shimano triton beastmaster 4/0 II rebuild

[alantani]

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on many boards, you will see discussion about the value of a two speeded 3/0 or 4/0-sized reels. load these reels with spectra and a topshot, and it makes perfect sense. but what if spectra was not available? how much sense would a 4/0 sized two speed reel make? probably none. so in the mid 70's, when shimano introduced the triton beastmaster 4/0 two speed, a tackle shop in san francisco ordered up two of them. and they sat. and they sat. and they sat some more. then finally an employee bought one. who knows where the other is. no one was interested in a small two speed reel. back then, it made no sense.

with the introduction of spectra, this reel makes perfect sense! behold, a 30 year old shimano triton beastmaster 4/0 two speed, introduced 30 years ahead of it's time!





schematics were no where to be found, so we're going to wing it. review the rebuild post for the shimano tld 20/30 two speed. it's close in design, and being familiar with this reel will keep you oriented.

there are two small screws holding the lug on the left side plate. let's back them out, shoot in a small bead of grease and torque them back down again.



remove the lever quadrant. there are only three screws. set everything aside.



pull the clicker lever and set it aside.



back out all of the right side plate screws.



remove the right side plate assembly and set it aside. note that it is similar in design to to the penn internationals.



pull the spool assembly and set it aside.



the left side plate and frame are a single piece of precision cast aluminum. again, note the similarities to the penn international.



here is a view of the left side of the spool assembly. note that the spool cap that holds the drag plate has left hand threads. the wrench for the shimano tld 20/30 two speed reels actually works for this reel.



off comes the spool cap and drag plate, and look at what we find. it's a 30 year old greased carbon fiber drag washer!



here's the spool shaft assembly, removed from the spool and reassembled so that you can see how things are arranged.



the bearings were gummed up with old grease and had surface rust only.



i pried out the shields, cleaned the bearings with carb cleaner and compressed air, and lubed them with corrosion x.



i pulled out the drag washer, cleaned off the old grease and slapped on a coat of new grease.



i cleaned off all the excess grease....



... and it's ready to go!



i cleaned up the right side of the spool and re-installed the spool shaft assembly.





back goes the drag pressure plate.



install the thrust washer.



install the spool cap and torque it down good and tight with a tld 20/30 wrench.





now for the frame. pull the bearing and pack it with grease.



i had an old clamp from a tld 50 LRS two speed and decided to clamp it on.



back out the two screws holding the lug on the right side, add a bead of grease and torque down the screws.



install the spool assembly into the frame.



install the pinion gears.



we need to remove the handle and main gear assembly to get to the right side plate bearing. first, remove the push button shield.



remove the handle bolt plate.



remove the handle bolt.



remove the handle.



hmmmm..... normally the main gear assembly drops right out. it won't budge.



well, here's the reason. remove the c-clip and carefully drop the main gear assembly out as a unit.





pull the bearing and pack it with grease.



install the main gear assembly as a unit. don't let it fall apart.



install the c-clip.





install the handle and handle nut, then the handle nut plate and cover.



install the right side plate assembly, greasing the screw holes first.



install the clicker lever and lever quadrant.



and you're done.



this reel will probably hold 400 yards of 65 pound spectra. this gives you an option of a 30, 40 or 50# topshot. i was not able to check the drag. judging from the amount of pressure on the lever, i'd say 25#'s at strike with good freespool would not be unreasonable.

for me personally, i get a tremendous amount of satisfaction being able to open up a new reel for the first time. this one in particular, was very enjoyable. it's a killer reel. very well engineered and way ahead of it's time. someone put alot of work into this. it must have broken his heart to see it falter in sales and then see it dumped from production.

just a passing thought that some of you may be able to relate to. this beastmaster might be a good example of a reel that an engineer would like to see. this was a man's dream. the ultimate fishing reel. heavy for sure, but very tough.



and this might be a good example of what happens to a reel by the time the guys in marketing are done with it.

[gradywhite273]

Thanks guy, this stuff is so cool, id never do it myself mind you , but so cool to watch and learn. Thank you again.

[BTH284]

I had the pleasrue of fishing that exact reel in the mid eighties when I was very young aboard one of my friends dad's boat. I remember back then thinking how cool it was to have lever that controlled the drag and it listed out on the side what the drag pressure was in #'s.

Thanks for sharing. Your ability with the reel/repair/maintenance is awesome.

[skunked_again]

I want to revive this thread and see if I can get some help with a Triton beast master 20/30...before I go posting a new thread...This was the only thing that came up in the search feature at first glance.

Thanks in advance

[alantani]

the 20/30 is the same as the tld 30 two speed!

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=38.0

[skunked_again]

Hello Alan if I describe my problem will this be the apprpriate place to do so ? Or should I start a new thread?

Chris

[alantani]

Originally Posted by skunked_again

Hello Alan if I describe my problem will this be the apprpriate place to do so ? Or should I start a new thread? Chris

go for it!

[skunked_again]

On Board the boat , and after getting a massive bird nest I went below and following the manual disassmbled the 20/30 to remove the spool and clear the nest. I have re assembled and lost the ability to engage and reel ....free spool and dog clicks are working great.All operations are smooth ...just won't reel in line. Used some spare lube on the drag washer and plates and gears.

2 years pass ...I divorce and move, I go to play with the reel and the memory invades me , maybe I can take a better look.


Details that may help you : I used some garbage reel lube that is brown and now gooey like dried syrup.(2 years old ) The factory spool plate is and always was loose.the inner one ( I dont' Have wrench to tighten it) All the parts are there unless I am missing somethig as silly as a thrust washer???

It is still minty with box and manuals ...only saw 1 trip and a few hours above deck. I love this reel it is my only / first 2 speed.

I can revamp per your instructions after I buy some carb cleaner, but what of this secret anti corrosion lube that you use ....where shall I get that?

Chris

[Captain Fred Archer]

To me, this is a fascinating thread. You see, I am the guy whose brainchild the BeastMaster family of reels were back when I was at Shimano. I not only had a heavy hand in their mechanical design, I did the cosmetics (radically different at the time...black big game reels? Oh no! There were good reasons for the color choice.) and even named them.

Then we took on Penn and slammed them with those reels, something that we started with the very first of our lever drag reels, the single speed TTS models. Some old reel nuts might be interested to learn that the very first fish caught on a production Shimano lever drag was a nice wahoo caught out by a tower out of Oregon Inlet on a TTS 30. The first blue marlin on the 80W came from Kona aboard Jeff Fay's "Humdinger". The angler was Hideo Noda, my chief reel engineer and I actually gaffed the fish. (It was a milestone fish, so sadly, it had to die for the photo ops.)

As it was with the BeastMasters, those TTS reels were way ahead of the pack as far as the day's lever drags were concerned. They began our huge penetration of the lever drag reel market. In a nutshell, the Beastmasters and TLD 2 speeds finished the job. As you know, Penn wound up being sold. It was actually on the market for a long time, but their results had slipped so badly by that time, nobody would buy them - and a lot of people considered it. An old friend finally bought them and I helped them upgrade the Internationals to what they became - far better reels than before. That friend, Mr. Dick Henry of Seastriker, has since sold the company and I no longer have a relationship with them.

I am and have been and continue to be a consultant and advisor to Accurate since before they went into the reel business. I worked with Penn with Accurate's knowledge and consent. Their products were at very different price points, neither was interested in penetrating the other's market niche, and both were made in the USA products, something that I felt and feel is very important considering today's economic climate and U.S. job situation. The world has changed dramatically and my attitude concerning products produced offshore has changed with it.

I could go on and on with tidbits about reel development, but will refrain because I don't want to bore folks, except to say that the 4/0 represented the metal technology we had at the time. The graphite reels were being developed, but were some years down the road. If you note, the mono capacity of the 4/0 was 600 yards of 30#. That happened to be the capacity of the average 30 size lever drag reel of the time. We already had a 30/50 in the line, so the 4/0 was meant to fill the straight 30 niche that was left for those who preferred a smaller thirty. It was also meant to encourage some conventional 4/0 users to move up to lever drags. It succeeded at that, but of course the lighter, graphite BeastMasters and TLD 2's creamed it and we took it out of the line because of that, not because it was a failure of any kind. Fact is, it was and still is one helluva great reel.

Okay, I've got to end this. Heck, there's probably only a handful of people even remotely interested in what I'm saying here, plus I suppose there might be a person or two who will accuse me of one or the other of the "B words" - bullshit or bragadocia. I can assure you that the first one is wrong and I can easily prove that and because of that, the second one is wrong too. It's a simple matter of history, not bragging.

Before ending I'd like to say this. Alantani, you are one very sharp and knowledgeable reel man. Your work and photography and explanations were simply superb. It was really good to see someone who knows what he is about getting into the nitty gritty of big game reels. Thanks!

And thanks for stirring up a hornet's nest of old memories for an old reel designer! Why, did you know that....oops! I said I was finished, didn't I?

Over.

Website and on-line store and the original and genuine "Best in Big Game" catalog www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com

[alantani]

captain archer, you certainly did not bore me. the first time i opened up one of these reel, i could not believe my eyes. since writing this two years ago, there are only two small changes that i would make to this post. one would be to add a bearing sleeve. the second would be to have a kolekar handle arm cut with a larger hole to fit this reel. the tld 20/30 two speeds have a smaller hole.

i don't follow the collector's market, but i would hazard to guess that these reels are quite a collector's item. they were truely ahead of their time. so far ahead, as a matter of fact, that i am surprised that you sold any at all. fishing reel technology has doubled in performance since that time. fishing line technology as improved 5 fold. to say that fishing reels have fallen behind is a sad understatement. sir, i look forward to meeting you someday. drinks are on me! alan