Replacement bearing for Quantum reels?

[Frchkn]

Wondering what kind of bearing I would need to replace my KVD quantum reels.. they cast good I clean and lube them all the time. I am looking for a little more out of them.. Anyone guide me in the right direction?

[jdr418]

Howdy from Texas,

If you are not using Hot Sauce for lube oil and grease, try it. If you want to replace bearings with something better that factory, ceramic is the way to go but they are a lot more expensive. Boca Bearing is an excellent source. You may have to disassemble your reel and take measurements of the OD, ID and width of the bearings you want to replace. Some bearings are metric and some are fraction sized. I looked at Boca's web site and they don't currently list replacement bearings for the KVD reels, but if you have the size of the bearings they will likely have them.

Edited October 21, 2009 by jdr418
left out info

[Frchkn]

Howdy from Texas,

If you are not using Hot Sauce for lube oil and grease, try it. If you want to replace bearings with something better that factory, ceramic is the way to go but they are a lot more expensive. Boca Bearing is an excellent source. You may have to disassemble your reel and take measurements of the OD, ID and width of the bearings you want to replace. Some bearings are metric and some are fraction sized. I looked at Boca's web site and they don't currently list replacement bearings for the KVD reels, but if you have the size of the bearings they will likely have them.

I do use hot sauce ils/greases.. I use oil in my bearing correct? I will take a picture of the bearing later tonight and post a picture.. I am kinda lost on all of it.

[BBK]

I do use hot sauce ils/greases.. I use oil in my bearing correct? I will take a picture of the bearing later tonight and post a picture.. I am kinda lost on all of it.

Oil bearings, grease gears.

As for bearing replacement, measure the inside diameter and the outside diameter and go shopping. Ceramic bearings will be the best but they can get expensive (20-$30 each). I have not used the KVD reel but I do have one sitting on the table in front of me. It seems like a nice reel, too bad I'm not left handed.

[BobP]

Bearings are sized according to: Diameter of the hole X outside diameter X thickness. For instance, the spool bearings on a Shimano B200 are 3X10x4 mm. It's not hard to measure them with a ruler. Stainless steel bearings are also classified according to internal tolerances by the ABEC system. Most reel manufacturers use ABEC-3 to ABEC-5 bearings. Many guys buy ABEC-7 bearings when replacing worn factory bearings. They will run a little smoother and longer at higher rpm because they have tighter tolerances, plus you can buy them open market for less than ABEC-5 replacement bearings from the reel manufacturer. Will they give you smoother and longer casts? Yes, but not huge gains - maybe an extra 5-10% distance on a long cast. Ceramic bearings are much more expensive but will cast a little farther than ABEC-7's. What you have to ask yourself is "how much am I willing to spend to cast a little farther?" Personally, I fish out of a bassboat and have to say I rarely cast for max distance. Max accuracy yes, distance no. It makes sense for me to buy ABEC-7 replacements but less sense to buy ceramic bearings that cost double what ABEC-7's cost. Others want to 'hot rod' their reel to the max, so it's a player's choice.

[bobv]

I have 3 different KDV reels from different years. They are great reels but aren't as durable as I would like. If you haven't degreased the bearings you need to use a good solvent and blow them dry with compressed air. If you don't remove the old oil completely the new stuff isn't as effective. I use Ardent reel butter oil, seems to work at least as well as the hot sauce. If you want to upgrade check out biggreenfish.com. They have upgrade kits for most reels.

[BobP]

Cleaning bearings - personally, I soak mine in aerosol STARTING FLUID (aka Ether). That's about as volatile a solvent as you can find so it removes old oil and dirt better than most others. I don't shoot mine with compressed air. If done to the extreme on an unlubricated bearing, that can damage it. I just swish them around in the ether and let them soak for a few minutes, then put them on the end of a pencil and spin them by hand to check how smooth they are. If they're clean, they will spin long and smooth with ether acting as the lubricant. Still rough? Put them back in and repeat. Sometimes it takes several cycles. When clean and smooth, I sit the bearing on a paper towel and the ether evaporates out in 5-10 minutes. You can tell when they are dry when they no longer will spin long - all the lubricant is missing. Then add one drop of oil, rotating the bearing to work it inside. Done.

BTW - bearings can occasionally "take a set" and spin in one direction better and smoother than the other. When I test a bearing on a pencil point, I flip it and check it in both directions. If one spins better than the other, I put the bearing back in the reel so it is spinning in that direction.

BTW2 - I use fast, low viscosity oil only in spool bearings. For low speed bearings in the rest of the reel, I like higher viscosity oil like Reel Butter regular oil or Abu Reel oil. Oil doesn't 'wear away' or evaporate - it migrates or gets slung out of a bearing. Low viscosity oil migrates faster, so high speed spool bearings need to be lubricated more often, while low speed bearings will stay lubed longer and better with thicker oil.

Edited November 7, 2009 by BobP