When Daiwa said it's Saltist is a full metal reel, it's not entirely true. There is one plastic part -- a spool shaft bearing. But that's not a problem. Mine had one which I upgraded to a Corrosion Resistant Ball Bearing (CRBB). In addition to that plastic part, I also upgraded the crappy drag washer to Smoothdrag Carbontex and some Cal's Drag grease.
The process is pretty simple, first remove the non-handle side plate where the centrifugal brakes are located. Then remove the spool. Then, remove the power handle and then then the drag star. Once the drag star is removed, remove the screws on the handle-side side plate. If you look inside this side plate, you will see a white plastic bushing that supports the spool shaft. I removed the retainer spring and removed the spool tension knob from the other side and pushed the bushing out from that side using a q-tip or small screw driver. Once removed, I replaced the bushing with a 3mm x 8mm x 4mm CRBB that I got from the spool of another Daiwa Reel that I upgraded to Abec 7 Ceramic. I oiled the bearing and then pushed the bearing in, and then place the retainer spring back to the original position.
Once done with the bearing upgrade, I then removed the drag washers. The first generation Daiwa Saltist reels have felt washers and they are rough and dry and can damage the metal washers. Aside from that, these washers are jerky under load. The best upgrade is to replace those washers with Carbontex washers. I ordered mine online from Smoothdrag.com. The second generation Saltist reels have carbontex washers on the main gear but the washer under the main gear is still the old felt material so you need to upgrade that to Carbontex.
Before installing, I put a thin coat of Cal's drag grease (also available at Smoothdrag.com) on all the drag washers. I cleaned the rest of the internals and then sprayed a thin coat of Silicone oil for salt protection. I just made sure that none of the oil got into the drag stack. Silicone oil is very smooth and slippery and can reduce the drag rating if it gets into the washers.
After oiling the bearings, I then re-assembled the reel.
In about 15minutes, I'm done.
What can I say about the reel? It's now all metal! Except of course for the paddle on the power handle which can be upgraded to an all aluminum round version. The reel is very smooth, solid and versatile. The centrifugal brakes allow you to use this reel as a Surf casting reel for throwing baits long distances. The only complaint I have about the Saltist is that it doesn't come in Left hand versions. It feels tougher than Shimano's Torium or other similar Shimano offering. Toriums are full of plastics and despite that fact, they are still so overpriced. After heavy use, you can feel that the reel with plastic parts will lose smoothness. For me, you can't beat the Saltist at that price.
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