# CU200i friction when casting



## travpeg (Nov 9, 2013)

All,

I've got a CU200i, have had it for about a year now, and use it primarily on my topwater rod. I don't use it a lot, but I keep my gear pretty clean and well maintained. 

For as long as I can remember, it has never been as smooth as my Chronarchs. the problem seems to be getting worse though, or perhaps it is annoying me more and more. I can notice/feel a very clear, distinct noise when casting. Especially when I load up on a longer topwater throw. There is a clear "whirring" noise, and a minor vibration. This significantly kills casting distance by ~30%. 

I have cleaned this reel multiple times, cleaned off all oils, reapplied to the minimum. Flushed bearings, and re-lubed as well. Today, I my new set of ABEC 5 Boca's came in. I immediately lubed them up, swapped out, and took it out back, and was really looking forward to regaining my casting distance. 

Same story however. Any ideas on what this could be? Spool? shaft? Can I swap out with a Chronarch on this part to test it?

Any knowledge would be appreciated, especially if you've had this issue before....

-Travis


----------



## SuddenJerk (May 12, 2014)

Open the side plate and see if the brakes are rubbing on the inside. That happened to my ci4+. I don't know how, but it seemed like it warped and was starting to wear on one spot inside the side plate. I returned it and bought a Daiwa and may do the same with my Curado. I've been a shimano die hard for the last 15+ years, but I've been reading good things about Daiwa, we'll see.


----------



## [email protected] (Mar 7, 2008)

*Curado*



SuddenJerk said:


> Open the side plate and see if the brakes are rubbing on the inside. That happened to my ci4+. I don't know how, but it seemed like it warped and was starting to wear on one spot inside the side plate. I returned it and bought a Diawa and may do the same with my Curado. I've been a Shimano die hard for the last 15+ years, but I've been reading good things about Diawa, we'll see.


Whining usually is caused by bad bearings. Whining and vibration is usually caused by loose brake collar. I have never had brakes rubbing cause whining( the brakes are designed to rub thats there job) but can cause some noise if the brake collar is not clean, straight, and or smooth.

I fish Diawa and Lews they are lighter and smoother and have less problems as they age.

Disclaimer this is just my opinion based on several thousand reels that have been serviced by me.


----------



## SuddenJerk (May 12, 2014)

Allan said:


> Whining usually is caused by bad bearings. Whining and vibration is usually caused by loose brake collar. I have never had brakes rubbing cause whining( the brakes are designed to rub thats there job) but can cause some noise if the brake collar is not clean, straight, and or smooth.
> 
> I fish Diawa and Lews they are lighter and smoother and have less problems as they age.
> 
> Disclaimer this is just my opinion based on several thousand reels that have been serviced by me.


Yes sir I understand how brakes work, but in my case it wasn't the bearings and the breaks were rubbing on the outside, not the inside like they are suppose to and in one particular spot and it was wearing the paint off.


----------



## travpeg (Nov 9, 2013)

Thanks guys.

I took it apart (again) tonight to look for any obvious signs of wear around the breaks or where they may come into contact with. I didn't see anything remarkable.

I did however test out another theory. I turned all the breaks off. Although velocity was improved, it it still made the noise, and more susceptible to backlash, which it did routinely.

This would lead me to believe that it may not be an issue with the breaks directly, at least in an active manner. 

If I pulled a spool off of a Chronarch, it should fit in there if I wanted to test, right?


----------



## travpeg (Nov 9, 2013)

Nevermind, definitely not gonna fit.

Any ideas on next steps?


----------



## katjim00 (Jan 8, 2009)

write down everything you tried and did to the reel to make it work. Pull your bocas out and put the stockers back in. Send it in to shimano with the list or trial repairs. Ask them to kindly fix the problem as you have too much money invested in it to not work properly. They should be able to fix it or replace it. May be a slightly bend shaft or out of round spool. Who knows but they should be able to fix their product.


----------



## Speckled (Mar 19, 2008)

Not sure if this is your issue or not, but do you keep the brake drum lightly oiled?

I have a Curado I series reel, but haven't spooled it yet. But do have a Metanium that has the same braking system and you need to keep the brake drum oiled every few trips to keep it working properly. Otherwise the brake drum ends up dry and the brake weights make a funny sound on the dry brake hub.

Again, not sure if this is the sound or problem you are having.


----------



## travpeg (Nov 9, 2013)

Speckled said:


> Not sure if this is your issue or not, but do you keep the brake drum lightly oiled?
> 
> I have a Curado I series reel, but haven't spooled it yet. But do have a Metanium that has the same braking system and you need to keep the brake drum oiled every few trips to keep it working properly. Otherwise the brake drum ends up dry and the brake weights make a funny sound on the dry brake hub.
> 
> Again, not sure if this is the sound or problem you are having.


I'll give it a whirl, thanks!


----------



## Zimbass (Oct 3, 2012)

This was posted by Bantam1 on another forum, so try it out.

"There is another way to eliminate the noise. We use a little bit of our drag grease on the brake block pivot. This adds some friction to prevent the block from moving too easily. This combined with the oil on the brake pipe and block will eliminate the noise."


----------



## travpeg (Nov 9, 2013)

OK, some additional troubleshooting and observations.....

I usually put a drop of oil on a qtip and lightly oil the brakes on my chronarchs. The 200i uses the plastic clippy ones. I went ahead and put 3 drops of oil on, and generously swabbed the entire inside of the compartment. I also re-lubed the bearings.

I went out to throw in the back yard with all the brakes on. Surprisingly, the balance felt good, even though distance was impaired. After a few throws, I went down to 2 active brakes (out of the 4). I could feel and hear a bit more, but distance was improved a bit. 

I normally throw with just 1 brake on. When I went down to 1 active brake, the same vibration and noise came back immediately, and distance was noticeably impacted further. 

I bumped it back up to two, which seems like the happy medium. Still a loss of distance, but it throws...

Taking it back is not an option, as I've had it for about a year now. Anyone know where I could get a replacement spool?


----------



## Speckled (Mar 19, 2008)

You could contact Shimano first and talk to someone in their repair department and explain the issues you are having. They may ask you to send the reel in to them, but I'm sure they could get to the bottom of your issues. If they can't, they may replace the reel with a new one, so I would take out the upgraded bearings if you decide to send it to Shimano.

Other option for a new spool would be to contact FTU on the Gulf Frwy (since you are in Friendswood) and see if the can order one from Shimano. Not sure if they would have one on hand. 

I would send to Shimano first, yes you will have to pay shipping but if they find something wrong with the spool or other part of the reel, they would be more inclined to fix it for you at no cost. No promises, but I've read good customer reviews when it came to sending their reels to Shimano.

Hope you get it fixed soon.


----------



## travpeg (Nov 9, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the assistance. I want to especially thank Allan for the generosity of his time and guidance to walk me through some additional troubleshooting over the phone.

After mulling it over a bit, I think I will just move to sell it as is, and will post over to the classifieds.


----------



## austinbrown504 (Aug 11, 2015)

i had 4 curado i's, and during the time that i owned them, i had a few issues, this being one of them. also know someone that had this issue with theirs. what baffles me the most is that i have since switched over to the ci4 chronarch and metanium, and havent had any issues despite the reels having very similiar design to the curados. its a shame because i wanted to like the curado i's(so much so that i went and bought 4 of them when they came out, lol). i think you made the right choice to sell it and move on


----------



## Cajuntriton (Mar 9, 2015)

Guess they are having some bad runs of the 200's, I have had 6, down to 5 just because of a trade opportunity and have loved them. The only pain is oiling the new brass break drum on side plate more often then previous models and not just the plastic breaks. I assume you did this so you may have had a bad one. Concepts and Lews have had their issues with paint and corrosion as well so they all have issues. Guess the quality design/control is just not what it once was overall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## busaro (Dec 29, 2012)

See if brake hub is cracked should be visible to naked eye 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

