I ordered Steez 103HA gear and pinion for my Type R+, not realizing the Steez main gear does not have holes in it to accept the small plastic gear from the Type R+ that sits underneath it. Can anyone advise if the small metal gear from the 103HA (key #78) has straight edges on the inside hole? It cannot just be circular, it needs to lock into the drive shaft.
Or, if I am totally off, can anyone advise what other parts I need, OR if I need to get the gear and pinion from ANOTHER model of Steez altogether?
I was mistaken on the small metal gear from the Steez (G75-6101). I thought it needed the flat spots on the inside hole to pair with the drive shaft. But there are two compatibility issues: it is both way too big for the TD-Z drive shaft, and the TD-Z drive shaft does not have corresponding flat edges to accept it.
This in turn means the only way to adapt the drive gear, pinion, and idle gear from the Steez 103HA into a TD-Z is to also do a drive shaft swap. I am optimistic that this could work.
Can anyone confirm or deny? Can anyone open up an older Steez and post some photos of the drive shaft? I need to see the 103HA drive shaft to compare.
For clarity, please note that I intended this gear swap for both the TD-itö 103M and the TD-Z 103H Type R+. The former being a 5.7:1 and the latter being a 6.3:1 gear ratio. My expectation was that both would work. The Steez 103HA drive gear and pinion set is advertised as fitting TD-Z.
Upon receiving the Steez 103HA gear set, I realized the drive gear was not ported to pair with the older style idle gear from the TD-Z platform. I opted to try the idle gear from the 103HA, but it had a much larger inner hole and would not pair to the TD-Z drive shaft for that reason, in addition to having 2 flat edges on the inside not present on the TD-Z idle gears:
Drive Gear & Pinion comparisons
Beyond that, the drive gear and pinion are nearly identical, except for the obviously different ratios...
Idle gear comparisons
The idle gears have the same tooth count, and aside from human imperfection in holding them together, they appear identical. Hard to tell for sure though, and how in the world does one measure gear teeth?
Initially, I was certain the gear swap would work seamlessly. It is logical to assume that by bringing in both the new drive gear AND corresponding pinion gear, that all would be well. However, the incompatibility between the Steez gear and TD-Z idle gear prevented an easy part swap.
The only other thing I could think of would be to also swap drive shafts, and perhaps even wormshafts, but the Steez parts are discontinued and I could not find any in stock at any of the vendors I know.
Sooooooo......
Seeing as the Steez gear was not compatible as sold, and the Steez idle gear does not fit the TD-Z drive shaft, and I can't find any Steez drive shafts or wormshafts for sale, I opted for more drastic measures....
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A very special thank you to my machinist friend, and brother in Christ, Kevin for porting the Steez drive gears for me! And also to my friend Butch, who's reels needing service prompted this whole project!
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Once the drive gears were ported, I thought I had everything lined up to do the swap on both reels...
At this point, the install technically succeeded. However, the itö felt awful when it was reassembled and tested. It seemed to be binding at the wormshaft. There must be some mechanical-engineering voodoo happening here that is above my paygrade. One would think that by bringing in both the new drive gear AND corresponding pinion gear, that the reel would be mechanically sound.
I do not understand why it did not function properly:
•itö idle gear has 25 teeth •Steez idle gear has 25 teeth •Both wormshaft gears have 23 teeth •The cutouts on both itö and Type R+ wormshafts appear identical
It's a no-go for the TD-itö unless someone can chime in further....we're looking at you Steez drive shaft. 🤣
Nevertheless, the Type R+ is a go!
Adding a few anodized parts along the way...
@PaBass75 Thank you for the lovely ZPI NRC001 PG spool!
It may still be possible to do this mod without porting the gears. @RISE Please post pictures of the Steez 103HA drive shaft whenever you are able to. I would like to confirm if that option will also be a possibility.
