Reel Help

[JerseyFisher]

So I've had my BPS PQ for a little over a year, and up until last week it used to cast a mile. Now whenever I cast it it'll go about 20-30 ft. and make this "sputtering-out" noise and the bait will just drop. I've changed lines, and messed around with the brakes. There is currently brand new 15# P-line CX on it and I'm mainly throwing crank bait with it. What are your guy's thoughts?

[pro reel]

Sounds like it needs to be serviced. Even if you keep them clean on the outside and don't dunk them in water, they still need the old lube washed off and new lube put on once a year. Thats the manufactureres minimum recomended care. If they do get wet or dirty, it will need that done a lot sooner. As for what your reel is doing, it could be lots of things. Grease could have gotten hot and flowed into the pinion and spool shaft area. That would slow it down fast. Some grease could have gotten on the spool bearings also, etc. etc.

[champman]

That is a service problem for sure. I used BPS Johnny Morris reels for a few years but I got fed up with sending them to Springfield, that's the only place that will service them, twice a year for various problems that kept returning so I switched to Shimano Curados and very glad I did. They are an amazing reel to say the least. Oh by the way, of the 10 ball bearings they say are in the BPS reels, 4 of them are in the handle grips. Buyer beware!

[pro reel]

Originally Posted by champman

That is a service problem for sure. I used BPS Johnny Morris reels for a few years but I got fed up with sending them to Springfield, that's the only place that will service them, twice a year for various problems that kept returning so I switched to Shimano Curados and very glad I did. They are an amazing reel to say the least. Oh by the way, of the 10 ball bearings they say are in the BPS reels, 4 of them are in the handle grips. Buyer beware!

Not true. I service all BPS reels. I know several other independent reel mechanics that also service BPS reels. I have a parts account with BPS to purchase parts for repairing BPS reels.

All reels that have more than a few bearings will have some in the handle. Quality handles with bearing suported knobs make a reel much more enjoyable to use than most stock handles that don't have bearings. Thats why so many tackle enthusiast's pay big money to upgrade thier reel with bearing suported handles. The reverse to this though, is that you can't judge the quality of a reel or components based on the bearing count. Bearings, used in several key areas can make a reel much smoother feeling and longer lasting, but it will not compensate for decreased quality in other areas. You still need to judge a reel on overall quality and design. Also, keep in mind, every brand builds good reels and every brand builds cheap reels. Don't buy a cheap reel and then bash the brand because it didn't perform well.

Yes, the shimano Curado E is a very nice reel, but even it or any other Shimano reel needs regular service or it can have the same problems.

PS. The Silver JM reels that sold for around $99 bucks had some design flaws that led to frequent problems. That reel is no longer being built. Much like shimano had some reels such as the Curado D that were recalled for line guide issues and then discontinued a year later, all brands have some reels that had series design flaws. That why I never recomend for people to buy a reel when it's fresh to the market. Let other people try them out for a season or two. Find out if they have problems, check for referals etc. before you buy.

[champman]

Didn't mean to rub anybody the wrong way there pro, I was only writing from my own exprience with the Johnny Morris reels. I totally agree that regular check up's on any reel is very important and I also think that those reels have their good points and not so good that's why I wrote buyer beware. Do your home work and ask questions about any reel or anything that you buy for that matter. That way you feel good about what you bought and there aren't as many disapointments, if any, down the road. As far as repairs on the BPS reels, none of the shops in the St. Louis area except BPS will do any work on a BPS reel. I guess the bottom line is, if you like what you have then all is good.

[pro reel]

I wasn't rubbed at all. At least i don't think so, it's been a while. Anyway, yes, there are a lot of shops that only work on one or a few brands. Thats there loss, it only makes sense from a parts stocking point and even then, they could still stock parts for the top brand and do repairs with parts ordering on other brands. I get sceptical of the ability of these one brand shops, it's like they're saying they know how to work on a few reels, but thats it.
Yes, BPS has sold some reels that were junk, IMO. So has every other brand out there. The BPS PQ, the current model, is not junk, it's far from it. That does not mean it won't have problems. Any reel can do what his reel is doing and it can happen a week after you buy it or several years after.

[Fish30114]

Originally Posted by pro reel

Any reel can do what his reel is doing and it can happen a week after you buy it or several years after.

Pro Reel, first off let me say that I am very mechanical, but clueless--or close to it when it comes to fishing reels. The VERY little tinkering around I did on a couple of my reels convinced me I needed some different screwdrivers for some reason, I have the finest gunsmithing screwdrivers you can get, but DAMN the couple of screws I tried to get loose on one of my Shimano Citicas told me 'no sir!' and I left it at that. My question is why would/could a reel fail to perform that quickly, and is there anything short of finding a pro to tune up your reel that one should be doing a regular basis to their reels??

I fish a lot from April through September, probably 2 times a week minimum to six times a week, and this being my second life in fishing so to speak, all of my reels are two years old max, or newer than that. I am just curious as to what I should have done to them--or be trying to do myself. I keep them clean in a very simplistic fashion, cleaning them off with a damp towel, and maybe a q-tip with a little Ballistol or KVD line and lure on it to spruce up the line quide rod on my BC's, and a drop or two of lube on the line rollers on my spinners.
I am not afraid to take one apart if that be needed, but probably would rather spend a little with a pro to do it if needed, which I guess is my underlying question--when do you know that you should have your reel serviced, and how do you make it make economic sense? I have several reels that are very satisfactory to me, spinners specifically, that only cost $70 or so, so spending much on service is something I would like to understand, on relative terms, I have no issue spending the cost of say $35 to change the oil a couple times a year on my $70,000 vehicle, but if it cost $20,000 to do it, I might just buy a new vehicle more often.....maybe a poor comparison but hopefully you get my drift.....

Thanks for any feedback!

[pro reel]

I understand completly that when you compare the cost of a service to the purchase price, it seems steep. A full service takes me 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours. I can change the oil in your car in half that time. If you are fishing as often as you stated, then there is no way that the lube will last a full year. The service each year thats recomended is based on average weekend use. If you don't do it, then there is a good chance that your reel will need costly repairs in just a few years or just replace it. If you spend $100 to buy a reel, and then get it serviced once a year, it may last you 15 to 20 years. Total investment would be quite a lot, but spread over the life of the reel. The added benefit is it's like getting a new reel every year, as it is completly cleaned and tuned and most will say that it's better than new. If you don't do it, then you have a reel that slowly degrades it's performance. You might not notice it at first, but it gets a little rougher and takes a bit harder cast to reach the same distance. Then, if it ever got wet, it will sieze up on you over the winter or just over the week, you never know, but it will then need more money in new parts than it is worth, so you may only get a few years out of that reel and each year will be less performance. Now, I know many of you will say that you have a reel thats never been serviced and it's 5 to 10 years old and works fine. OK, lucky you, but I very much doubt that it works anywhere close to it's potential, if it did then why do I get a major improvment from servicing them? Is the one year standard excessive? I don't know. That depends on how and wher you use it and if you at least kkep it clean on the outside and do some basic servoce such as add a drop of oil to the bearings and worm gear once in a while. As for how to do the very basic service, you tube videos are a good way to see that done. Shimano has some training vids for basic service on there site. Basically, you need to learn how to get to your spool bearings and add a drop of oil once evry few months or sooner with very frequent use. You should also keep your worm gear clean and oiled. try to brush out crud and then turn the reel with the tube opening facing down and squirt a thin oil on it and shake it off to kinda of rinse crud loose. Some people use a spray can of rem gun oil and an extension tube and use that to rinse the worm gear, the oil that stays there after shaking is good enogh for awhile, but I prefer a thicker reel oil. You don't want to use a cleaner or solvent spray without taking it apart as that will go into the reel and make a mess inside. Add a few drops of oil to handle knobs, remove the end caps to do that. You can do all of these things without opening the gear case and on most reels it's very easy to do. Even if you do that, just getting the reel wet even one quick accidental dunk can let water get into areas and cause corrosion that will destroy expensive parts. If you sue reels around salt or brackish water, you have to rinse them with water at end of each use, or it will start to corrode everything. You then need to have either set the reel up for that by using a heavy grease to seal all internal access areas or you need to be able to take your own reel apart, or just buy cheap disposable reels. Now the reel that started this topic has had something get on amoving part during the cast, or a bearing went bad. If the bearing was dry, normally you might hear a squeal before it went bad, but not always. It's also posible that some grease just migrated to the spool shfat and got into the pinion gear. That would make it very sluggish to spin as the grease acts like a brake. That happens as grease gets old and gets hot. It can happen any time, especially with stock or cheap grease. Teflon impregnated premium grease such as Cals universal reel grease or super lube teflon grease seems to stay put a whole lot better than any stock lube Ihave seen. One of the biggest problems I see, even on reels that are just a year or two old, are dry bearings that now have rough spots. Thats casued from not learning how to do basic maintenance that every owner should learn to do. I plan to do my own set of basic maintenace videos soon. I hope to do them for sevral reels so I cover every type of reels there is. When they are done I will post them on my site and here also. They will not replace the need for a full service, but if done, it should prevent most problems and neede parts replacement.

[pro reel]

I might also add that someone has sugested that I do a complete video series on how to do a complete tear down, clean and tune. I would like to do that but I'm video/computer chalenged. If I can get it worked out for someone to shoot it, edit it and get it produced. I might sell a DIY video series that would show every type of reel i could instead of the Shimano only video that is out there. I might also add, i was not a bit impressed with that video. If you search enough, you may be able to find you tube vids on your exact reel. You should still make sure you do a lot of research first on basics, because ther are so many little tricks that make it simple and it's so easy to lose little spring clip parts and to also lose track of whre parts go.

[jasonfish320]

If you have reel issues don't mess around just send it to pro-reel. He does a bang up job and is very affordable. Thanks again for fixing my PT..it's working like new now

[DVT Mike]

I'll second the notion that you may think your reel works fine without service or maintenance but the performace degrades slowly and you get used to it as it goes. A deep cleaning and proper lube will make a reel as good and probably better than new.

[Fish30114]

Thanks for the detailed repy Pro Reel. I am definitely one to try and keep good care of his tools/equipment...I have been debating what to try and do on my own....I'm sure my reels are due for a service call, they stay in my really hot truck a lot waiting to fish somedays too, which I'm sure exacerbates things. I'll take a look at getting to the gears on a few of my rigs--AFTER I get some good lube--going to look for Super Lube Teflon Grease online shortly!

[66KingFisher]

Ok, I've got a question about lubes....greases and oils.....I'm very mechanicly minded and have no problem blowing a reel apart into a zillion pieces and then putting it back together....In fact I did just that to a brand new spinning reel that just didn't feel right.....but during that tear down I got to wondering about the grease and oils I use....I have a tube of reel grease from a reel mfg, but I realized its actually quite old, same with the light weight oil I use...I've had both of them for quite awhile and I got to thinking theres probably some better and more hightech lubes on the market then what I'm using. So my question is this....What brand or types of lubes...both grease and oils are recommended for use on our reels nowadays?

[DVT Mike]

I use Super Lube grease on gears, Yellow Rocket Fuel in bearings, Reel-X on sliding parts such as the clutch. I'm also experimenting with some of the lubes from Boca. I've gone to a light coat of automotive gear oil on the levelwind. It's heavy enough to stay in place but doesn't collect all the crud and gum up like grease can in an exposed application like that. Regardless of what brand you use, the most important things are to clean prior to lubing and not to mix brands on the outside chance of incompatibility. Adding lube to dirty parts can do more harm than good.

[encorebilly]

Originally Posted by champman

Didn't mean to rub anybody the wrong way there pro, I was only writing from my own exprience with the Johnny Morris reels. I totally agree that regular check up's on any reel is very important and I also think that those reels have their good points and not so good that's why I wrote buyer beware. Do your home work and ask questions about any reel or anything that you buy for that matter. That way you feel good about what you bought and there aren't as many disapointments, if any, down the road. As far as repairs on the BPS reels, none of the shops in the St. Louis area except BPS will do any work on a BPS reel. I guess the bottom line is, if you like what you have then all is good.

I have 6 golds,1 blue elite,and 3 or 4 titan.Fish almost daily and tournaments,reels work extremely well on the kistler rods,be hard to find better for the money.And besides,I service my own,not very difficult.