Project ITO ai complete (well almost)

[Jungle Jim]

Earlier this year i bought a second hand ITO ai which needed some T.L.C as a sort of project of sorts. I thought it would give me something to do when it’s blowing 30knots, give me a chance to learn more about servicing and working on my own reels and a chance to get creative with the aesthetics of the thing.

First thing was first i needed to sort out the mechanical problems. Why it wasn’t working properly and how i could get functioning reliably? I won’t go into the full problem or how i fixed it but suffice to say i learnt a bit on the way. Mainly trial and error and how the tightest tolerances and slightest deviation from these tolerances can cause big problems. See pic of damaged main gear.
Attachment 40262

Cleaned and oiled the internals dropped a set of carbontex in there.

Then i decided to do the worm drive upgrade. (THANKS to ALPHAS for his very useful instructions on how to perform this). In the end i decided to make a worm drive collar rather than trying to cut the existing part in half. The plastic is very hard and my Stanley knife wouldn’t cut through it. The shaft diameter is 5mm....
So down to Clark Rubber to get 40cm of 5mm silicon air tube at 95 cents a metre . I won’t lie i must have cut 50 or so 2mm sections before i got one the right thickness (read width) and square. But in the end i managed a couple that were a match for the part i was replacing and i chose the best one of those two. I have attached some pics for those who want to do a similar upgrade. Ordered the bearing slide them on and she’s all done.
Attachment 40268Attachment 40269

Once i had the internals sorted i set about tarting her up a bit. I had grand plans of bassart or zpi handles, ito knobs ize spools and the works. Then i thought well most of the components are flash anyway..... So what’s the point of pulling the ize factory handle off just to put a bassart one on. (of course besides the fact the stock handle will only take 2 bearings and not 4)

So i decided on subtle improvements. In a way i wanted it to look like a factory model. Like it was meant to come like that.

On went a set of cork knobs and the bearings underneath them 1 per handle.then I polished the considerable blemishes from the bare aluminium side plate.

Then one day i was trawling through a Japanese website and i saw a TDZ type r+ with the red drag star and I pictured one on my reel. So i sent my drag star to the anodisers to be redone.
Attachment 40266Attachment 40267
As it turns out they had a bit of difficulty doing it because it is made of three separate sections and that had a bit of trouble getting the anode /cathode thing (sorry i know nothing about anodising) attached to them. They did a great job considering - there is however a slight blemish (less than a mm) on one part of the star where they attached the “jig”.

All in all the reel feels much smoother than a stock one with more than twice the drag and i reckon she’s looks the business now.
Attachment 40263Attachment 40265Attachment 40264

All that is left is lapping the washers and the sic spool bearing upgrade.

Is any of this necessary....?No
Did i have hours of fun doing it.....? Sure did.

cheers guys -see you next year

JIM

[Jeremy87]

Yes very nice, now lets go get is covered in salt and fish slime like you should.

p.s have you been getting Sarah to take the shots with her new camera, the lighting is pretty good in those shots.

[Jungle Jim]

Yes very nice, now lets go get is covered in salt and fish slime like you should.

p.s have you been getting Sarah to take the shots with her new camera, the lighting is pretty good in those shots.

Nah mate took them my self but borrowed her camera. In between photos of her friends baby shower and their kids are pics or worm drives and reel gears.....

Next up project pixilla. . . . . . . . .

Jim

[alphas]

Think we should start our own blog Jim
"PIMP MY ALPHAS"

[bayfisher]

Did the bearing on the worm drive made any difference? I was going to do this to my fuego however was basically talked out of it by the Daiwa service centre in Sydney.Basically they said any gain made from having a bearing on one side of the worm drive would be negated by the fact there would be a bush on the other side. What are your thoughts?

Cheers Chris

[Hardb8]

G'day Jim,
Cool ta read bout ya mods.Seems there are not to many who are into this kinda thing here.I definantly get a kick outta doing reels aswell,And you can definantly notice your efforts on the water when you use the reel in action.

I recently done my TD-Ito 103M,And it is AWESOME.I'm finding it VERY hard to split my Hardb8 Tuned Steez and Millionaires in performance with the TD-Ito.It is fast becoming my weapon of choice.

What model Pixy are ya gonna tune?

I have a brand spankin "03" model waitin on my bench to be done.

Hope you are well. Regards. B8.

[wheezer]

Did the bearing on the worm drive made any difference? I was going to do this to my fuego however was basically talked out of it by the Daiwa service centre in Sydney.Basically they said any gain made from having a bearing on one side of the worm drive would be negated by the fact there would be a bush on the other side. What are your thoughts?

Cheers Chris

long term it should. the bearing will handle the loads from the gearing driving the level wind better for longer. i would think there would be less load on the other side so bushing should be adequate.

[Jungle Jim]

Did the bearing on the worm drive made any difference? I was going to do this to my fuego however was basically talked out of it by the Daiwa service centre in Sydney.Basically they said any gain made from having a bearing on one side of the worm drive would be negated by the fact there would be a bush on the other side. What are your thoughts?

Cheers Chris

I’ll do my best to explain as simply as i can.

I would say it has made a difference but most noticeable is when you start to turn the handle relatively quickly. Very slow turns of the handle don’t feel particularly any different.

The difficult thing when making that air tube spacer is that it is not an exact science (cutting it with scissors anyway). So some i cut were too thick compressing when the drive shaft was reassembled and the c-clip back in place, and pushing on the bearing too tightly. Other were too loose and the shaft was sliding up and down which was stuffing up the alignment of the other gears.

I reckon I’ve got it just about right now but it is a bush science if that makes sense.

Instead of using air tube you could cut the existing bushing in half. That bushing is hard so won’t deform like air tube will but best of all it is exactly (once cut in half) the right size and square. Flush on both the surface of the gear and the bearing.

I guess at the end of the day it cost $10 for the bearing nothing for the air tube (the guy didn’t even ring it up) and about an hour of time. I had a ball doing it anyway.

Jim

[Jungle Jim]

G'day Jim,
Cool ta read bout ya mods.Seems there are not to many who are into this kinda thing here.I definantly get a kick outta doing reels aswell,And you can definantly notice your efforts on the water when you use the reel in action.

I recently done my TD-Ito 103M,And it is AWESOME.I'm finding it VERY hard to split my Hardb8 Tuned Steez and Millionaires in performance with the TD-Ito.It is fast becoming my weapon of choice.

What model Pixy are ya gonna tune?

I have a brand spankin "03" model waitin on my bench to be done.

Hope you are well. Regards. B8.

I’ve seen your pics of the td-ito being used in anger. Looks the business.... I just can’t bring myself to use mine.

My pixy is the 04 Jobbie and currently is BNIB -still has the sticker on the spool.
Attachment 40322

With this one I’m thinking of giving it the absolute works. Bigger washers, new line guide, spool, handles knobs plus bearings.


Maybe even airbrushing....

Jim

[dogsbody]

Good one Jim. Where did you get the anodizing done? in Bris?,,, very interested would like to anodize some silver winding checks to green. Is it pricey? second thought not to fussed on price would just like something different.

Dave

[Jungle Jim]

Yeah mate I’m based in Capalaba. Had it done locally by A Grade anodising at Ormeau.

I took it there in person and picked my colour. Apparently it all depends on the composition of the aluminium as to how it turns out.

They have a minimum charge but it is ridiculously cheap.

Jim

[dogsbody]

Thanks Jim have been wanting some green winding checks to match a Pac Bay reel seat that has green seat hoods but have been annoyed that no one sells them. At last I can get what I want to build me a rod that's been a while in the making. Thanks again.

Dave

[Roo]

nice work Jim.

[jack-n-barra]

Nice Looking reel Jim Wish I had the time to play with mine and trick it up.
Cheers Tod