do you remove all old grease when you service a reel

[try to fish]

hi,

first of all,make sure what to use and where and most importantly how much is enough..........particularly with grease.check out alan tani website for bearings service.........follow each and every bits he said especially with the sheilds on the bearings..........totally remove them.i think he is using xtreme lube for the bearings now.

with grease,i have try most of it dupont krytox,superlube,daiwa,shimano,abu,penn and have come to a conclusion...............darn expensive especially the krytox......$60 for 2 oz.finally settle with nulon extreme preformance grease L80 altough L90 seems better.costs.........$15 for a tub which should last a lifetime.

tools........cant stress enough here,just make sure that you have the right one for the job particularly on the small/tiny phillips screws.also found out that cotton bud helps alot as well as needles and fishing hooks when working on the bearings.

make sure that the schematic is there to guide you and good luck!!!!!.

[moater]

Ah,as a 8 year old (onwards) kid it seemed so simple..just strip the reel down and put the internals into some kero or petrol,use a small brush to get into detailed parts,inspect and clean then reassemble with a bit of the old Mitchell reel grease in a small tube,with some light (Singer sewing machine) oil on the parts that were accessable such as line rollers,handle knobs and little fiddly bits.Would basically remove all lube and inspect very closely for any metal particles and related wear.

I don't service my gear anywhere near as much as when I was a kid..gotta get back to old habits and rediscover things that matter most perhaps?

[kevvie]

I might need some help here...

Is it just me, or do your reels go back together as smooth as stright out the box???

I hear people say it's 'better than new' but in my experience i have found every reel i strip, re-grease, oil and re-assemble never goes back together as smooth as new. Invariably i get knocks appearing in the gears, grinding or nobby feeling gears from the re-application of grease and sometimes noisy bearings.

I know i might sound like a hack, and while i'm no expert in mechanics or engineering, i think i'm cluey enuf to pull a thready apart and put it back together??? Any suggestions???

Now in my defense, I have sent numerous reels back to the manufacturers over the years for either repair or service and none have ever came back like 'new'...EVER... and these include, certates, stradics, sustains. Basically from this point i never use the reels again. If they don't feel silky smooth i discard them.

Anyone got any suggestions to breathe life into these reels. I'd love to use them again but not sure what to do???

Sorry to hijack the topic

[alphas]

Yes,I remove every minute amount of grease.
Never sure of viscosity between brands,so best to remove all.

[reidy]

all old grease is removed from my reels due to the fact wear creates minute/fine metal filings that will over time wear your gear out much faster.No old grease no filings.
Cheers
Reidy

[TuffTackle]

I might need some help here...

Is it just me, or do your reels go back together as smooth as stright out the box???

I hear people say it's 'better than new' but in my experience i have found every reel i strip, re-grease, oil and re-assemble never goes back together as smooth as new. Invariably i get knocks appearing in the gears, grinding or nobby feeling gears from the re-application of grease and sometimes noisy bearings.

I know i might sound like a hack, and while i'm no expert in mechanics or engineering, i think i'm cluey enuf to pull a thready apart and put it back together??? Any suggestions???

Now in my defense, I have sent numerous reels back to the manufacturers over the years for either repair or service and none have ever came back like 'new'...EVER... And these include, certates, stradics, sustains. Basically from this point i never use the reels again. If they don't feel silky smooth i discard them.

Anyone got any suggestions to breathe life into these reels. I'd love to use them again but not sure what to do???

Sorry to hijack the topic

Hi, when you pull a reel down to it's parts, apart from removing any grease and cleaning every part with Lanox or similar ( we use orange cleaner on all parts prior to washing with hot water, then bake them dry with a hot air blower 'Hair dryer will do')

For a rebuild
replace the bearings with new ones (best thing to do)
Or soak in petrol, and spin out the rubbish, then soak in LANOX and spin in the new lube (never take off the dust sheilds)

As you assemble it, work each part so it runs freely without any grinding of metal.
INOX MX6 or MX7 (non static grease, impurvious to salt water)

For worn gears, use Moreys EPL2 grease on the teeth.

One way bearings with LANOX spray.

Take the knob cap off, and pack MX6 in with your thumb.

Most parts that move should have grease applied before assembly.

You will find that as tolerances have opened up with wear, the reel will also need re-shimming, as this is done to spec rather than measure in production, sending reels back to the factory for service, they will not know how to re-shim a worn reel, you're better off measuring the end play with digital vernier and making shims yourself.

Should work like new.

Most reels from factory come with very cheap thin grease (spit would be better than most contractors for brands grease)

Re-lube the drag washers with INOX MX6

Torque all the screws like a head gasket sequence, and check, if loose or clunky, , re-shim again, until it runs smooth.

It is actually better to shim tight, and it will bed in after a day or 2 of use and run alot better.

Most factories shim to make the reel as smooth as possible out of the box, but this means as it wears in in the first couple of sessions it will start wearing out almost immediately because the tolerances are now too big.

Eg, For Charter operators we make reels tight, so they last longer, for private use we shim so they feel 'easy' out of the box, because that's the Norm in tackle shops.

The charter reels free up in the first 2 days to very smooth (run in), and we expect 6000 hours of life.

For General consumption, we shim based on 3000 hours of occasional use
(10 years)

And for both Charter and General, we use different greases.

If you picked up a reel built for charter and the general, they feel completely different from new.

But without experience just right is better to shim to, as too tight is worse that too loose, so there is about a 0.005mm difference between right and wrong.

In other words if you put the reel back together, and it feels gindy, and tight, it is TOO tight, shim it back untill it feels smooth, but not too loose.

If any parts have obvious wear or grooves (you will need to replace them)

For new reels I recommend INOX MX 7 and remove the factory grease.

To test the grease in the reel from the factory, put it between your fingers, and rub hard, if your skin gets hot, it's Cr#p grease.

Simon

[kevvie]

Mate that is a very comprehensive reply and for that i thank you.

I must admit that i'm not very handy with these sorts of things so i do have a few questions;

What and where do i need to shim - i know what shimming is but where do i look to do it inside a reel???

My issue is that the reels never go back smooth. The gears get grindy and i develop knocks when i wind. I assume if the gears aline properly and the everything goes back together nicely it should work smooth??? Obviously not

[TuffTackle]

Hi, no problem Kevvie

To try to explain where shimming needs to be done, would depend on the design of the reel, and how the design is intended to be adjusted to spec during assembly.

Best I can offer is to maybe do a full rebuild of one of our reels, and post it online.

For spinning reels the fundamental design is the same, so generaly what I could show you would suit most reels, but you would have to determine yourself whether or not the same would apply to another reels brand.

But, in any mechanical application, there is always a way to make adjustments for wear when it comes to gears, except in overheads, where gear mesh is in a fixed position.

For overhead gear wear, (which is less prevalent than spinning reels) because of the way the gears are arranged.

You can prevent premature wear by putting in a wear inhibitor such as PTFE (Teflon based assembly lubricants) which form a skin over the metal contact areas effectivley reducing metal to metal contact.

Later on I could also put up a rebuild of an overhead, (as most brands in the light to medium catgerories are very similar in design)

For big 2 speeds etc, they are basicly part replacement jobs, but you can prevent premature wear with PTFE if you apply it from new, but you would need to check that it would not void a warranty, by removing the factory lube and putting in another.

So if you want me to put up a rebuild or build up of a spinning reel, I'd be glad to help out with some of our knowledge.

Simon

[reidy]

Gday ##########,
Mate that would be worth a look.A step by step would be great if you have the time.Thanks in advance.
Cheers
Reidy

[Jurkyjj]

As said many times above, either carby cleaner or shellite to clean ALL the parts before re-greasing and replacing back together.

Cheers, Jason.

[oldboot]

Of course you should wash all the old grease out.

Have a real good think about what solvent you use though

Carby cleaner is pretty agressive stuff and not good for your health, brake cleaner is even nastier.

White spirit seems to be the best option.
White spirit is the base hydrocarbon of both petrol and mineral turps and quite a few other things.

It is a prety clean and pure hydrocarbon, and does not have the nasty stuff that is in petrol and doesn not have the oil that is in turps.

It evaporates almost completly leaving very little residue.

It disolves the most greases and oils and doe not seem too agressive on the paints.

Shellite is close.

cheers

Oh beware the dead shall rise....... I don't know why such an old thread was near the top of the list.

cheers

[randell]

Of course it better to clean off all the old grease and oil, but you don't want to take it completely apart, as you might not be able to put it together....................
I use wd40 to blow the old grease and oil away, and regrease the gears and light oil he shafts and bearings..................
I recently resurrected an submerged ABU eggbeater, 3 or 4 hours of fine work, got to be worth more that a new reel......
Found 2 Daiwa BW2 low profile baitcasters in a wheelie bin.................
Both needed full clean and service, they had never been opened.
One the anti overcast drum had come adrift on the spool assembley, so had to use some silastic to fix it.
Now it casts sweet.
I think most blokes don't bother servicing reels, so that's why 2nd hand reels should be dirt cheap .........................
That's why new reels are so popular...........
randell

[oldboot]

The sad thing is quite a few new reels go a hell of a lot better if they are cleaned & re lubricated.

I baught a used shakesphere bait caster to learn on.......it worked ok, and certainly was in good condition........ but I tell you what.......after cleaning & re-lubing, it is a far better machine.

I wonder how many bait casters end up in the tip.....that would be just fine with an hours work.

cheers

[MattChew]

I use Shellite for cleaning parts ... completely dries and leaves no residue.

Ta
Matt

[oldboot]

Shelite is very close to white spirit.

cheers