Okuma CV55 drags

[Great Gazoo]

I'm having a little trouble with tight drags on a couple of reels on my copper set ups. One is a CV55, the other is a 55 Clarion.

I have to pretty much open the drag all the way up to "sometimes" get them to creak out. I am dragging fish after fish on these 2 set-ups.

the CV55 is about a year old and the Clarion was purchased this winter.

Any tips/tricks to get the drags to loosen up a bit?

My other Convectors that are spooled up with lead have never had this problem.

[killerbe20]

try loosening the spool as well. It will be the small knob inside of the star drag. The Clarions are actually supposed to have a "second drag" by using the spool control knob.

[Great Gazoo]

Hmmm, I did actually try that with no luck. I do not remember however, if I tried that on the Clarion though. I will make sure to do so.

[wild at heart]

I just bought 2 cv-55 and returned them for the same reason. They gave me 2 news ones that had just come in and there not much better. They do seem to get better with use. Now you know where they get the "all or nothing drag" complaint. Never ha d this on my 45 or 30's.

[mriversinco]

Pull the 55 apart and check out the drag washers. There should be a steel one followed by a fiber one. Many of the newer Okuma's have come with plastic washers instead of fabric. If those get grease on them they can stick. Either clean off all the steel washers and the plastic washers with brake cleaner of carb cleaner or better yet order the carbon fiber washers from tuna toms and replace the fabric/plastic washers. Will make a world of difference.

[Ace HI]

The new CV 55L comes with the carbon fiber drags try some Hot sauce on them a small bottle will do all your reels I know a lot of guys run their drags dry but I have always lubed mine and they are smooth as glass.

[mayvillemark]

:grin:Frank's Red Hot, I put that sh-t on everything

[Great Gazoo]

:grin:Frank's Red Hot, I put that sh-t on everything

Ha, good thing I googled "reel hot sauce" before I went in the fridge for a reel fix.

Will try that though, thanks.

[SUPERTRAMP]

My CV55's have about 3 years of use on them, and they do have a little bit of a tricky drag issue, but by cleaning them every year and using really light oil I have been able to have very small fish hit the 300 copper and pull drag against the clicker. However u do have to tighten it up befor u start reeling in the board. Loosen the spool nut a little it will help, but be sure not to let the spool get sloppy side to side, that will wear on the spool gear. I actually really like the CV 55 a lot it catches a lot of fish on my boat and never have a problem with them.

[ChampionShip]

Maybe put a teflon clicker in it- the metal ones are deafening and sticky. Tuna sells them. Put a lb or 20 oz ball on it and let it out a few times against light drag. Noticed a few of them and clarions getting sticky.........don't laugh but a shot of PB blaster near the edges of the spool cleared the problem right up. And they get used at least once a day.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

See Tuna Tom in Ludington, can send them or call for the correct replacement washers. The factory at Okuma isn't installing the correct washers to begin with, he has dealt with the problem and fixed it for several years now.