TackleThief.com - Reel Maintenance Tip- Lube It Right

Reel Maintenance
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ReelMeister Reel Care and Maintenance

Lube It Right - By Al Chirinian

If you're lucky it happens during a cast. Maybe even on the drop. But bad things do happen to good fishermen. Will that squeaking, grinding sound shrieking from the bowels of your reel happen with your trophy fish yanking out line like a locomotive pulling a shopping cart?

Not if I can help it.

A little maintenance goes a long way, and in this article we will discuss the do's and don'ts of lubricating the second most important tool a fisherman owns, his reel.

Grease vs. Oil

Just the basics here, we needn't go into viscosity indices and pressure or temperature ratings for the products used in lubing a reel. Basically oils flow freely, and grease doesn't.

If you need something to resist pressure and temperature, and stay put, use grease.

Oil things that get light pressure and need to spin freely. Oil forms puddles, so use it sparingly.

So how about some specifics?

First lets discuss the exceptions. Levelwind mechanisms have gears, usually two. The gear that looks familiar to all gearheads is on the end of the levelwind, and is turned by the action of the reel handle or spool.

The second gear is the worm gear, the one that controls how your line is wound around the spool. So what's the exception? Use oil on these, not grease.They are not subjected to high pressure (although they do get hot) and need to have minimal turning resistance to maximize casting distance. Grease will slow down the levelwind, reducing casting distance. Grease often gets flung about during a cast, making a mess of line. And grease attracts and holds dirt, the single most common reason for levelwind pawl failure.

Use oil, not grease, on levelwind gears.

Most gears inside your reel look like, well, gears. They have teeth which mesh with the teeth of other gears. When under the stress of thousands of casts, a fish peeling line, or having your entire spool of line sucked out of the reel as it winds around your prop, the gears need to be lubed with grease. A good grease stays in place and helps reduce wear on the gears due to high pressures and temperatures from the above hijinks.

Grease should be used sparingly and placed carefully at the base of teeth, not just wiped around the rim where it does little good.

Use grease on other internals as well. This includes anything that slides, glides or flicks. Grease will help prevent grooves forming where they are unwelcome, as well as keeping mechanisms operating as smooth as their designers intended.

Other Greasables

When you take apart a reel, be sure and put a tiny dab of grease on the thread of assembly screws once you put it back together. Some reel handles require grease, particularly those with handles that unscrew. Thoughtful.

What a Drag!

Okay, here's the deal: DONT GREASE ABU GARCIA DRAG WASHERS! EVER! These washers were designed to be run dry as a bone. That includes the surrounding metal washers as well. They should be dry, dry, dry for proper operation. One of the first signs of a misapplication of grease is when someone has grease that is flung from somewhere else in the reel on to the drag washers. This creates that herky-jerky feeling from our reels we all love to hate with a fish on. Keep 'em dry, and you'll never cry.

Penn HT100 drag washers are the best in my opinion. They last a long, long time and SHOULD NOT BE GREASED. They dissipate heat well, are very smooth and resist water very well. If you have an older Penn, and it does not have HT100 drags, in it, have it done during your next service. In our shop we often upgrade other brands of reels with the HT100 washers.

Shimano, Daiwa and Okuma drag washers are designed to be greased. You can't use any old grease. There is only one choice. One. Official Shimano drag grease, nothing else. A light coat, really light is all you need on each washer. That's it. A light coat, and a happy boat.

Bearing the Truth

Let's bear in mind that we haven't discussed bearings yet. Ball bearings are shipped with grease from the factory most of the time. Since factories assume people fail to do yearly maintenance, they put in the most maintenance-free option available in their bearings. Problem: a greased bearing is a slow bearing. Upgrade bearings are often shipped without lube because many reel tuners like to use a particular lubricant in their bearings to achieve a particular goal. This might be maximum cast distance without concern for control of backlashes, or just backlash control. Most of my customers want something in between. Good casting distance with control by an educated thumb can be achieved using a quality oil of the right visosity in bearings. Oils of different viscosities will change the qualities of a reel into whatever you desire.

In this photo, you can see the clean bearing on the left with minimal oil added. On the right is a bearing with factory grease overflowing out the seals.