Complete Langley Baitcaster Cleaning by John Seroczynski:
Disassemble reel. Both spool end caps probably still have the small factory felt washers (used to retain oil). If so, take them out and trash them but be careful not to loose the small brass spacers that will be inside both end caps. Clean them and put them back in.
Make sure the old original factory grease has been removed by cleaning the gears with lighter fluid.
After I do that I even clean EVERY PART with warm water and dishwashing detergent and an old toothbrush.
After that has been done it needs to be oiled (NO GREASE) with some very light weight oil. Something like 5 wt. or less or watch oil. (Some use TG’s Rocket Fuel or 3 in 1.)
Put a VERY SMALL drop of oil on following parts:
1. Each end of the spool shaft.
2. The level wind worm gear. (THE WORM SECTION & BOTH ENDS)
3. The small brass internal level wind gear.
4. The internal pivot post that the main gear tower rides on.
5. The main gear is generally made up of two gears. (On some Lure casts they are attached together) One is large and the other is small and when assembled together on the brass gear tower they then ride on the pivot post I mentioned in item 4. Both of these gears each need a small drop of oil as well.
6. Also with your fingers, wipe a SMALL amount of oil on the outside of the brass gear tower because it does sometime touch the chrome external tube where the reel handle is attached to the main gear.
That should about do it for cleaning & oiling. It should cast quite well at this point. Don't put too much excess line on the reel. That will only slow it down. If you feel it is still not fast enough or smooth enough for you then it may need a little super tuning such as polishing the gears, lightening the gear on a lathe, maybe a built up spool arbor. These reels are very easy to work on and have been, and are still being used by some top casters.
Distance Fly-Line Maintenance-
Use a nail knot for connections to fly lines and heads. During practice, the coating on distance heads cracks next to the leader knot because of the repeated flexion. Just keep casting until the core braid brakes, then retie. There isn’t a big problem with distance because of the coating being cracked next to knot. However, just to be on the safe side, I tend to put on a new leader before competitions.
The newer, orange Airflo lines have a different coating. It's tougher and lasts longer than the grey ones. On the down side, once you are through the coating the braid seems to fail faster. Use a thin coat of Pliobond to repair scuffs.
ACA Rod & Line Modification Suggestions-
Angler’s Fly 108”- cut 2-5” off tip. Add equal length to butt
(If this blank is too soft for you, use a One-Hand Distance blank minus 8" off butt end.)
Salmon- cut 2” off tip for 120g line, un-cut for 118g line
Dry Fly cut 1” off tip, add 2” to butt
1/4 Acc.- don’t cut tip for 1/4, cut up to 1.5”off tip for 3/8s
5/8 Acc.- 2” off tip and 4" off the butt
One-Hand Distance fly-line- cut to 50'
The ACA 5/8 oz.-blank from GLoomis has the right taper but it was (accidentally) made from a relatively high modulus material and ended up too light. Chris Korich recommends compensating for this by using as many heavy double-footed guides on it as possible.
Misc. Line Filling Notes- For 1/4- 5/8th oz. Spin Distance, add 165 yards (half of a 330 yard spool) of fireline over a filler wrap. If you are not happy with the final shape of the fireline, take it off again and modify the underwrapping as appropriate. With a 12 degree cone angle, the fireline at the top of the spool can be up to 2 mm below the rim of the spool (since most of the angled spool is not below that rim). If the angle is near zero, you probably want the fire line to be almost flush with the rim.
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