanic/engineer par excellence might be able to offer a fix, I think adding a spacer between the spool bearings will increase free spool and reduce the drag binding ??? ------------- "I love standing by the ocean and just knowing what its for" |
Posted By: Blue Asparagus
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2013 at 8:14pm
dead right and the amount of people who will adjust with the lever up is amazing from a general fishoe to a game fisherman. ------------- Ultimate GAME Fishing Adventures. Northland |
Titahi wrote:Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 29 Jan 2013 at 7:14am
Agreed. after reading that its very inconclusive. I guess its very subjective but I know Okuma have gone this way in some of their reels and had great results with it. It doesn't fully eliminate the issue but does minimize it. We need someone that is clever and interested to have a play :D I sort of look at it like this, A thrust bearing is used in a car for doing exactly what the spool bearings do. they operate under normal free spool conditions until the clutch is pushed and then immense side load and RPM are applied much like applying the drag . seems to work on a car so why not on a reel with much lesser forces involved. |
Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 29 Jan 2013 at 7:16am
People look at me strange when you tell them they cant adjust the drag while in gear... |
Posted By: Blue Asparagus
Date Posted: 29 Jan 2013 at 9:27am
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the thing is some of these guys are experienced anglers, god knows where they get there info from, but yeah Mike you cant tell some anything, still people like that are a god sent to the industry they keep it rolling over nicely ------------- Ultimate GAME Fishing Adventures. Northland |
Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 29 Jan 2013 at 11:07am
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Glad to see the last 10 days of blow and the prospect of anther 10 has kept you feeling positive there BA... god damn weather. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2013 at 12:39am
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Just on those 225's Eric, I serviced mine for only the second time ever, I even put some new mono on it! The internals on these reels are pretty bullet proof - it was like new inside and the drag disk is pretty hefty. Tried it out on a few tuna the next day, smooth as a new one! I set my drags to a third of the line weight and the adjuster just gets left alone but it must only be altered in free spool. I think where some go wrong is there is a similar knob on most star drag reels which alters the preload on the spool bearings so it does a completely different job. |
Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2013 at 1:00am
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did you also know Smudge if you ever wear out that drag washer it can be flipped over and it will be like new again, but in saying that ive never had to yet, so might be good for another 30 years.... mine is set at 1/3 also, but have had it at 50% without a problem, just so dam smooth you never ever have to touch them with your thumb like some i see on TV then break them off... as you can see in this video by the bend in this rod its set at 50% and no problem... ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2013 at 1:56pm
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Yeah Eric I did indeed notice that they can be turned over. As i was looking at it I couldn't help but think that drag couild manage way more than the 5.5kg drag pressure claimed by Penn. I recently bought a little baitcaster - a great little reel that boasts almost as much drag pressure and to be fair for the price I wouldn't be too concerned if it melted on a big ray but the Penn will handle that sort of drag pressure all day long. Last week I had two small (thankfully ) rays on the baitcaster that had me worrying about it's ability to last, never going to be a problem with the 225. Great reels even if a little heavy compared to modern gear. |