Pulling the right side plate off takes only two screws (key #31).

Remove the right side plate and spool as a unit, then set it aside. Let's take a look inside. The most common Avet problem in the last half dozen reels I worked on was a stuck clicker assembly. This one is fine. If your's is stuck, drop a little corrosion x on it from both sides and work it, or let it soak. Then slap some grease on top.

The screws (key #56) of the reel seat of this particular reel were already greased. Check your reel, because that may not always be the case.

Now to the guts of the reel. Remove the preset knob and spring (key #'s 41 and 42). You'll have to hold the spool shaft on the other side. Leave the lever exactly where it is and don't move it.

It comes apart pretty easily at this point. Um, this is good and bad. For the photo, I've put the spool shaft back together so that you can see the bellevilles (key #5), the pusher bushing (key #6), the left spool bearing (key #7), the spool tube or bearing sleeve (key #8), the right spool bearing (key #14), two spool washers (key #16) with a spool spring (key #15) in between, and the brake bearing (key #17). Note that I've already changed the configuration of the belleville washers from "()()" to "(())".

Now, on to the drag washer. This one's clean as a whistle, front ....

.... and back.

I've applied a thick coat of Shimano drag grease to the inside of the spool and to both sides of the drag washer. The purpose is to protect these surfaces from salt water intrusion. Apply enough grease to prevent water from getting in between the drag washer and the spool.

Now wipe all the excess grease. And I mean all of it! When you're done, you should be able to look at a greased washer and a dry washer and not be able to tell the difference.

Lube the bearings with corrosion x. I've noted that some of the bearings have shields and some are open. Either way is fine.

Now put it all back together again

Slide the spool shaft back through the side plate, hold the spool shaft on the left side and re-install the preset knob.

Grease the screw holes, put everything back together.....

.... and watch it spin!

Now, you will recall that this reel was brought to me because the owner wanted a little more drag range. To accomplish this, I changed the belleville configuration from "()()" to "(())". The result was interesting. With every click of the knob, the drag increased predictably, going from 2.5 pounds, to 4, to 6, then 8, 10, 12, then it jumped to 15 and then to 18 before I finally lost freespool. Yup, 18 pounds of drag and I still had 45 seconds freespool!

The problem was that at 10 pounds of drag, I started noticing a lateral load on the right side plate bearing. The handle became increasingly difficult to crank. So from a practical point of view, 10 pounds is still the maximum drag setting that you can use. Come to think of it, I should probably get this reel back and changed out the bellevilles again. There's no point in having anything more than 10 pounds of drag at strike. I'm sure the engineers at Avet had already thought this through. Still, it was fun to do, even just this once! Nice reel, but it holds some surprises. More on that later....

Conclusion: Sometimes reel experts like Alan make a rebuild look plain easy, but in the case of the SX it is exactly that...."easy." Avet owners stay tuned for more maintenance and upgrade articles to come...