10/5/2012 - a double anti-reverse roller bearing upgrade for the accurate boss extrem

[alantani]

10/5/2012 - a double anti-reverse roller bearing upgrade for the accurate boss extreme 600 two speed

note - i board the spirit of adventure at 9am on sunday, 10/7, and return on monday, 10/15. i get to field test this reel and the new makaira 16. no phones, no internet, no wife, no kids, no nuthin'!!! full report to follow. in the mean time, check this out!

the old second generation two speed boss accurates had a skinny drive shaft and two anti-reverse (AR) roller bearings as the only anti-reverse system in the reel. that was a big improvement over the first generation single speed boss reels that had only one german AR bearing. failures with the old first generation reels were probably common. the bearings were plain steel, not stainless. the second generation boss reels had TWO AR bearings in series, they were also plain steel, but the failure rate was probably less. even if the outside AR bearing rusted, often the inside AR bearing still held.

enter the third generation boss extreme. the drive shaft was much larger, but it went back single AR bearing. the total "anti-reverse" surface area was probably greater, but salt water intrusion into the plain steel bearing caused rust and these reels started failing. tough to catch a fish when your handle goes backwards.

now the fourth generation of boss reels is making its debut. it features three anti-reverse spring loaded dogs. it is the first boss reel to click. for jiggers, i understand that this is not a good thing because there is some backplay in the handle. what to do, what to do?

here is the drive shaft for the boss extreme 600 two speed. the outside shaft has a 14mm diameter.



here is the AR bearing pulled from the reel, and a new one as an example. it measures 14mm x 20mm x 16mm and it's all rusty.



boca bearings actually has an AR bearing that is made of stainless steel. it's an S-HF1416 One Way Bearing. it's 16mm tall, just like the stock accurate AR bearing. boca even has an AR bearing that is 26mm tall. here is the link. http://www.bocabearings.com/bearing-...x20x16-SHF1416

so here are your options. first is the plain steel AR bearing from accurate, with a pair of brown plastic spacers. the total height of this stack is 28.8mm. in the middle is the extra tall AR bearing from boca that measures 26mm tall. with the short brown spacer, you have exactly the same height as stock. and third (far right) is the most expensive option - a pair of 16mm tall AR bearings.



what to do? let's just go for it. let's try two of the 16mm tall AR bearings. here is one.



here is the other. pressing these in takes a hydraulic press or a big vise!



install the main gear.



we have barely enough clearance.



a little yamaha grease will seal up the top and prevent water intrusion.



it just so happens that i have a few dozen teflon washers with a 10mm inside diameter. these are from accurate and are used in the second generation boss reels.



add the metal washer that goes under the handle arm.



on goes the handle.



then the handle nut.



cinch it down. now, a couple of things are important here. one, the pointy part of the hex has to be pointed at the screw hole. also, you can't have any burrs on hex nut. it's soft stainless steel and burrs form easily. if you're not careful here, you will not be able to shift the reel into low. this is less of a problem with the boss extreme reels and more a problem with the second generation boss two speeds.

[alantani]

once you have it lined up properly, file off the burrs.





line up the collar and spring.



install the shift cover. these shifters are nortoriously finnicky. before you call it done. cycle the shifter 20 times. yes, that's right, cycle it 20 times, and if it works everytime, THEN you can call it done.



we still have a small gap. a teflon washer with a 20mm ID, a 24mm OD and a 2 to 2.5mm thickness would fill that gap nicely.





on this particular reel, the preset knob was loose. i had that problem on a number of my own personal boss two speeds. if you bump the preset knob ever so slightly, you can get BIG changes in drag settings. to fix that problem, i used a new o-ring and got a much tighter fit. it can actually be alot of effort to turn the preset knob with the new bigger o-ring, but it's better that than have a slight bump increase your drag from 15 pound to 20 pounds without you even knowing.





ok, there you are. a boss 600 extreme with TWO anti-reverse roller bearings, a thicker o-ring to keep the preset knob from moving on it's own, #2 phillips head countersunk screws on the reel seat instead of the allen heads, and a monster 6/0 kolekar handle grip. the only thing you need besides the two AR bearings to complete this upgrade is a teflon washer with a 10mm ID. i'll have to check the local hardware stores for those. if someone with a machine shop can knock out a teflon washer that is 20x24x2.5, that would be great! i would have to check. the 2.5mm thickness might me a smidge too thick.

when i finally put it together, i noticed that the aluminum handle was loose. the square hole of the handle arm had gotten a bit tweaked. a stainless steel handle arm would be a better bet. i will talk to my machine shop guys about making one. another project for another day. for now, i present to you the only boss extreme reel that i know of that has two anti-reverse roller bearings. you can now increase the reliablilty of your boss extreme reel without having to get a new side plate that has dogs. jigging guys want instant anti-reverse. if that's what you want, then the accurate boss extreme boss reels with these two massive AR bearings will now give you the most instant anti-reverse hold of any reel in the world.