525 mag

[fish4kings2]

hey gu's what's going on!! i got a 525 mag for x-mas and i see alot of post about cleaning the bearings in lighter fluid to get all the grease off of them,and then applying rocket fuel to them.my question how do you clean them and do you also clean the inside where the bearings goes and the side peice,also is HOT SAUCE the same as the rocket fuel oil?

[Charlie2]

You soak the bearings in lighter fluid until the grease/oil is dissolved.

After drying on a paper towel, you heat the bearing then apply ONE drop of oil. The hot bearing will literally suck the oil into its innards. I use the red kind, but any good machine oil will work.

I use a ultra sonic jewelry cleaner to clean bearings but a soaking will do OK. JMHO C2

[Cerberus]

hey gu's what's going on!! i got a 525 mag for x-mas and i see alot of post about cleaning the bearings in lighter fluid to get all the grease off of them,and then applying rocket fuel to them.my question how do you clean them and do you also clean the inside where the bearings goes and the side peice,also is HOT SAUCE the same as the rocket fuel oil?

I guess you could do all that but it may not be necessary.

Penn makes the 525 Mag as a casting reel and ships it ready to cast well. I used mine stright out of the box for several sessions before a deep dunking required a full teardown.

I did all the things you mentioned and the reel worked fine, but not noticably better than when a virgin. I used the oil that Penn packs with the reel, which is supposed to be one of the Rocket Fuels, the Red one, I think.

After my last teardown I went with Black Label 3-1 oil to slow it downa little and there is still not that much difference.

Try fishing with it first and see if it gives you any trouble.

[deepsessions]

Thats a fun reel. I used mine right out of the box too, it is fast enough for me. I have cleaned out bearings using white gas on other reels and it works fine just like lighter fluid.

[jlentz]

I would recommend using the reel straight out of the box before you try tweaking it. You may want to piggy back magnets to the back of the mag plate to get even more control out of it especially if you are new to conventionals.

John

[basstardo]

I'll chime in with another "use it out of the box as is." Unless you're a complete noob to casting reels, you should be able to bomb it out there with this reel with little fear of blowing it up. With the mags on 8, this is one of the tamest reels I own. I usually bump the mags down to 4 when I cast in ideal conditions. I'll up the mag setting in cross or head wind situations.

[Mark G]

hey gu's what's going on!! i got a 525 mag for x-mas and i see alot of post about cleaning the bearings in lighter fluid to get all the grease off of them,and then applying rocket fuel to them.my question how do you clean them and do you also clean the inside where the bearings goes and the side peice,also is HOT SAUCE the same as the rocket fuel oil?

Quantum's hot sauce is noticeably thinner than red rocket fuel, so it may make the reel a bit faster. The hot sauce is somewhere in between yellow label rocket fuel and tournament label rocket fuel.

I would suggest the red label, which as mentioned should be the same as what Penn supplied with the reel.

Like others suggested toss it first and see how it does, if it seems too slow then the bearings may have been installed with the original packing grease still in them. If that is the case, you will want to clean the grease out, other wise it may be fine for quite awhile as is.

Check the spool tension knob to make sure it is not to tight, that may also slow the reel down in some instances. With the casting lever disengaged (in free spool-ready to cast) you should be able to notice just a hint of side to side play (movement) in the spool.

[fish4kings2]

thanks for all your replys........my other question is how many wrap's of shock leader do you put on a mag 525?

[Oldmulletbreath]

I use minimum of four, a few more and you can retie without having to tie a new shocker.Keep in mind a longer shocker will affect your distance.

[mud]

I use minimum of four, a few more and you can retie without having to tie a new shocker.Keep in mind a longer shocker will affect your distance.

this is true. You need to find the sweet spot for the length of shock leader!!

[kingfisherman23]

I use five wraps of shock on the reel, then through the tip and back down ~1.5' to the sweet swing spot.

Quantum Hot Sauce is faster than Red Rocket Fuel. And unless you are upgrading to 6 or 8 mags on the carrier Hot Sauce may be too fast for fishing purposes (/it was too fast for me, I down-graded to RRF). RRF is recommended for fishing situations, and the small bottle that comes with the 525 is RRF (unless you got your hands on the limited-edition 525 TournaMag, in which case the supplied oil is Yellow Rocket Fuel).

Evan

PS: If you do have the TournaMag, be advised that it is a complete piece of uncastable trash, and should be sent to me immediately.

[jcreamer]

Use the reel right out of the box. I used the two that I have for all of last season and am changing the oil this winter. The only problems that I had was me not the reels. I had several birds nests but again it was not the reel's fault.
Get used to the way that the reel handles out of the box before you start changing things.

JC

[sprtsracer]

Use the reel right out of the box. I used the two that I have for all of last season and am changing the oil this winter. The only problems that I had was me not the reels. I had several birds nests but again it was not the reel's fault.
Get used to the way that the reel handles out of the box before you start changing things.

JC

All I have to say to this post and the other similar ones is...YUP! If you start cleaning out the bearings and re-lubing with a lighter oil, or installing ceramics/ABEC's, etc, then you'll have to add extra mags, then have to set your mag setting higher, etc. etc. etc.! One thing leads to another. Master the reel first. Once you've done that, you'll probably realize you don't have to make any changes at all. I have mine loaded with 50 lb. Power Pro, which most people don't do, and I have no problems. Other than an annual clean and re-lube (performed by me), nothing else has been necessary. If I could only make one change, however, it would be the knobby conversion, which would eliminate the need to constantly check the "slidy" mag setting before casting, which I have learned to live with. The only other change would be to make a METAL clicker that is LOUDER, but that's not available, and the guy who comes up with one will be able to make some money, ala Accurate and Newell.

[thebigman]

There's some 525 tunig stuff by Neil Mackellow over here - http://www.planetseafishing.com/tutorials/