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[Seahawk]

Hello All


I am planning to do a little reel maintenance with some lubricants.  I am wondering, I have seen and heard that WD40 is both good (a decent lubricant) and bad (it has been said that it will gum up the reel) as heard from different people.  Also, would mineral oil be useful or helpful in lubricating the reels?  I realize I can go to any tackle shop and buy reel oil, but I was wondering if WD40 or mineral oil would do the job.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

[Electroman]

WD40 is more a solvent than a lubricant. Id stick with proper reel lube. Its made for it and the small bit you will buy will last you for quite some time. Plus if you go to the local fishing store it gives you some day dream time.

[Kever]

Second for using proper reel oil. I used a heavier bearing grease once and my reel still isn't the same despite fully cleaning it after I realized I messed up, and having the local tackle shop rebuild it and replace parts. It doesn't free spool as well as it once did.

[Fish or cut bait.]

A light oil like reel oil or sewing machine oil.

[Rieber]

Don't get carried away with over lubing your reels. If you're going steelheading, it will be cold and the oil or grease will sloww down your reel parts.

Don't put you reel in the water for hero pictures - this is no good for the reels for several reasons.

For winter maintenance, put all the greased, lubed parts in a bowl and rinse them off with lighter fluid. Really work the bearings with the lighter fluid to get all the old grease out. Dry, un-lubed bearings are the fastest they will ever be. Lube slows then down but reduces friction when under load.

Your gears are going to get the most wear - bearings not so much.

The gears deserve the lightest coating of grease possible for winter. I put a dab of Hot Sauce on a piece napkin then use a tooth brush to work in a light coating a grease onto all the contact parts. If you can see any thickness to the grease - you applied too much.

Same as the friction points of pivoting and sliding metal components - just use a very small coating of Hot Sauce.

I'm sure there are other greases that work as weel or better but you need so little that I'm still using the same little squeeze container for almost 20yrs.

If you put your reel in the water or fish in heavy rain you should redo your bearings. By the way - nothing wrong with coating the bearings with WD40 - it displaces water but dries up. Seriously just clean your bearings in lighter fluid and they are good to go - you could use a drop of 3N1 oil if you were really concerned but I stopped using oil. I expect I'll need to eventually change some bearings but that's cheap anyways and I haven't changed a bearing in 11 years.

[Zackattack]

Ya, did the lighter fluid thing on my steelheader bearings and made a huge difference. Got rid of nasty factory grease. Soaked em overnight. Applied smallest amount of high quality gun oil.
Its much louder now when spinning quick but who cares..

[Rieber]

Louder but faster is exactly what you should expect. That describes it perfectly. You will., well I feel, you will also better feel the line.

[Kever]

What about a level wind? Safe to degrease with lighter fluid?

[Rieber]

Yes - safe on all the metal parts and probably on the plastic parts as well but I never tried soaking plastic parts. I did brush and wipe off almost immediately with lighter fluid on a tooth brush followed by a clean Q-tip

Strip down your reel first but please have a schematic or good memory or take pictures of how the reel looks at every stage.

Worm gear and pawl work best when clean and then just a light oil as previously stated.

Put all your metal components in a little tin or bowl and clean with lighter fluid or WD40 and a tooth brush.

Keep your bearing in a separate dish and clean them out with lighter fluid one at a time. Actually soak them together it doesn't matter.

The big thing to watch for is your anti-reverse roller bearings in their plastic cage. They work best when thoroughly cleaned and very lightly lubed. Do not use compressed air to dry this roller bearing and cage assembly otherwise you'll likely find you will be buying a new one after loosing a few rollers.

For me I found a clean, lightly lubed worm and pawl was most beneficial for a nice reel action and happy outing.

[Kever]

Thanks Rieber, I will try it then. Can't seem to get the damn thing spinning like new so it's worth a shot.

[Rieber]

Thanks Rieber, I will try it then. Can't seem to get the damn thing spinning like new so it's worth a shot.

If they don't spin right after cleaning them, get some new bearings from Mikes.