I own a curado 200sf a 100b and the older castaic reel without the free pinion gear. The castaic reel seems to be the smothest of the three when im retreveing my spinnerbait or crank. Im feeling some gear on the free pinion reels. This is verry minor vibration but it does take away from the feel of my bait. Does anyone else have this complaint. Im thinking of going with a chronarch without the free pinion for my spinnerbait and crankbait rods. Any advice would be appreciated thanks.

most likely it is the bearing that surrounds the pinion gear.

another thing it could be, is that all three of those reels are a high speed gear ratio, in which case there is more teeth on the gears, hence the "geary" feeling you r expieriencing.

Solutions--> if it is indeed the bearing, (BNT2170) it could be dry, in which case either re-lubricating the bearing or replacing it, should take care of it.

In my opinion, due to the fact that blades and cranks, put more resistance on your retrieve, it is most likely just the high speed, in the standard Curado, Chronarch, and Castaic, the 5:1 gears will fit straight into them, and should provide more torque, heck, if you really want a reel solely for cranking and blades, throw the Curado B3:8 gears in it, depending on which reel you do this to, you might need to shave the botton of the yoke a bit.

Hope this helps!
Dane

How's it Rook? I just redid an old CH100A with the 5:1 gears from the Curado for throwing cranks, it's so nice- Like butter

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put it on a new Loomis 7 power cranking stick, it's golden!

thanks for the advice guys. Do you order straight from shimano?

Nietz, I have a CH100a with 5's also, I have literally cranked on the thing for like a year, and it is still butter!
Margarita Man, all of these parts can be ordered directly through Shimano, give it a whirl, I am sure you will like the 5's alot better!
Dane