reel service, is it really necesary?

[pro reel]

I get a lot of reels in for service that I can tell have not been serviced in many years. I know that a lot of anglers must wonder if it's really necesary to spend good money having someone service their reels once a year. The answer to that depends on several factors. How often is the reel used, and what conditions does it get used in? If the reel gets wet often, if it ever gets dunked, even just a quick dunk, if it gets sand or grit on it at all, or if it's ever used around salt or brackish water, then it most definatly needs to be serviced at least once a year or more often. If a reel is only used a few times a year, if it stay clean and dry and if it's it stored in a clean area, then it may be fine to only have it service every other year or posibly every 3rd year. If you try to push the service times longer than that, even with very little use, there will be problems develop from the breakdown of grease and oils. Grease will solidiy over time and oil can turn into a sticky varnish. The best advise is to follow the recomendation of the manufacturer and have htem serviced once a year, at a minimum or learn to do it yourself. Here are a few pictures of exactly what can happen to your valuable reels by neglecting to service them regularly. These ar from a set of reels sent to me last year. They included a few Daiwal Sols, A JDM custom Daiwa Ito, and several Shimano Calais and Chronarchs. The owner had kept the outsides of the reels clean but he didn't believe that it was necesary to send them in for service. He had used them in some brackish waters at the end of the last season and when he was getting ready for the first spring trip he noticed that none of them cranked smooth anymore. There was severe corrosion to most of the internal parts, and every bearing in every reel was corroded or seized. I actually had to clamp the reels into a drill press vice and drill the bearings out of the side plates and reel frames. The expense of repairs was quite a bit more than regular service would have been. If it was not for the fact that these were very expensive reels to begin with, it would not have been worth the expense to repair them.

[bamabassman]

Very good pics and thak you for pointing out the need for service. This gives us an "inside" look at what our reels go through, and it is very important ot "invest" in servicing our arsenals. Again, thank you for this, it will most likely push some folks to go ahead and get their reels serviced.

[walkeraviator]

Define service... Is taking the covers off, and removing old grease, oil, and dirt or graphite lube, then re lubing with new grease and oil good enough? Or does yearly service involve complete tear down and cleaning in solvent or what?

[pro reel]

Different shops do have a different idea of what should be involved. I completly take the reel apart, clean every part, flush all oil and grease out of the bearings, apply fresh oil and grease and then reasemble. If the reel is getting tuned, then several parts will also get polished to a mirror finish. I know of some shops that simply wipe it down and apply fresh grease and oil

[Tavery5]

If you have never had your reels tore completely down and run through an ultrasonic cleaner, I highly recommend it. I think the bearings especially benefit from this and you would be amazed and the oils, dirt and debris that the ultrasonic removes. Take the time to do this at least once a year and your equipment will feel as good or better than new every time you take it out.

PR, what type of grease do you recommend? I usually use the Quantum products but would like to hear what everyone is using. Also what are your thoughts on the dry tungsten lube.

[pro reel]

I use synthetic grease from Super Lube. It's cheaper than name brand reel grease and works as good or better in my opinion. I Use Rocket Fuel brand oils. They come in several viscosities and you can blend them to get any viscosity you want. I know of several reel shops around the country that use the same oils and grease as my shop.I have experimented with a few of the dry lubes. They can make a reel spin amazingly fast, but many of them only last a short time before the reel slows down to normal speeds. The protection may still be there, but the speed will be gone. I'm currently trying a bearing lube that seems to be almost as fast as the fastest dry lubes, but this lube seems to last a really long time. I'll post about it when i have complete confidence.

[walkeraviator]

I gotta say... I am really thinking bout mailin my reels to you. I got an old Maxxar that makes an awful racket when casting, and I would like to see how good my pro max could be when tuned...

[Tavery5]

We kinda started discussing lubricants, this is a list of popular oils and their viscosity. It was borrowed from another popular website.

I measured the viscosities of a number of lubes a while back and thought I'd post them here in case anyone might be interested in the numbers. These may not all be common reel lubes, but I threw some various oils in for comparison. I also recently ran the Reel Butter oil, but I need to look that one up and then I'll add it into the list.

The viscosity units are in centi-Poise (1/100 of a Poise) and the lower the value, the less viscous. For a few points of reference, water is 1 cP, vegetable oils run in the range of 70-80 and SAE 30 Motor Oil would be around 200 cP. I also ran Mobil-1 0-30W synthetic and interestingly, it looks a lot more like a 40W than an 0W. So here's the list in order from highest to lowest:

Lube.............................Viscosity@78F (cP)

Mobil-1 0W-30 (syn)..................400
Superlube w/PTFE.....................245
Zebco Needle Oiler....................206
Quicksilver Storage Seal............203
Abu Silicoat Reel Oil...................176


Browning Midas Gun Oil (syn)...140
Quicksilver PS and Trim Oil........136
BSB Speed Bearing...................114


Red RF (hc).................................93
PMI Paintball Gun Lube...............90
Power Steering Fluid...................90
Diawa Std Needle Oiler...............84
Reel-X.........................................74

ATF Dextron III...........................62
Shimano Std. (hc).......................60
Yellow RF (hc).............................59
3-In-1 Oil....................................40

-
Reel Butter..................................28
Quantum Hot Sauce....................25
X+1R...........................................21
Diawa TDZ lube (syn)..................18
Diawa/Liberto Pixy Lube (syn).....18
Whale Spit (hc)............................14
Abu Black Max .............................14

WD 40..........................................6
Tournament RF (hc)......................4
Friction Zero Lub (hc/syn )............4
Rem Oil (hc)..................................3

Reference: DI water.....................1
-------------------------------------------

Lube....Viscosity (cP) @ 38F.........@78F........@ 98F (cP)

Yellow RF ........................285..............59....... .......35
3-In-1 Oil.........................161....... ......40..............20
Quantum Hot Sauce........100..............25..............16

[DVT Mike]

Pro Reel,

Good post, I couldn't agree more. A professionally serviced reel will perform better than new and last a lifetime if done regularly.

As far as the 0-30w oil, the viscosity range is achieved through the use of VI (viscosity index) Improver Additives. The additives affect the curve on which the oil changes viscosity over a temperature range. The oil doesn't get thinner as it gets colder, it's just more stable.

[pro reel]

The red, yellow and tornament formulas of Rocket fuel oil are different viscosities of the same formula. You can custom blend any of those together for any viscosity you want. At 78F the yellow is a 59 and the tournament is a 4. I blend them 50/50 to get an oil thats about the same viscosity as hot sauce, for use in spool bearings. I use the pure yellow for reel clutchs and I use the red for worm gears

[Old Hooker]

WOW, thanks for the eye opening pictures. I would never have known the bearings in one could look that bad.