I have a new Curado 301e and the drag is rather weak. In fact tighten it all the way up and the spool will not lock up tight. Anyone encounter this issue before and is it a common problem? Key word here is new, out of the box, not half worn out.

You wouldn't be using braided line would you?

If you bought it locally I would take it back before tearing into it or making a problem worse if there is in fact a problem. Was it a display model?

Good ? Jon.

Tighten it all the way down? Who/What/Why would you do that? Sounds like a good way to ruin a drag.

Yup on braided / no on local / and I only tightened it all the way down to see just why it seemed to be weak. The performance is about 60% of what my 201E is and that is why I asked as I have not used a 301E before.

Try removing the braid. Tie on about 2 yards of mono onto the bare spool and then tie the braid to the mono

Alternatively put some tape over the bare spindle of the spool and then tie on the braid

Riverguy

There is nothing wrong with your reel or drag. You cannot tie braided line directly onto a spool as it slips. Because of the line slippage your drag will never work no matter how much you cranked down on it. You will need first to put down a few layers of regular mono line then use an Albright knot to attach the mono to the braided.

This.

If braid is spooled without backing or not tied to a solid post coming off the spool, it will slip on the spool. Completely taking the drag out of the equation. If the problem still persists after respooling it with backing, change the drag out with some carbontex drag washers from smoooth drags. It's the first thing I do on all my new reels.

thx was not aware of that. Easy to do.

OK mystery solved. First dumb me as I had not thought of braided slipping as all my reels with braid happen to be drilled or the larger have pegs so I anchor the line. That bit solved but what was so confusing is two washers were assembled at the factory upside down. The one with the little nobs to give the click ( no big deal ) and the concave washer for pressure which is a problem. Re-spooled and put mono down and Eric got the parts put in correctly and good to go.

Stupid me on one but Shimano needs to do some quality control on their products a little better.