[blakdog_tackle]

Some models have a spring washer behind the left side bearing in the spool if you leave that out the spool will turn faster.

Very true ... the 1990 back ultracast has a flat spool shim and that is seriously fast, probably the fastest they have ever made. If you leave the curled copper washer out you may struggle to get the spool centred as you will have lost about 2mm off that side effectively ... its put there for a reason so you may have to make up for it with some more shims in the endcap to get the adjustment you need to centre the spool.

Surprised you are struggling with a chrome as they are one of the quickest out of the box of the current ABUs. They have two cast controls incidentially (apart from tuning with oil or line height that is) ... the brake blocks and your thumb ... use the endcaps purely to get the spool centred and no more as excessive end tension will push in on the bearing inners and give a braking effect as well as damaging the bearings.

Its difficult to judge as you don't describe how you serviced the reels exactly but if there's no vibrate or wobble and the bearings are not sounding rough it would suggest that your tuning is at fault i.e wrong oil or regime ..... or you are maybe getting grease finding its way into a bearing and putting the brakes on.

 

[blakdog_tackle]

Way too fussy for me ... a 5 minute soak in acetone then a shake out in a bearing bath. A couple of drops of oil applied with a needle applicater and away you go. A quick spin will disperse the oil inside the bearing. Its not so much the method or the oil you use on the bearings but doing it every session.