Orange Seal Bearings

[BigBlue]

Has anyone ever upgraded their reels to these ?

Pro's & Con's ? ....... was it a good upgrade (worth the money) ?

[DJD]

No but it reads good. I did the ceramics years ago and some of the Stainless ABEC 7's (Pretty sure) and it helped. The reason it helped on one of the reels is because it was pretty beat up.
Worth the money? If you have an old reel, cheap or one that is just trashed and they have the bearings then yeah but if it's pretty smooth now....I would say no. JMO on the ones I have used.

[DJD]

BigBlue thought I would bump this for you it was on the second page.

[davidsa]

I have a pair installed in a Curado E7. The seals are finiky to re-install after you clean and lube the bearings. Many are deciding to just leave them off which I did. Compared to a regular E7 with same line, rod and bait; I noticed a 5-10% casting and pitching improvement. Given the cost, I decided this was a marginal idea.

In another forum, I was talking about these bearings when a member offered to sell me some he was going to start distributing mid-January. I know him pretty well so told him to send me a pair. They are fully shielded ABEC 9 bearings and I found the first pair to be better then the Orange seals. I then bought all he had on hand before Christmas and have installed them in all my reels. In the E7, these bearings provide a consistant 10% improvement vs. the stock bearings.

My prognosis for the ABEC 9 bearings in my Chronarch MG50's is even better. I was able to cast a 1/8oz head and grub about 95% the distance I could throw the upgraded E7 with a 3/8oz jig. I'm seeing the spool turn for about 9 seconds with no line on a clean MG50. Spool will spin for 15-20 seconds once I install the ABEC 9s.

In short, I would try something other then the Orange seals and I prefer a sealed bearing. When the guy in Knoxville gets his inventory of ABEC 9's in later this week, I would be happy to share his information with anyone wanting it.

[DJD]

I have a pair installed in a Curado E7. The seals are finiky to re-install after you clean and lube the bearings. Many are deciding to just leave them off which I did. Compared to a regular E7 with same line, rod and bait; I noticed a 5-10% casting and pitching improvement. Given the cost, I decided this was a marginal idea.

In another forum, I was talking about these bearings when a member offered to sell me some he was going to start distributing mid-January. I know him pretty well so told him to send me a pair. They are fully shielded ABEC 9 bearings and I found the first pair to be better then the Orange seals. I then bought all he had on hand before Christmas and have installed them in all my reels. In the E7, these bearings provide a consistant 10% improvement vs. the stock bearings.

My prognosis for the ABEC 9 bearings in my Chronarch MG50's is even better. I was able to cast a 1/8oz head and grub about 95% the distance I could throw the upgraded E7 with a 3/8oz jig. I'm seeing the spool turn for about 9 seconds with no line on a clean MG50. Spool will spin for 15-20 seconds once I install the ABEC 9s.

In short, I would try something other then the Orange seals and I prefer a sealed bearing. When the guy in Knoxville gets his inventory of ABEC 9's in later this week, I would be happy to share his information with anyone wanting it.

Sounds great, I would like to try that myself. I have the E7 as well and am always wanting to tinker around in the Winter. Let us know. Thanks

[BigBlue]

Thanks for the bump DJD

I have a pair installed in a Curado E7. The seals are finiky to re-install after you clean and lube the bearings. Many are deciding to just leave them off which I did. Compared to a regular E7 with same line, rod and bait; I noticed a 5-10% casting and pitching improvement. Given the cost, I decided this was a marginal idea.

In another forum, I was talking about these bearings when a member offered to sell me some he was going to start distributing mid-January. I know him pretty well so told him to send me a pair. They are fully shielded ABEC 9 bearings and I found the first pair to be better then the Orange seals. I then bought all he had on hand before Christmas and have installed them in all my reels. In the E7, these bearings provide a consistant 10% improvement vs. the stock bearings.

My prognosis for the ABEC 9 bearings in my Chronarch MG50's is even better. I was able to cast a 1/8oz head and grub about 95% the distance I could throw the upgraded E7 with a 3/8oz jig. I'm seeing the spool turn for about 9 seconds with no line on a clean MG50. Spool will spin for 15-20 seconds once I install the ABEC 9s.

In short, I would try something other then the Orange seals and I prefer a sealed bearing. When the guy in Knoxville gets his inventory of ABEC 9's in later this week, I would be happy to share his information with anyone wanting it.

davidsa,

Please share that was a pretty good review.

Does your buddy have a website ?

[davidsa]

I will post how to reach the guy when he replies to me. I know him via tackletour.com and email. We have had numerous equipment trades of equipment over the years.

I've got one of the MG50's all spooled with 10# FC line and an hair jig. Now if this weather will ever break and let me get down to C-land for a weekend!!!

[davidsa]

Guys-

The gentlemen I got my bearings from does not have a web site and it may be a few months before he gets one. He said to direct anyone interested to him via email.

Don't really like to post someone's email in public so give me a PM if you want his email and tell him davidsa from tackletour sent you. Bronzefly has several thousand posts on tackletour.com and is a very nice and reliable guy.

I have now upgraded all my shimano reels with these bearings besides one and I'm waiting for bronzefly to get his next shipment in to finish the last Shimano. Let me share a few things I learned playing with bearings over the last 3 weeks.

1- While I never add more then a small drop to my bearings mid-year in the reel, I now realize that is likely too much. When I remvoed the stock bearings some had more oil then they needed.

2- Both the Orange Seals and the ABEC 9s from Bronzefly require very little oil. If one adds too much these will cease to spin on a toothpick. I tried to get a very very very small amount of oil on the bearing so that it would spin great on the toothpick. I use TG's Yellow rocket oil.

3- The stock shimano bearings from all my reels will spin about 3-4 seconds after you remove them from lighter fluid. After they fully dry (1 hour to 24 hours for sealed), they stop spinning. A small drop of oil further slows them down. When you install them in the reel they are under load and will turn.

4- In the shimano's with empty spool, the ABEC 9's will spin for 17-22 seconds. Factory bearings for 7-11. Orange Seals about 16 seconds.

5- I did not upgrade my ABU Revo Premiers. I read in several places that upgrades did not help a great deal and it takes 3 bearings to upgrade. I also noticed that my ABU without upgrade throws a 3/8oz jig as far as my E7 with upgrade. Don't celebrate ABU too fast though because relative to the Shimano it is pitching disabled

if anyone contacts Bronzefly and orders some bearings, make sure you post your thoughts.