Original Clash vs Clash II Line Roller assemblies

[Roccus7]

Love my Penn Clash 4000s, having a pair of original and the "II" version. I've yet to find a 4000 size spinning real at that price point that's as smooth and reliable for my inshore boat striper fishing. I can't recommend these enough...

My biggest beef with the original was a complex and difficult to assemble line roller assembly. The bearings lasted a good 2-3 seasons, but when I went to replace them, there was a lot of other hardware that needed replacement like bushings, washers and connectors. The job usually ended up being a complete line roller assembly replacement, at around $10-15 per assembly if the roller also needed replacement. This simple servicing would take a good 30-45 minutes with great care to not lose the small parts involved. I just dread having to do it.

I got a Clash II 4000 2 seasons ago and just loved it, BUT the line roller bearing failed after 2 or 3 weeks. I found a Penn rep on another website and sent him a polite PM and he sent me 2 new bearings, free of charge. Popped that one in and it's been working until last week when it failed. Knowing what a PITA it was to refit the roller assembly on the original Clash, I put off my working on it until yesterday when I opened the assembly and much to my delight I found the only thing that needed replacement was the bearing! I took my last remaining freebie and popped it in, a 5 minute job on an assembly that hadn't been tended to in 1.5 seasons of constant use, I was delighted.

Well I guess there's no such thing as a free lunch. Figured I needed to add Clash II bearings to my Penn reel parts inventory. Found out these bearings are $15.60 each, almost 3X the original Clash $5.60 bearings. However I'm more than happy for the extra cost as these bearings are so much easier to replace. Since I usually spend that much or more on the original Clashes when I work on the line roller, I find it a win in times of cost and time.

 

[Leprechaun]

For a few of my spinners I've replaced the line roller bearing with a POM (Polyoxymethylene) plastic bushing out of a Daiwa or Shimano reel knob. No more rusted bearings and the POM bushings spin pretty much as well - with the help of a drop of reel oil, of course. (I like ReelX for this, btw). Just need to be sure that the bushing is the exact size as the bearing being replaced. Like a old friend used to tell me all the time, "There's always a solution to a problem, you just have to find it." So true.

This is my current reel repair bearing inventory. I've run it down quite a bit, as I don't take in much of that work anymore. Too many "reclamation projects" that come in as "it just needs a basic cleaning and lube." Yeah, right, what it really needs is to be added to the nearest inshore reef.

But I always did the job anyway, to the best of my ability. I was never one to avoid mechanical challenges. There was a time I actually enjoyed returning such reels to active service, despite the hours it often took to complete the job. Can you imagine the tedious nature of such work? I'm just too old for that now - I find with advancing age that I lack the patience to do it properly. I still take in a decent amount of reels during the off-season, but they have to be in good shape to begin with, not trash-can candidates. I now much prefer doing "hot-rod type" upgrades, not near-death resuscitations.

As a comprehensive bearing kit it's kind of incomplete, as Daiwa (in particular) likes to use weirdo-sized bearings in some of their reel rotational applications. Those I bring in on an "as needed" basis, depending on which reel (and who's reel, LOL!) I'm working on. Those CRBB bearings (Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearings) that Daiwa and Shimano love to brag about will still rust up, and they are quite pricey to replace. Some guys do not want to spend $20+ (even at my cost) on a reel bearing, and so I do the best I can to return their crapped-up bearings to useable condition. Noisy, but useable. Such is human nature.

The little flat SS washers in that kit are of varying thickness - in microns, so to shim the in-and-out slop out of handle knobs. A tedious job to get right, but when properly done, this makes a reel feel like its worth the couple of hundred bux it cost.

Anyway, I do make it a practice to put a drop of oil on either side of the bail roller, every time I return my setups to the garage. I wipe the rod and reel down with a damp washcloth, and for my spinners I then lube that bail roller and the base of the handle knob. It's part of my at-home final cleaning procedure after every trip. Helps a ton in keeping things working properly.

 

[Roccus7]

Yeah, right, what it really needs is to be added to the nearest inshore reef.

Too funny. I'm a horrid reel owner, because of my "environment". We're spoiled rotten up here; No worries here about leaving gear and electronics out and ready for action. Most people even leave the boat keys in the ignition, but the NYer in me won't allow that. That being said, and the fact that I don't have fresh water on my dock, has me riding my gear hard, and putting them up wet and salty.

Therefore when I have to rebuild things because of lax daily maintenance, I only blame it on myself and not the reels themselves unless they are truly POS. I wear reels out through heavy use, like the rotor cup on a Penn Sargus where the protrusion that trips the bail wore away through use. I'm guessing that took at least 4-5 thousand casts to accomplish that feat.

When the replacement parts cost more than the reel, it goes into the "Potential Penn Parts" box since I always buy pairs of the same reel...