Reel Conversion

[Tat]

I am going to take the level wind off my Abu 7000 and it\'s been mentioned that I might need a conversion bar.What is it,and where do I get one?I thought of going on the Abu web site.
Next question,will it make much difference to casting distance,cos if it does\'nt it\'s pointless.

[Edited on 2/11/2003 by Tat]

[ranger163]

i removed my level wind but hav\'nt as yet fitted a bar in. it does put a few yards on but i would\'nt say a great lot. without the level wind i can use thicker lines and not have the leader knot klonking through the guide or getting stuck when reeling in

[Brashy]

Removing the level wind will make your distance of your cast go a bit further. it is best to have a conversion bar fitted to stop loadsd of crap going in the reel.

[alan]

Hi Tat,i came across this today it may be of some use to you http://homepage.ntlworld.com/christopher.macey/index.htm

[Harold]

You will need to put in a strengthening bar, this is very important!!!
Without the bar a small knock could put the reel out of line, your spool will then start to rub against the cage.

[fishy1]

Tat,buy a CT cage from Abu, they make them for 6500s so no doubt they will for 7000. the cage has no level wind and you just transfer your reel parts to it, no cutting so you can change back to the old level wind cage if you want luck fishy1

[Ant]

If you get a 7500c3CT Cage you may have to drill the gear plate on the right hand side as the holes are not very accomodating. This was the case with the 7200 anyway. Not hard to do, but drilling it will open up an edge to possible corrosion.

Just adding that I can put a pic of a 7500C3CT gearplate(and a standard levelwind reel gearplate to show how Abu have altered the gear plate to accomodate the thumb screw by opening up one of the hole that goes through the gear plate. Hard to explain, a pic may help, but it would have to be done if you want to use an Abu CT cage.

[Edited on 3/11/2003 by Ant]

[Tat]

Thanks lads.Just what I was looking for,sound advice.Ant,if you could post those pics to give me a clue,it would be great.thanks again.

[ollie]

tat theres a guy floggin them on ebay regular for 7.00 a bar to fit the 7000 ,i wouldn,t recommend drilling ,as if you want to convert it back at anytime your buggered .

[Gwyn]

ollie
Who is flogging them on ebay as I have looked all over the fishing section and unable to find them, I require four bars for 7000 reels, if you find out please put link on forum or email me.

Cheers

Gwyn

[Ant]

Right Tat, I\'d said the modification was to accomdate a thumb screw, well it\'s actually to accomodate one of the screws that holds the front cross member of the CT frame. This screw is unique to the CT frame and the hole that is modified houses the end of the worm drive cover on a standard levelwind 7000.

The hole can be seen on this pic the upper left hole in the plate and note it\'s unusual shape.



Here it is in close up (crap pic but you get the gist of it! )



Here\'s a normal 7000 levelwind reel (7200) and note how the hole is on a standard gearplate.



And here it is close up.



I didn\'t reccomend drilling, I just said you would have to do it to use an Abu7500C3CT frame. There\'s no way round the fact, otherwise the gearplate will not sit against the edge of the cage correctly. Generally reel modification is a one way journey anyway. If you remove the top bar of a levelwind frame like you would normally, then you choose to saw the bar out and file the ends down to leave stumps, I\'d say you\'re buggered if you want to return it to it\'s original state. However, drilling the gearplate to accomodate the cage screw and using a CT cage will not make any difference if you come to put the old cage back on the reel, other than the previously mentioned issue of possible corrosion.

Gwyn, regarding conversion bars, I bought some last year from a scottish lad called David Norwich and his email address
was

Offtheshelf098@aol.com

[Tat]

Ant.it looks like all Abu have done is modify the tooling to punch that extra hole in to elongate the original gearplate anyway, so drilling it wont make a lot of difference

[ollie]

tat ,youre right ,i cant find any on there at the moment ,but i know gerry of morcambe does them on his web site ,his ads in the sea angler.hope this helps you mate

[ollie]

also i think that a ct cage will be expensive too

[dbrock]

I removed my 7000 level wind in 1982 and have never got round to doing anything to strengthen the cage. I did put some PVC tape over the holes to stop the grit getting. I suppose it might be time for some new tape.....

Enjoy your fishing.