That time of the year again, when all the reels come in for their annual service. Decided this time to take a few pics and put up a walk-through for anyone who wants to service one of their own Avets. I’m relatively new to servicing my own reels,having only been servicing them for 2 years,but after some apprehension I decided it was something I wanted to do myself. It can be a bit daunting, at first, but not as hard as some might think and hopefully this walk-through will give some of you the confidence and help to take on your own reels.
Few points before I begin :
1. Get somewhere quiet, with plenty of light to work in. Create a tidy workspace and have all the tools you need at hand.
2. Take photos as you go along , if you are unsure or worried about how things will go back together.
3. Spend a few quid on the right materials, dont skimp on grease,oils etc.
4. If possible have the reel schematic at hand or better still a laptop with necessary pages open.
5. Pick any easy reel to start with, a lever drag multiplier is a good starter reel, with the Avets particularly easy to service.
6. Read-up on the process before you start, so you have some idea whats in store.
Ok, lets begin. I have 3 Avets, an Mxl, Mxj, and an Sx.
All three are very similar and all can be serviced by following these instructions. There are a few miniscule differences in the Sx and the other two , but nothing too confusing. For the purpose of this tutorial I choose the Mxj.
My favourite reel at the moment, slightly bigger than the Sx and a joy to use.
Firstly we set up all the tools we need, so we dont have to go away looking for them in the middle of the service. Missing from this is a size 11 socket or spanner you will also need for the Avets.
Note…Vodka is optional with the coke , but probably best to wait till service is finished 
Now we have to seperate the right side plate from the rest of the reel. Easily done by removing the three screws on right hand side of the reel, marked “here”
The reel comes apart , with spool attached to right hand side plate and we now have access to the sometimes troublesome clicker.
If the clicker is giving trouble this can usually be sorted by application of some oil to free it up. “Corrosion X” seems to be a popular choice among the reel doctors – work the clicker till it frees up and then apply some good waterproof grease. I use a “blue grease” made by mobil,similar to the Yamaha blue grease, mainly as I can get my hands on it locally.
Next step is to get the spool off, so we can get access to the spool bearings.
Open the pre-set drag know fully, when it is in the off position and carefully remove the spool from the right hand plate.
Next remove the spool shaft and accompanying parts from the spool. Bearings will some out both ends of the spool and dont be worried if parts get mixed up as I have a pic of how everything goes together.
Changing the bevilles will change the range of drag, I was happy with drag of the reel, so I left them as found.
I then oil up the 2 spool bearings using “ReelX”, also putting a coating of same on the spool shaft. This is what will keep your freespool at a max.
Next on the agenda is the drag washer and thankfully mine was in pristine condition, so no need to replace it.
There is much debate re the drag washer from Avet. It is a new, modern, carbontex, drag washer, but Avet do not grease them. After a lot of research and guidance from those much more experienced in servicing reels, I have decided that I will grease mine. The grease of choice is not cheap, but probably the best to use, Cals universal drag grease.
The grease is applied to the washer and then wiped off,you should be able to look at a greased washer and a dry washer and not be able to tell the difference.In this case the washer is now glued in place and there is no evidence of water damage 
On older avets the drag washer was held in by a retaining clip. If so remove clip and grease reel underneath the washer, then replace washer and proceed as above and re-insert clip.
Next we head in to the main body of the reel, where we have 4 bearings to grease up, including the pinion bearing,which is often the first to show signs of wear. You can already see one of the bearings in the pic below, note the blue bearing shield.
Remove the drag plate,with the inserted bearing and set to one side.
The bearing fell out easily from the drag plate but if it is stuck then remove it with as much care as possible as you dont want to damage the bearing in any way. Remove the shields carefully with a sharp knife or razor blade, by gently edging blade underneath and prying off shields.
Note, there is some grease inside , but not as much as I would like.
Place some lighter fluid in a small container and then place the bearing inside and agitiate gently to help remove the old grease.Leaving to soak for a few minutes will also ensure removal of all old grease.
Once clean its time to pack the bearing with some new grease. Again I will be using the mobil blue grease. Pack the bearing with as much grease as possible and replace the shields.
Next its time to get at the other 3 bearings and in order to do this we must remove the main gear and the anti-reverse system. Note the siting of all these parts as they need to go back as they came out.
Remove the retaining clip to remove the main shaft and align pieces as they are to go back together
Next remove the handle screws and nut.
This will free up the rest of the main gear and shaft and allow us access to 3 remaining bearings. Note as you go along the order of all parts so they go back together properly, take photos if necessary.
Note the bearings again, obvious with their blue shields.
Final bearing located behind all the rest of the workings
Remove all 3 bearings, remove the shields, clean all as described above, re-pack with blue grease and re-assemble. If any bearings have any signs of wear and tear then it probably best to replace now when reel is open. Re-assemble the reel, being careful not to force bearings back in to place. Use some grease to help bearings go back where they belong. Re-place the anti-reverse system, shaft and retaining clip.
The reel is now almost ready to go back together. Before this we will grease up the 3 right hand side screws that were removed first.
Reassemble the reel, by replacing these 3 screws and reassebling the lever drag controls. Now add some ReelX to the handle to ensure it spins freely.
Now the last job – Remove the reel clamp, give it a good clean, note the salt…
Use a tooth-brush to remove any salt and grease the 2 screws.
And thats it, one Avet Mxj fully serviced. Not that difficult and not that time consuming either. All in all this reel took me 45 minutes and that was stopping to take photos etc. I serviced the next two in less than an hour. The Mxj had 33 seconds of freespool after the service 
and very happy with her after the service.
Few more things of note:
Do not force any screws and use a good set of screw-drivers, as there is nothing worse than a wrung screw-head and having to go look for replacements.
The Cals Grease and replacement drag washers are available here http://www.smoothdrag.com/
Replacement bearings available from Avet here http://www.avetreels.com/products.html or here http://www.rokmax.com/ or here http://www.bocabearings.com/
Plenty of info on reel servicing available here http://alantani.com/index.php
I sourced the blue grease locally from a Mobil distributer in Carrickmacross and this grease is also suitable for trailer brakes.
The handle parts on the Sx differs slightly from the Mxj and the Mxl, but can be seviced by following the above instructions.
Most important of all is to wash your reel properly after each use, otherwise its pointless to put any effort into servicing it in the first place. I generally just rinse the reel with some warm water and leave to dry, with the application of a high quality spray oil every 2nd use on the reel frame. I use a spray designed for gun barrels, spray it on a rag and rubbed on to the reel frame.
I hope this tutorial gives some of you,who are considering servicing your own reels, but perphaps a tad apprehensive, the ability to carry it out yourself. There is nothing more satisfying than using a reel you have confidence in and having that confidence because you looked after it yourself.
Written by Mathew Corrigan , first published on BAI reproduced with kind permission
