Julian.

Hi everyone im pretty new to the forum, i joined because i wanted some more info on my vr50. I live in europe austria to be exact and sending in reels for service isnt something i would do i always serviced reels myself which isnt a problem at all im a mechanical and electrical technitian and i know quite a bit about stuff like that i service all my reels mostly high end shimanos like twinpowers and a vanquish, those are not hard to service yourself and Van Staals are even easier. The only problem is that there dont seem to be any self service kits and i wanted to ask if someone knows the seal and bearing dimentions, i could check everything myself once i need it but that means that i have to wait to get all the right bearings and seals before i can put it back together and im really trying not to do that. The other thing is grease, i know van staals use rheolube, type 797, 362HB and maybe NC346 for some reels ? I think the lighter one is used for the VR50 gears and the thicker really sticky type for parts like the handle thread, which would not be a problem if the grease at the handle thread is not the original one, atleast as long as it doesnt damage the seals. I have tried a bunch of different grease like most shimano grease types, daiwa grease and quantum hot sauce but i have found that the XR1 penn grease is by far the best, you have to use only a tiny bit on really small reels otherwise there is a bit too much resistance but other than that its perfect for mid sized or bigger reels. The XR1 penn grease could hurt seals a bit in the long run but that should not be a problem if i can get seals for it, but again for that i need to know the seal dimentions. I would not be able to buy the original rheolube since its already way too overpriced as is and with shipping and customs it would be like 100$ or more and thats not something im going to do. The only seals i would need to change are the main shaft seal, line roller unit seals and the handle shaft seal, i already had some orings that fit the housing covers (1x40mm oring), and i probably have the other orings needed for the VR50 they are also the same material as the original orings. I would really apreciate it if someone could help me out with the seal dimentions

I used to fish mountain lakes overe here, i also did some flyfishing in my local river (Möll) which is known for word record brown trouts, one of the previous world record brown trouts was caught here, very athletic looking fish with very little fat not like the current world record. I also went on fishing vacations in croatia every year for two weeks when i was younger to fish in the adriatic sea. Then i had a bad motorcycle crash about 5 years ago and ****ed my back up really bad, i could not work anymore and i was not even able to go fishing, it got pretty bad over like 2 years i had really bad cronic pain problems 24/7 and i was also on strong opioid medication at the time which made everything even worse, i love fishing a lot i have been doing it since i was like 8, me and my younger brother even had some yearly lake records back then. All i wanted was being able to go fishing again, during that time i did some fly tying and i build some rods to keep my sanity which was also a challange since im barely able to sit for like 15min, i build some very nice rods this year, i really like the light action Xzoga taka G blanks and i build a very nice light spinning rod, i only ever fished ultralight spin rods and heavy gear since i just could not find a nice light/medium light spin rod i liked so i build one which was not my first rod i build i already knew how to build rods and i got pretty good at it, so i build it, that japanese blank, fuji titanium torzite guides, and a custom shaped grip, i made everything how i wanted it, its the best rod i have ever owned and i have some pretty nice high end rods, i also balanced it perfectly for size 2500 reels or the compact c3000 shimano reel sizes, its about 30g heavier than it should be because of the ballancing but it feels so light because its prefectly ballanced. Over the last 2 years or i trained every day to get some muscle back to stabalize my spine and reduce the pain and i gained like 45lbs back in a bit over a year which is amazing, my pain went from a 8-9/10 (twice even a 10/10 for a few minutes which i passed out from) to a 6-7/10 which made me so happy, i finaly got a spot in the best specailized pain clinic over here in austria and i was able to start reducing my opioid medication, by now i already reduced my daily dose by 2/3 which is very good. I was even able to go fishing again for a few hours with my brother, and that probably made me the happiest i have been in years, i also tought him how to flyfish. The VR50 was a gift from my brother, for when im able to go on fishing to the adriatic sea again with him, we have some nice reels like two shimano vanquish, three twinpowers and stuff like that but we never wanted to use them in saltwater, i got my first vanquish like 8 years ago because it was better than the stella at that time but it had a magnesium body and i did not want saltwater anywhwere near it, i used some reels in saltwater that where not that expensive like the old 2500 shimano rarenium ci4 which later became the stradic ci4, i still have that rarenium and i recently freshly serviced it, i service all my reels even the high end ones. Back then i had a little incident with a false albacore tuna from the rocks, it was not even big but it almost spooled me on my ultralight gear, since then i dont use backing on my reels, just as much braid as i can get on that reel. We caught a lot of species in croatia, but my favourite ones where leerfish (almost like queenfish) and european seabass, those topwater strikes where insane, saddled bream, horesmakerel, false albacore tuna are also really fun to catch. But those leerfish can get really big, like 20kg+ and they would not even feel ultralight gear, we where never down there when those big leerfish where around in early spring but we plan on doing a trip once im able to do it, i will have to take good care of my injured back for the rest of my life so heavy gear is not an option but a 4000 reel like the vr50 and a medium spinning rod should work, im gonna build another heavier rod with one of the Xzoga taka G blanks because they are very good for back problems, they have a very unique action that starts out very fast and gets more and more parabolic the more load is put on it and as you may know the closer the bend is to your hand the easier it is to pull against that force since the leverage gets smaller. I went on a bit of a rant here, sorry. Shipping and customs from the US to Austria is probably around 60€. I bought a vintage penn 420ss from the US about a year or so ago to restore and keep as a collection piece, i also bought a 430ss for spare parts and i remember the shipping and customs fee was pretty bad.

In Austria

Its not available on amazon where i live like i said, i could order it from the US amazon shop but with shipping and customs it would be over 100$, even more expensive than ordering it from purefishing.

Sadly not available over here in europe, there is some Reholube stuff on amazon but that is completly different grease, im pretty sure Rheolube is a german company and i already looked at some ways to get it but they only sell in bulk, big tubs of the grease types for the van staal reels and it costs a fortune. Like used car expensive. So smaller tubes and small containers are only available from the US, purefishing directly and if i remember correctly only one or two more sellers also in the US, and shipping+ customs cost would just be way too much, like i said in my original post it would be like 100$ for a tube of grease and thats just too much.

Hi, the drag of my VR50 is a bit sticky and i would like to grease it a bit, i have some shimano DG1 drag grease which should be fine, im just having a hard time finding schematics for the VR50, there also wasnt one in the box. There is a c clip on the top and the bottom of the spool and i would really like to know the right way of taking that drag stack apart, i dont want to force anything and damage a seal. I would love to have the schematics for the whole reel if possible but what i need the moat at the moment is the schematics for the drag. I wasnt able to find the schematics for the VR50 anywhere, i found some for the bigger sizes but nothing for the VR50 or 75, i looked for a while now, my last resort is asking on here, thanks in advance for the replies

Your reels are very pretty, i dont really have a use for the 430ss, i got it for real cheap just for spare parts, its also not in great codition with a lot of scratches and paint chips. I live in austria and i dont really do surf fishing, i would have to go to italy but then i could also drive a little further to croatia and do some rockfishing/spinning and light shore jigging there, i would use it for ultralight rockfishing because it holds a shitload of of braid and if i hook something a little bigger like a 2kg+ false albacore or leerfish, right now its just for perch, trout, small pikes and stuff like that. For anything bigger and medium spinnfishing i have the VR50, i also have some nice 3000 and 2500 size shimanos for everything in between like one of the older vanquish F reels, a stradic and a rarenium ci4 when i want a really lightweight setup. The line roller on your 430ss look like some from the newer versions, i use a complete bail from a 420ssg that fits perfectly. I also put my favourtite shimano eva handle knob on it with a matching gold sidecover which looks really nice. The last upfades where a sealed main bearing and a drag washer i made from carbontex drag material. I basicly wanted a indestructable ultra light reel with a high line capacity that would not have a problem with bigger fish.

Yea the bow tie looking clicker on the VR50, i did not like it from the beginning, the one piece clicker in the picture is from a penn 420ss i have a upgraded one that i use for light spinnfishing, i also have a 430ss that i use for spare parts for the 420ss incase i need them. The Penn 420ss clicker was just for reference, im gonna make one that works like that, i would use it but i need to make one that has the tab for the screw on the same side as the bend arm so i just able to place it under that existing block that holds the original clicker rod and the spring that presses it against the teeth. Just so i dont need to shorten screws and stuff like that. I already tried adjusting it a bit as soon as i got the vr50 but there is no good middle ground, its eighter normal sounding and makes the drag feel sticky and jerky or its really really quiet and doesnt affect the drag. I really want to be able to hear my clicker on the water its pretty important to me besides that hearing a screaming run is always amazing and i dont want to miss that, but i also dont want a clicker that affects the drag in a really bad way, i have no idea why van staal went with this design, its pretty bad, its the worst clicker i have ever seen on a spinning reel. So i will just have to make my own which is not a problem if i get the materials i need for it, i just gonna have to try different materials and thickness and see how they sound, im just gonna start out with feeler gauge steel since i have them in a lot of different gauges.

I was thinking about making a clicker from spring steel or just from a piece of feeler gauge that you can snap off from a roll that would probably work too and i could also try titanium i just dont have a thin titanium plate to make one i would have to order some, what thickness was the titanium you used for the clicker? I will do that if the feeler gauge steel doesnt work, it should work i will do a little bit of testing with different thickness of that stuff. I really dont like the design of the original VR50 clicker (picture attached).

Ok sounds like that grease is pretty good for reel drags, weird that greasing the drag made it jerky. Yea i already messed around with clicker tension, and yea its pressed against the bottom of the teeth, it was like that when i got it and i made it a bit looser but there is basicly no middle ground, eighter the drag sounds like a normal reel drag or you are barely able to hear it and even in freshwater applications at lakes and stufd like that i would not be able to hear it with all the ambient sounds. It would be even worse in saltwater, with waves and maybe some wind it would be impossible to hear the clicker. Thats why im gonna change out the clicker, im just honna remove the rod and the flat spring and im gonna clamp down a one piece flat clicker under that little block that holds the clicker assembly. I really like those old style clickers, they sound pretty good and they dont break, atleast i never had one break (picture attached).

No the drag washers where completly dry, its a bit smoother now but the clicker is still a problem, its so bad and it makes the drag very jerky and there is way too much resistance because of the clicker when the spool starts to turn, its fine without the clicker now with the little bit of grease, what drag grease did you use for your reel ? Maybe the drag grease had something to do with the jerkyness of your drag.

Yea it wasnt that hard to remove, i got the small c-clip off which was pretty easy with a small needle point tool, then i took a medium sized flathead and pushed on a steel drag washer, alternating sides so the top seal does not get pushed out from one side, that was also pretty easy, but its definetly that hardest drag stack to take apart and i serviced a lot of different drags. After that i greased all the crabon drag washers with some shimano DG1 drag grease and put everything back together, the drag feels much better after greasing those dry drag washers but its still not perfect. Im also gonna change out the clicker, its not really a good design and V shaped clicker like on a lot of older reels like Penn 420ss is much better with basicly no ressistance while still being lound enough and very reliable (picture attached). The ressistance of that original drag clicker is just too much, it takes a lot more pressure for the spool to start going and that is very noticable with every drag setting low to high. It basicly feels like the drag is sticking but its not really the drag its the clicker, i also tried making the clicker less agressive but its eighter you hear it or you barely hear and the the less tight setting would basicly be silent with ambient noise when fishing but the drag feels so much smoother when it doesnt have to overcome that clicker to start going. So a new drag clicker is a much needed upgrade, thanks for the help so far i just recently made an account on this forum but it seems like this is the place to be

Thank you very much