# Curado Cleaning Tuning



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I don't get real far into my reels, but I know enough to be able to clean and re-lube the spool bearings. I have some old green 200's, a couple of old green 100's, and some old green 200SF. Since I fish only fresh, I don't have problems with them. What would be the next step that somebody of my limited ability can do to make a reel run smoother such as polishing a particular area. I can cast down to a 1/4 ounce pretty well, but start having bad problems with 1/8 ounce. I know many of you do more than just clean and lube bearings. If there is a link to where this has been described before, that would be great too.

Thanks


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## bubbas kenner (Sep 4, 2010)

Pay a lil to have cleaned profesionally there are some very good repairman here on 2cool.You will get alot more life outa those reels .My opinion you have the best ones made .200sf oh yea .I do not have the patience to do surgery on reels.I pay 20 dollars for a cleaning .tight lines.


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## Bantam1 (Jun 26, 2007)

Here are a couple of links to our maintenance guides. Cleaning the spool, frame and pinion gear will help a lot.

http://fish.shimano.com/publish/con...r_service0/reel_maintenance_instructions.html

http://www.calfishing.com/freshwater/shimano_curado_maintenance_guide.html

1/8 ounce lures are going to be tough with the older reels. The spools are pretty heavy. The new Curado 50E will be a good choice if you want to fish light lures with a baitcast reel. Or you could use a spinning reel and never look back.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Thanks Bantam. Instead of depending on the links I opened the files and then saved them in my documents.


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## Sawblade (Mar 24, 2010)

As I looked for more info on maintaining my reels, especially when I am on a fishing trip, I ran across the "Shimano Channel" on YouTube. They have some great videos and conversation with a reel technician that was helpful to me. I thought I would put a link to it here in case anybody else wants to look it over.

*http://tinyurl.com/3xcnnh6*


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## Sawblade (Mar 24, 2010)

Here is a previous post with some links to tuning threads that helped me:

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?p=3054260#post3054260

Sawblade


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## BustinTops (Aug 31, 2010)

My #1 tip on getting more distance is polishing the inside of the pinion gear. Get some metal polish ........they sell Brasso at walmart for like 3 bucks, its not the best but it does the job fairly well. Buy some cheap q-tips as well. Take off most of the cotton on one side so that it barely fits throught the pinion gear. Then cut the other half of the stick off. Now get a drill and put the q tip in so that you can turn the q tip throught the gear. Polish it for at least 3-4 minutes while adding more polish every 30 seconds or so. Then run a clean q-tip through it so its clean. AND DONT OIL THE SPOOL SHAFT. Keep it as dry as possible. You don't want any oil or grease on the spool shaft or bearings. It causes friction and gums up. Polish the spool shaft itself also.


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## trout250 (Aug 24, 2005)

there are several articles on how to super tune one of the older curados,
the first step is to clean the grease out of the bearings that are directly related to or on the spool and reoil with a lighter weight oil, like the shimano oil.


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## fishsmart (Dec 5, 2004)

You can use Jewelers Rouge on a Q-tip in a Dremel tool to polish the inside of the pinion gears. Clean the pinion gear interior with a Q-tip and alcohol after polishing. Doesn't take much time.

Charles


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I bought Simichrome for the polishing. Between the links Bantam provided and this one:

http://super-tuning.home.mindspring.com/s1.html

I should be able to pull it off. The inside of the pinion gear seems to be important from everything I find. Also, something else I keep seeing is to go easy on the oil. I feel safer going light on oil since I fish fresh only. I have only gone into the reel far enough to do drag work (which gets me to pinion gear) on a Calcutta before, but I got it back together and it worked fine. It doesn't look a lot different for the Curados. I have already put Abec 5's in most of my reels but I wanted a little more. These Shimanos have always impressed me as being such a finely made little piece of machinery.


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## goodwood (Mar 30, 2009)

lots of helpful advice

http://alantani.com/


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## BustinTops (Aug 31, 2010)

Whitebassfisher said:


> I bought Simichrome for the polishing. Between the links Bantam provided and this one:
> 
> http://super-tuning.home.mindspring.com/s1.html
> 
> I should be able to pull it off. The inside of the pinion gear seems to be important from everything I find. Also, something else I keep seeing is to go easy on the oil. I feel safer going light on oil since I fish fresh only. I have only gone into the reel far enough to do drag work (which gets me to pinion gear) on a Calcutta before, but I got it back together and it worked fine. It doesn't look a lot different for the Curados. I have already put Abec 5's in most of my reels but I wanted a little more. These Shimanos have always impressed me as being such a finely made little piece of machinery.


 Where did you get your semichrome?.....I want some but haven't had time to order the stuff.


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## Skiff (Jun 5, 2004)

*Thanks!*

Great information guys and it inspired me to break down my reel for a good cleaning. The videos were a big help and now I just need to actually go fishing.....


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## hookset4 (Nov 8, 2004)

BustinTops said:


> Where did you get your semichrome?.....I want some but haven't had time to order the stuff.


The supertuning website suggests antique stores or motorcycle shops for simichrome polish.

-hook


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## trout250 (Aug 24, 2005)

I use cape cod polish, it is a flannel cloth impreganted with a polishing agent, use a shish kabod skewer to make a holder for the flannel and use with a varable speed dremel tool. you can polish the inside of the pinion gear mirror smooth and do the same to the brake ring, drag washers.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

BustinTops said:


> Where did you get your semichrome?.....I want some but haven't had time to order the stuff.


Sorry to take so long to answer, I had not looked back at this. I just ordered it over the internet (eBay) and had it within a few days. Often times for me that is much easier than driving all over looking.


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