As some has seen I am selling a st croix legend ultra 4 weight new,the reason I found a 1998-2001 circa pre-ips legend ultra 2 PC 4 weight,the only problem it was made with a sliding ring not up locking like my 5 wt.
How can I change it to a up lock,can you cut the back of the reel seat off just above the flared end with the metal buttcap and buy something like a bellinger 660 up lock hardware and fix it or will it need to be cut off at the front hood and the insert taken out .
To do it right, the slide band seat will have to be removed in it’s entirety and the new seat and insert mounted in it’s place.
You are probably going to have to remove the mortised insert. If you have a picture of it I would like to see it and I will see if I have anything in my Lemke stock that you might be able to use.
I would take a pic but it would be in my gallery and I don’t think I can post the pic from there,this site doesn’t support that.It is like a struggle u2 where the wood flairs at the butt section and has a titanium cap on the butt.These old st croixs had pacbay reel seats in titanium finish and also had pacbay sic strippers and tic single foot guides.
So email it to me to info@southwestcustomrods.com
I tried the boiling water and plastic bag I submerged the seat to the hood then pulled,nothing.I then tried going from hot to cold water,tried it and nothing.Guess this will be one for the corner to collect dust until sold for a hundred bucks…
This must be done with extreme care. Use a Dremel tool with one of the little cutoff wheels and cut a slot in the seat lengthwise on 2 sides about 1/8 to 3/16" deep. Insert a flat blade screwdriver into the slot and twist the screwdriver. DO NOT PRY! The seat should pop or break along the cut. Repeat on the other side. You may wind up only removing half the seat. In that case, go back to the heat to soften the glue. The seat isn’t insulating things anymore so it should come loose pretty easily.
Well I can end this topic on a sour note and lesson to learn.I did cut the slots in the reel seat as Kevin said and gently pryesed the wood open only to have the glue harder than hell blank inside to split right into…A nice fly rod now a pile of splinters.Cut the remainder and through in the garbage can.So the lesson no matter how easy you think something will be it doesn’t always end up that way.Thank god for tax refunds!
You are not totally lost here. A piece of another old rod can be inserted to replace the broken part. If you can measure the ID of what’s left of the butt, I’ll send you a section or two of old rod you can stuff in there to effect the repair. It is a rare thing that a rod cannot be fixed somehow. This is an easy one.
Kevin it splintered and split all the way to the winding check and the cork handle collapsed in the middle and bent over like the letter L!I did cut the titanium guides off so at least they were salvaged.
Gack! That was some da$%^ tough glue! That is almost my standard way of removing a seat. I guess I’ve been living a charmed life!
Well at least one ray of light the st Croix legend ultra I returned because I had bought this older model they had it waiting on a return so I told them just send it back to me!