Reel Maintenance

[High Tide]

I know there are some fellas on CDC that take care of their reels better than probably themselves, so I'm going ask the question here. What do you consider "proper maintenance" and how often to you preform maintenance per year? Do you use reel oil on some parts, and grease on others? Do you use Ardent reel butter? Any advise is greatly appreciated, because I don't really know what's overkill, what needs oil versus grease... Etc.

[bigarm]

If it is a bearing it needs oil, if it is a gear it need grease. oil will just fall off or spin off a gear and grease can not get into a bearing. If reel has never been apart should be able to see old grease on the parts from factory.

[Bartman]

Every winter I send mine to this guy bassman13reelservice.com - Home. It's worth it for me, $12 each reel. I would highly recommend him. I would also recommend him super tuning with ABEC 7 ceramic bearings on bait casters if you use them. It will improve your casting distance!

I have done some of my bait casters myself and yes, gears get grease and steel bearings get 3 drops of oil (after cleaning in brake cleaner) ceramic bearings = no lube, Anti reverse gets 1 drop or none depending on brand (Abu gets none). I clean all metal parts with brake cleaner and plastic parts with Ardent cleaner. Ardent butter is OK but I prefer Yellow rocket fuel oil and Superlube grease. Some Shimano reels require a special tool.... For 12$ I'll let someone else do it lol

[river scum]

nothing here(on my spinners) but a bit of oil now and then. keep reels out of sand and water and they should be fine. i have a garage sale rig just for river crappie. that thing gets submerged getting jigs back at least every other trip. havent done a thing to it in 5 years, and its the same as when i bought it( for 3 bucks lol ). now bait casters need greased on the worm gear and pawl a couple times a year. if not you will be replacing them.

[Hoosier Hog Daddy]

You're supposed to clean and lube your reels? LOL.... I am the ultimate abuser.

HHD

[High Tide]

Awesome intel Bartman! I think I'd sound alot cooler if I said I had yellow rocket fuel oil in my reels, and it would definitely feel like I had a mental advantage over the competition, at the same time! I'm definitely in overkill mode, as I break out the toothbrush and reel oil monthly on my reels! I don't grease, but bought the reel butter last month and then when I pulled the reels apart again, I thought "were the he!! do I put it... LOL", so I appreciate the heads up! If any of you own a Pflueger Supreme, I bet you have to pull it apart more than once a year, because with the terribly designed spool, it lets the moisture go straight down the main shaft and into the gear assembly with ease. I don't even take the reel on rainy days anymore. I'm switching most of my combos to the Stradic Cl4, but fathers days, Christmas and birthdays don't come fast enough! LOL

[Locator79]

90 % of my reels are Shimano, I break them down once a year for a deep clean, and use reel butter as needed, usually once or twice a month. I have yet to have a problem with any of them. Some going on 6 years of constant use. Don't forget to grease your bail spring, and disasemble the bail and get your roller bearings.

[Bartman]

I think I'd sound alot cooler if I said I had yellow rocket fuel oil in my reels, and it would definitely feel like I had a mental advantage over the competition

They also make red rocket fuel oil but I was going to keep that info to myself for my advantage lol... Actually I do not like the red, it seems to leave a gummy residue

[Team9nine]

What Bartman said - Rocket Fuel and Super Lube. I put about as much time and abuse on my reels as most, and I only tear them down once a year outside of a little extra oil drop here and there as needed. Seems more important on baitcasters than on spinning to me, due to the fact that spool rotatioon and casting distance are tied together so intimately on most baitcast reels. Such is not the case with spinning, where I'll sometimes go 2 years between major overhauls.

-T9