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Carbon washer clutch upgrade

N

Nigel Whittingham

Senior Member & Supporter
I have a few Shimano OC 4000 reels and am going to give them a strip & clean after a rather muddy winter on the Severn. While i’m at it, would it be worth ‘upgrading’ the clutch washers?
Dont want a ‘fast’ drag and dont mind the large amount of range the clutch already has. It also works fine but will be removing the washers to get any sand/grit out if any has got in so wondered if it was beneficial while at it?
What would i hope to see as an improvement?
Cheers
 
Thanks, wasnt sure if it speeded up the drag or just made it super smooth. I’ll keep them in the original state in that case as more than happy with them 👍
 
I have a set of 4000d's and was thinking about the ICE washers which apparently are "self lubing". Was wondering if any folk on here have done this change, what's your opinion. I suspect the clutch will go to something like a quarter turn from loose to tight and I'm a bit wary of that...cheers
 
Graphite is a dry lubricant in its own right
When I service clutches on fishing reels I use clutch grease on felt washers and graphite powder on carbon washers
Done properly, either can be as good and smooth as one another. There’s far too much hype around carbon washers being so much better and it’s not the case. A correctly serviced and lubricated felt washer system can be equally as smooth and effective.


The reason carbon washers are often used dry is because through wear they produce their own lubrication.
If you change your washers out to carbon you will speed up the clutch and lose some sensitivity in the knob. It won’t become a full QD by doing this alone as that requires the drag knob to be altered to compress and release the pressure on the washers faster. There’s afew different ways to do it depending on the cap design. Removal of a compression spring and replacing it with something harder is often the common way.

Don’t get too cut up with drag modifications unless you specifically need to go QD, the best thing you can do for your clutch is strip it, clean it, lubricate it, and never leave it tightened up for any long period of time.
 
I followed your advice Richard and while stripped (4000OC) i applied a VERY thin amount of grease to each part before re-assembly and have found it to have made a noticeable improvement! Before, the line needed a bit of a ‘tug’ to start it moving and then i found i was tightening the clutch as it was too slack once going making it need an even greater tug next time etc. It now responds better to the actual setting of the clutch & peels off without the initial danger point. Well worth looking at and will be part of my closed season rituals from now on 👍
It’s not magic and guess its just standard maintenance really, something (apart from regular cleaning) i have to admit i was lacking in!
 
Nigel Whittingham said:
I followed your advice Richard and while stripped (4000OC) i applied a VERY thin amount of grease to each part before re-assembly and have found it to have made a noticeable improvement! Before, the line needed a bit of a ‘tug’ to start it moving and then i found i was tightening the clutch as it was too slack once going making it need an even greater tug next time etc. It now responds better to the actual setting of the clutch & peels off without the initial danger point. Well worth looking at and will be part of my closed season rituals from now on 👍
It’s not magic and guess its just standard maintenance really, something (apart from regular cleaning) i have to admit i was lacking in!
Click to expand...
Ah nice one. I’m pleased to hear a little service has bought it back to good performance.
Well done Nigel. 👍🏻
 
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