fishing gear woes

[mamabear]

I have run into a problem with 2 of my reels one is a zebco, the other not sure, but on both, the gears have stripped. I have fished for more yrs than I'm willing to tell, & have never had the problem before. I fish in farm ponds/lakes, & there are a lot of weeds which I occasionally get tangled in. I am pretty careful about not pulling hard when stuck. Any ideas on what's happening? I don't want to have to replace any more reels if I'm doing something wrong, but I can't not fish. That would be intolerable.

 

[Number9]

I believe most of the zebco reels are made in China now.. this could be your problem? Look for a reel that still uses metal gears.

 

[hunter_46356]

The weeds and pulling shouldn't cause a problem with the gears, if drag is workin/set right. If you've never taken the reels apart cleaned and greased the gears they will wear whether plastic or metal. If you've fished for more years than you can tell us, You probably just wore them suckers out. I'll bet there's a bunch a stories them reals could tell if they could talk.

 

[mamabear]

I suppose they are just worn out. How sad. I do grease & oil when I change the line. Yes there are a lot of good stories with the reels. My faves are ones with my daughters. I am thrilled they love fishing too.
I will now search for a reel with metal gears. Hope they are still available for a good price.
Thanks for responding,
Mamabear

 

[bigfoot1]

you may want to check bass pro shops online,if I remember there are good descriptions with each listed.

 

[Silver Searcher]

I believe most of the zebco reels are made in China now.. this could be your problem? Look for a reel that still uses metal gears.

YEP...Cheap and nasty, are you using fixed spool reels, or multiplyer?

SS

 

[Shawn1972]

now a days some of these reels have plastic or synthetic gears,unfortunately things are not made to last forever(my mother especially has a problem comprehending this fact)

i suggest taking them apart and looking at things,if its a closed face zebco maybe you have your drag set too low and its not reeling in the line(drag is a wheel on these models w/ a + or - if your issue persists then garage sales are a great place to get cheap fishing gear ....... never pay what they want,so negotiate price closer to what you wanna spend....after all they wanna get rid of it

gl

 

[mamabear]

multiplyer? Yup it has to be garage sale. Can't afford Bass Pro, tho it is one of my favorite places to go. (&just look)

 

[rginn]

Well I'm glad you've mentioned Zebco. We used Zebco exclusively, and if something ever wore out we kept the reel and used the parts as needed to fix others. However, Zebco went to hell. They were made in Tulsa Oklahoma, and you had a problem you mailed the reel to them and they fixed it. Mostly they just sent you a brand new one, no charge. Then they sent the manufacturing overseas someplace. That was the end of their rep. I still got a whole box of Zebco parts from my grandpa, and the Zebco 33 is my favorite. I do a lot of casting. Zebco is a piece of crap compared to what it was 40 years ago. I hope their reps read this post, if they can read English.

 

[mamabear]

Rginn, Zebco has always been my fave. & most of them have been garage sale finds, so they were older. The brand new ones I got as mothers day gifts are the ones that died. sigh