Reel Service routine?

[nathannichols14]

What all do you guys do when you do a maintenance servicing on your reels? I'm interested to see how in-depth some peoples "routine services" are and how they differ from other dudes!

For me, it is a simple stripping of all major gears and components, cleaning with some sort of a solvent (especially my salt water stuff i use salt away) and a light greasing of gears and back together she goes assuming no parts are needing replacement.

[SethMuffinson]

Same here. I just followed along with a video servicing the same reel as mine. All apart. Cleaned with some light solevant. Greased up and back together. 

[rogers954]

There’s a video i found on YouTube a long time ago by tacklejunky81, i had just gotten my first 2 baitcasters that year and wanted to see a video showing break down and clean/lube, he was using a abu in the video but my 2 lews tourney pros were built the exact same with only like 1 small difference so the video was awesome to follow along with. I the only things i did different than his video was use different lubes, he used hot sauce and i hate that ish. I use super lube for grease, tsi 321 for oil, and Shimano drag star grease for drags. 

When i break a reel down i put all the parts i want to decrease in a small  Tupperware tub and fill it with warm water and simple green, it does a great job of breaking down old grease and grime. After parts soak for a while i take a tooth brush and scrub them all down and then rinse them in clean water. Everything that needs grease gets a very light coat, often times when breaking down a new reel for the first time the first thing i notice is how almost all of them have to much grease in them, i read somewhere before on another forum that talks a lot about servicing reels that manufacturers do this because they figure most people aren’t going to do proper maintenance so they load them up with grease so they won’t break down during the warranty period. Hell I’ve taken a few brand new reels right out of the box and  immediately tore them down and cleaned and relubed them because they felt like ish out of the box, after stripping them and relubing them they are smooth as silk. 

All bearings get tossed in a glass bottle filled with lighter fluid. I found it to work best for me to de-grease them for the first time because once again manufactures will actually pack the damn things with grease as well which really slows them down and they don’t spin nearly as fast as they would if they were clean and with a very light weight oil. After bearings soak i take a hair trimmer and turn it on and hold it against the glass jar to agitate them which i stole from the YouTube video (really works well to get them really clean) I usually swap out the lighter fluid 2 times because the first rinse will leave you with a filthy solution so i double soak them to make sure there clean. Air dry or bearings or if you are in a hurry blow them out with a can of air or another light air source, if i really want to know if i got them completely clean I’ll put them on like a pencil or a Q-tip that I’ve removed some of the cotton from until i can fit a bearing is onto  it and spin them, you can easily tell a clean brewing from a dirty one by the sound and how much free spin you get just by a quick finger flick. After that i put 1 (and only 1) drop of tsi 321 on each bearing and re-install. 

Drags get a very light coat of Shimano star drag and any metal on metal parts (gears) get a light coat of super lube. 

Ive been breaking down my 8 baitcasters and cleaning and servicing them this way for the last 5 years and they work flawlessly. I only feel the need to do it once a year (i don’t fish nearly as much as i wish i could) but even if i used them more i think it would still be good to go all season. Only time i would feel the need to break them down mid season would be if one started acting up or if they just got hammered by a lot of dirt or sand on an outing. 

Phew long post hope someone finds this helpful. 

[nathannichols14]

48 minutes ago, rogers954 said:

There’s a video i found on YouTube a long time ago by tacklejunky81, i had just gotten my first 2 baitcasters that year and wanted to see a video showing break down and clean/lube, he was using a abu in the video but my 2 lews tourney pros were built the exact same with only like 1 small difference so the video was awesome to follow along with. I the only things i did different than his video was use different lubes, he used hot sauce and i hate that ish. I use super lube for grease, tsi 321 for oil, and Shimano drag star grease for drags. 

When i break a reel down i put all the parts i want to decrease in a small  Tupperware tub and fill it with warm water and simple green, it does a great job of breaking down old grease and grime. After parts soak for a while i take a tooth brush and scrub them all down and then rinse them in clean water. Everything that needs grease gets a very light coat, often times when breaking down a new reel for the first time the first thing i notice is how almost all of them have to much grease in them, i read somewhere before on another forum that talks a lot about servicing reels that manufacturers do this because they figure most people aren’t going to do proper maintenance so they load them up with grease so they won’t break down during the warranty period. Hell I’ve taken a few brand new reels right out of the box and  immediately tore them down and cleaned and relubed them because they felt like ish out of the box, after stripping them and relubing them they are smooth as silk. 

All bearings get tossed in a glass bottle filled with lighter fluid. I found it to work best for me to de-grease them for the first time because once again manufactures will actually pack the damn things with grease as well which really slows them down and they don’t spin nearly as fast as they would if they were clean and with a very light weight oil. After bearings soak i take a hair trimmer and turn it on and hold it against the glass jar to agitate them which i stole from the YouTube video (really works well to get them really clean) I usually swap out the lighter fluid 2 times because the first rinse will leave you with a filthy solution so i double soak them to make sure there clean. Air dry or bearings or if you are in a hurry blow them out with a can of air or another light air source, if i really want to know if i got them completely clean I’ll put them on like a pencil or a Q-tip that I’ve removed some of the cotton from until i can fit a bearing is onto  it and spin them, you can easily tell a clean brewing from a dirty one by the sound and how much free spin you get just by a quick finger flick. After that i put 1 (and only 1) drop of tsi 321 on each bearing and re-install. 

Drags get a very light coat of Shimano star drag and any metal on metal parts (gears) get a light coat of super lube. 

Ive been breaking down my 8 baitcasters and cleaning and servicing them this way for the last 5 years and they work flawlessly. I only feel the need to do it once a year (i don’t fish nearly as much as i wish i could) but even if i used them more i think it would still be good to go all season. Only time i would feel the need to break them down mid season would be if one started acting up or if they just got hammered by a lot of dirt or sand on an outing. 

Phew long post hope someone finds this helpful. 

helpful would be an understatement my friend. As a matter of fact, I am going to try this to a T the next time I take my reels apart!

[bigpoppabass]

That's alot of work u fellas are doing. I clean the worm gear with wd40 on qtip, take down sideplate and do same. Then a dab of oil on bearings and swabbed in and off....now knobs are sometimes an issue so I straw blast em with wd40 if I feel one is particularly dirty. The knob handle is the most exposed, would be interested in hearing how other folks maintain em.

[VolunteerSwimbaits]

About once a year i squirt wd40 in the drain holes. Then i forget about it for another year....

[Jack]

I'm Lazy. I send mine off to Vern's reel service.

[rogers954]

I know it seems like a lot of work but i actually enjoy doing it each year, the way i look at it is like this gear is expensive, as seen on this forum in the black market it can be an investment that you can recoup if you want to go another route or if you find yourself in a bind, the better condition your gear is in the more you can expect to get back on it in the event you have to sale. Not only that but if a reel locks up on you mid cast say goodbye to whatever you had on the line if it sinks. I had a Lexa 300 that was doing that to me i cleaned the living piss out of that reel and lubed it properly, still did it so i said see yah, no way i wanted to loose a 250 that i paid almost as much for as the reel. I like my reels to be smooth so i take the extra steps to make sure there clean and lubed right to essure i get the best performance and life out of them, but to each his own.