Tip Top Guide Replacement Tutorial

[Eyefull]

One of the most common things that people bring to my shop for repair is broken or loose tip top guides. The tip top guide is the guide that gets the most stress and strain day in and day out of any on the entire rod. Because of that, along with the fact that factory rods use hot melt adhesive to secure the tips, they are the ones that fail or fall off most often. Here is a quick how to that will save you some coin instead of having someone like me repair/replace the tip, or worse yet, trash the rod altogether.

Step 1: Most rods have epoxy finish and thread covering part of the tip top guides tube. The first step is to carefully remove the epoxy and thread using a sharp utility knife or exacto type tool. Carefully, very carefully, start slicing layers of epoxy off the area in a linear direction with the blank. As you get deeper, you will see the threads, then stop when you start to scrape the paint off the blank. At this point you should be able to use your fingernail to get under the thread wrap and epoxy, removing it completely from the blank and tip top. It will peal peal off in big pieces. If there is no epoxy and thread over the tube of the tip top, you won’t need this step.

Step 2: Use a Bic lighter or similar tool to heat the tip top tube. Be very careful not to over heat. It only has to be hot enough to warm the hot melt glue. Too much heat will char or melt the rod blank underneath. Have a pair of needlenose pliers ready to grab the ring of the guide and pull the tip top right off the blank. If it won’t go, try a little more heat until it does. Don’t twist, just pull straight off.

Step 4: Once the old tip top guide is removed, use your exacto knife to carefully clean all remaining glue and epoxy from the area. Wipe the blank clean with denatured alchohol or Acetone.

Step 5: If your guide just simply came loose, you can just reuse it. Clean it out with a tiny file and you are good to go. If the guide is worn out or missing its ring, a new one is in order. Most good tackle stores carry Tip Top guides and will often size it for you by placing different size tops to your rod that you brought with you to the store. Your tip top guides ring should be the same size ID as your last running guide, but it is not critical either way. No need to pick up any “tip top adhesiveâ€, as we aren’t going to use that, it is what made it come loose in the first place.

Step 6: Now that you have your tip top guide, and your blank is clean and ready for it, the rest is quick and simple. For adhesive you can use any good two part epoxy, or any good superglue. Both will work better than the hot melt stuff. The only downside is that if you ever have to remove it again, it will take more heat and maybe some French words. Simply use a toothpick to apply adhesive to the rod blank and inside of the tip top tube both. Carefully twist the tip top onto the blank in a steady circular motion, trying to keep as much adhesive in the bond area as possible. Some of the adhesive will naturally end up oozing out at the base of the tube and even sometimes out the closed end of the tube near the ring. Use the denatured alchohol or Acetone to quickly clean up any adhesive that gets away. At this point you have to make sure that the tip top is aligned perfectly before the adhesive sets. If you used two part, no hurry. If you used superglue, you better get it right quick!

Step 7: This step would be to replace the thread wrap that we tore off in step 1. That is another whole tutorial in itself. Don’t sweat it, the wrap doesn’t have any use other than looks. Not replacing the thread wrap is perfectly fine and won’t have any effect on the strength or longevity of the repair.

There are lots of quick repair and even some more involved repairs (broken rods), that I would be happy to do articles on if there is any interest. Just let me know, I am happy to do this kind of article.

[Priority1]

Tony, I'm sure there would be more than myself interested in this subject. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us.

[danthebuilder]

Thanks a million. I'd love to hear more.