ABU Ambassadeur 2500C -- Service and Lubrication -- Young Martin's Reels

In this video we disassemble, clean, lubricate and reassemble an ABU Ambassadeur 2500C fishing reel.
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Young Martin’s Reels was created to honor my dad Martin B. Stivers of Louisville KY. He was an avid fisherman and repaired thousands of fishing reels in his lifetime. I spent numerous hours watching him do so, but I have forgotten most of what he taught me. Now that he is gone, and I find myself in need of reel repair, so I am learning how it is done and trying my best to pass it on.
You can join Young Martin’s Reels on Facebook@ YoungMartin’sReels | Facebook
If I can be of assistance, feel free to contact me [e-mail]
I would also like to thank Dennis Kuntz of 2nd Chance Tackle. His videos have helped to fill in the gaps in my “reel” knowledge. Without his UA-cam videos I’m afraid Young Martin’s Reels would not exist.
Rick Martin Stivers

[@homerjrules]

I've actually used cut up coffee straws or aerosol can straw for the brake pins. Not sure of the actual material used, but everything cast like normal, so...

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

Jeff, I have also used very thin straws for brakes in these reels. However, since Ken will be offering this reel up for sale I will not substitute in a straw for a brake. He wants to be as honest as possible when selling his reels. Those replacement brakes are available on Ebay, but with the shipping, the cost is around $12. He will leave that up to the purchaser to decide if they want to put in a set or not. The reel works fine the way it is, so it's a matter of personal taste for the purchaser.

[@homerjrules]

@@youngmartinsreels5314 yes! Shipping has definitely affected eBay. Hardly anything has free shipping anymore.

[@warpedweirdo]

6:55 - I'm getting nervous... Phew. It doesn't just pop out. And don't try to force it out either, or you'll break a couple tiny plastic tabs, and you'll have to replace the entire worm, and that can be a bit expensive. The plastic bit that goes around the worm gear sticks through the plate, and has a couple tiny plastic tab thingies that clip to the opposite side of the plate. They're FRAGILE. Removal of the worm requires squeezing those tabs so they release the frame. Risky. Very risky.
29:05 - The "spacer" does rub. Lube here is a good idea.
30:44 - Does the drive shaft feel like it's tight? If so, it should feel looser once you get the drag star on. Washers sometimes rub on the cover until you compress the drag stack a bit with the star.
Tuning these reels is an adventure, and educational. Little things make quite a difference in how freely the spool spins when no brakes are applied. For example, the grease you applied to the shaft on which the big nylon gear rotates will slow the reel down quite a bit. Not saying that applying grease here was incorrect; it all depends on what you'll be using the reel for. Every little bit of friction matters if you'll be casting trout lures, but some friction is your friend if you're just looking for trouble-free casting with plastic worms, plugs, whatever.

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

6:55 -- Yep, I decided that in this case less was more. It was very dirty but I've cleaned worse without taking them apart, so I decided that was the way to go.
29:05 -- I figured it couldn't hurt.
30:44 -- The drive shaft did not feel tight at all.
Putting the grease on the intermediate gear was a judgment call. On most level wind reels I do not use grease but put oil on them instead. I know this slows the reel down a lot, but since it was greased there before, I decided to grease it again. This will cause it to become much slower and sluggish than using oil. Fortunately, it's easy enough to remove the grease to speed it up but very difficult to replace the old gears if damaged due to lack of lubrication.

[@warpedweirdo]

I wonder how much Ken paid for that thing? They go for a fair bit of money on Ebay.
This should be an interesting video; this is one of those reels where I wasn't careful enough, and it cost me a fair bit of money to fix the damage I caused...

[@youngmartinsreels5314]

I don't know what he paid for it, but he's a pretty good haggler. He has learned to check Ebay and perform an operational check prior to purchasing. I used to try to revive some pretty nasty reels for him but now if it will require too much to repair. I've started just cleaning them up a little and having him sell them as parts reels.

[@phillipharvey2362]

You need help!!!!