Daiwa Saltist 40 - Carbontex Drag Upgrade
 

TT Description: Ever wanted to soup up those saltwater drags? Alan shows you how when he upgrades a Daiwa Saltist 40 with ultra smooth and powerful Carbontex carbon fiber drag washers.

Alan: I'll admit it. It's never as easy as you see in the posts. It's common to have to take a reel apart 3 or 4 times before I get it right. The problem I always have is the height difference between the stock drags that I'm throwing away versus the carbon fiber drag washers that I'm installing. The height of the drag stack always has to taken into account. Case in point is the Daiwa Saltiga/Saltist 30T/40/50 line. I used to install Penn ht-100 drag washers, but the ht's were so thick that I could only used three drag washers inside the gear instead of the 5 drag washers that come stock.

Enter Carbontex (thank you hara-san!). These woven carbon fiber drag washers are just as thin as the stock drag washers. I'm not affiliated with smoothdrag.com at all. I mention these specifically, because they are that good!

I cracked open this Saltist 40 yesterday. I opened it up, switched out the drag washers, and bolted it back together on the first try. Total time was 30 minutes. It was a nice change of pace to nail one on the first try! The schematics are not available anywhere online. I had to call Daiwa and they e-mailed one to me. I hope you saved the one that came with the box. Here's the link for the Saltiga schematics, which are fairly close. Here's the reel.

First, let's zip out the left side plate screws (key #21), open up the left side plate, lube the bearings and grease the screw holes. Then back together it goes.

Off come the handle and star.

Carefully line up all the pieces in order, including the handle nut screw (key #58), the handle nut (key #57), the handle assembly (key #56), the spacing sleeve (key #55), the star drag (key #54), the bearing washer and click spring assembly (keys # 53 and 66), two drag spring washers (key #52) oriented in a "()" position and bearing washer (key #51).

Back out all of right side plate screws (key #49). Don't forget the one hiding under the lever!

The right side plate lifts off cleanly and easily. Set it aside.

Remove and line up the main gear (key #34) and all the drag washers.

Leave the anti-reverse ratchet (key #31) and the anti-reverse pawl (key #32) in place. If they come off when you remove the main gear, make sure the pawl "grabs" the ratchet and does not just sit underneath it.