Shimano Skimping On Reel Grease On Under $70 Reels?

[Brodie_S]

I recently been learning about spinning reels and how they work so i open up a few cheap crappy ebay reels to look at them and how the basics of a fishing reel worked once i got good i started working out and how and were everything goes and works . I opened up my cazna not to do anything but to purely just look at the guts and gears  without touching them . I just seen the gears with a little bit of grease without enough grease . And this is bad because metal grinding with metal under load with chip the drive gear so i will picking up some penn reel grease and oil to fix this problem. And also the ball bearings had grease on then for some reason . So i will add a bit of oil on them when i get the penn grease and oil . Has anyone heard of this . I’ve haven’t used the reel and the only thing i have to done is a put a drop of oil on the 2 ends of the ball bearings before opening. Just by unscrewing the handle and putting a drop of some on the ball bearings. I don’t think that would influence that though because it was only a drop or to not enough to wash away the grease on all the gears which i would never do . The sienna was also like this when i opened it up . But luckily its just a simple fix with a bit of grease and oil the reel will be running in order to prevent gears and metal grinding corroding and breaking. Just thought i mind tell you guys just in case your cheaper shimano reels are not running as smooth this could be the problem 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

G'day Breaming with Bro

Thanks for the tips, I already do that but I need to buy some grease. 

Cheers Hamish  

[ellicat]

You should never add oil to your bearings, it will dilute the grease and defeat the purpose of lubrication. Only ever grease your bearings with reel grease.

[Brodie_S]

Yea i know that thats why i only use 1 or 2 drops and wipe off excess oil with a rag . So that doesn’t happen so yea i will continue to oil the ball bearings just wipe off the excess so oil doesn’t get to the grease . Thanks anyway though . The reason why I don’t like grease on the ball bearings is because it slows the reel down which doesn’t make it as smooth. The only time i would use grease on ball bearings is if it was a surf reel as there highly likely to rust if you don’t . Thanks for the suggestion anyway

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

You should never add oil to your bearings, it will dilute the grease and defeat the purpose of lubrication. Only ever grease your bearings with reel grease.

Hi ellicat

The only time I've ever removed/touched my bearings is when one needed replacing, then I've just left them do there thing  

Cheers Hamish

[Junky]

I don't use grease.

Oil only for me, but I service my gear all the time. That's how I get a good life span out of my outfits. Even the cheaper hand me downs I have for the kids get services, in fact I sat down last night and did the 6 cheaper outfits.

Nothing worse than gear that doesn't work when you need it. Washing under the hose and putting on the shelf is a recipe for disaster. Salt is extremely corrosive so if you want reliable gear....service it all the time, oh and don't forget the poor old rod. Give it a good coat in lanolin and wipe it down. Your rod guides and guide feet will thank you plus the cockroaches and rats won't eat your grips if protected. 

My thesis....

Grease, if left for long periods goes hard and loses its lubing properties, makes the action stiffer and catches foreign material like glue. I have lots of reels given to me that are locked up. When stripped down you find the grease has dried like glue and the oscillating shaft is locked into the pinion gear. Heat it up to melt the grease and out she pops, 90% of the time. 

 

The diawa oil that comes in the little orange and black squeeze tube made of alloy is the best oil I have found. It is almost like a car engine oil, possibly is something similar. 

That lighter singer oil stuff that Abu supply just runs straight out and doesn't really last long. Still works though. 

If I need to seal anything or grease the pinion and crown gears I use vasoline (where did all your minds go then....sick puppies ) 

Vaso is lighter/thinner and will not bind up the mechanisms like grease does. Just a small dab to . Don't pack it like your trailer bearings. 

 

Don't stress to much about the gears stripping. Shimano and diawa are pretty good nowadays. 

The cheaper overhead/spin combos in the shop that ruined most local tackle shops however will. Ive seen it happen on good fish. Cheap nasty crap or an expensive cheap crap rod, because the reel is stuffed. 

It isn't a car gear box with massive loads....unless you fish locked up on big saltigas or stellas that are capable of 15+kg of drag. Reels do not produce heat like cars due to the very low RPMs. The drag system is where that happens. Get a good drag grease and keep your drag lubed. 

 

 

Cheers. 

 

 

[ellicat]

Yes, if you go the oil route you will need to service a lot more regularly as the oil will dry out a lot quicker than the grease. If you don't your bearings will get rusty. Vaso is a good option, but I use the Daiwa grease on my reels and have no issues.

[Old Scaley]

And I wouldn’t advise pulling them part when new unless you really know what you are doing. The quality assurance processes for the major brands mean they come off the production line the way they are meant to, and fair chance you will lose a tiny spring or washer and then have to pay to get it fixed. By all means upgrade the drag washers if you are looking to optimise the performance but I would leave the insides alone until it is time to service the reel. Plenty of cheap second hand reels around if you want to hone your skills before starting on your new ones.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi Junky

Great post, thanks for all the information  

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

Yes, if you go the oil route you will need to service a lot more regularly as the oil will dry out a lot quicker than the grease. If you don't your bearings will get rusty. Vaso is a good option, but I use the Daiwa grease on my reels and have no issues.

Looks like I need some new grease too, hopefully I'll visit the tackle shop next weekend  

1 hour ago, Old Scaley said:

And I wouldn’t advise pulling them part when new unless you really know what you are doing. The quality assurance processes for the major brands mean they come off the production line the way they are meant to, and fair chance you will lose a tiny spring or washer and then have to pay to get it fixed. By all means upgrade the drag washers if you are looking to optimise the performance but I would leave the insides alone until it is time to service the reel. Plenty of cheap second hand reels around if you want to hone your skills before starting on your new ones.

Hi Old Scaley

Good advice, thanks for the tips  I've only really pulled apart reels that are slowing down/sticking a bit to see if something has rusted, my Shimano Nasci has stayed together for the whole time I've had it.

Cheers Hamish 

[Brodie_S]

Yea I’ve got a lot of experience on cheaper reels and have watched a few videos taking apart shimano and daiwa reels so im pretty sure i know what im doing I’ve also done a lot of research and binge watched a lot of tackle advisors videos on youtube so i pretty confident taking apart a shimano cazna as there a fairly simple reel . But yea I wouldn’t open up a reel I don’t know much about for example I wouldn’t open up a cI4+ stradic or a diawa Ballistic . as I don’t know how they work unlike a reel under $100 which are fairly simple and yea i would either use daiwa or penn for grease and oil. Thanks for all the feedback. Edit  yea i have good eyesight so i know if a washers missing or spring flys out where it goes back as I carefully look at everything before i move stuff around . And yea im going to use the cazna for a jacks and barra trip this year so im going to have put a little more grease then what it came with . And yes i know not to put too much grease in the reel . But the reel came with very little so i need to put some more on as to little grease can also be bad.

[Junky]

4 hours ago, ellicat said:

Yes, if you go the oil route you will need to service a lot more regularly as the oil will dry out a lot quicker than the grease. If you don't your bearings will get rusty. Vaso is a good option, but I use the Daiwa grease on my reels and have no issues.

I had the diawa grease too. Awesome stuff.

Liebherr crane boom grease is good as well. 

I just have a big tin of Castrol Vaso in the shed so I use that . 

[Junky]

When you start to pull reels down be sure to take pics at every stage. Easy in today's standards thanks to the modern phone.

Will save a lot of confusion when reassembling.