I have a Curado 200e7 that I bought used. Works good except one of the knobs doesn't spin freely.

I finally figured out how to get the knob off yesterday. When I did, the bearing had some rust on it. I got most of it off with some solvent, but it didn't feel any better at all when I put it back together. Any suggestions?

If it's not fixable, do I have to replace the entire handle assembly?

If so, what's the cheapest place to get one?

Thanks in advance for the help.

take the bearing and flush it out with some acetone. once it spins freely put a light coat of grease on the shaft before placing the knob back on it. If that doesnt fix it then i would replace the bearing. You can order them from shimano or boca bearings. Just need the size of it.

Do you know of a how-to for getting that bearing off? Looks like it's on there for good to me.

They should just slide right off. If they dont they are probably rusted on there. You can try soak the shaft in acetone or put some oil on it and let it sit for a little bit. If it wont come off you might have to cut the bearing off and replace it. If thats the case then once you get it off lightly sand the shaft where the bearing goes before putting a new one on.

Is it stuck on the crank shaft? Or is it the spool shaft?

ON the spool shaft, make sure the hex clip is removed if there is one on the outside of the bearing. If so, remove the side plate and take a long socket the size of the bearing and tap it out from the inside of the sideplate. Put a larger socket on the outside just the size of the OD of the threaded part so the bearing will knock through. If it is on the crank shaft you will need to remove the screws from the sideplate, hold the sideplate with one hand and lightly tap with the handle of a screwdriver to knock the shaft loose from the inside of the sideplate and off the shaft. Be very gentle and take your time. I deal with salted up, corroded up reels daily and it will come off. The stainless and brass combination sets up galvanic corrosion if not maintained and kinda fuses the two together. You will need a new bearing and in the future make sure the reels are not set up during off season without service.

I'm not talking about the spool shaft or crank shaft.

I'll take a picture tonight and try to post it. What I'm talking about is the handle/knob that you hold while you're reeling. It just doesn't spin freely. I can get the knob off of the shaft that's mounted to the handle assembly (there should be some sort of notification of the reverse thread). But there is a bearing that's rusty on the outside and if that does actually come off, then I certainly don't know how to do it. So I'm wondering if I can just replace that bearing or if I need to replace the entire handle assembly. basspro99 seems to think I can use some acetone or penetrating oil or something to get the bearing off. I'll try that tonight when I take a picture.

Here is a picture of the part I'm talking about. But this clearly isn't the same model reel because it isn't green and I don't see any bearing on there. But I just wanted to be clear that I'm not talking about the crankshaft or spool shaft.

I'm not seeing any bearings in the handle, just bushings. If it is truely abearing in there, soak it in prentrating oil for a day and tap to get off. Chances are you'll ruin the bearing so measure it and order new ones. Easiest option may be buy a new handle assembly

I dont see any bearings either from the pictures. Just bushings. I thought you were talking about a curado 200E7. The pictures looks like one of the new 200I series curados. If that is the case i havent broken down one of those yet to know what is in the knob, but from the looks of it there doesnt seem to be a bearing there unless it is still in the knob.

Oh and you are correct the threads to get the knobs off of the newer curado are reverse threads. The older bantam curadoes were the opposite way.

That picture is not my reel. I was just trying to show coastal tackle service that I wasn't talking about the crank or spool shafts. He seemed to be confused by my original post. I just found that picture on a google image search because I'm at work right now.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I read your post completly wrong about that not being your reel. Its feels like another monday here at the office. lol

No big deal. I got stuck inside the house helping with the new baby tonight and didn't get a chance to get outside and work on the reel. I'll update the post with a picture of mine in a day or two. Thanks for all the help guys.

Update: Took it apart again today. I scraped as much of the corrosion off that bearing as I could and used basspro99's advice and pried that bearing loose and it came off. I'm sure that needs to be replaced to fix it. Looking at the Shimano parts diagrams, it only lists the handle assembly as a separate part number. How do I know what bearing to get?

If you have a micrometer you can measure the OD, ID and thickness of that bearing. I get all my bearings from Boca bearings.

I dont know if Shimano sells that bearing buy itself but it wouldnt hurt to call them and find out if they will.