# Reel Maintenance



## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

Spending a week in solitary confinement with Noel hovering over the Bahamas bringing 15-20ft waves in my part of the surf left me with nothing to do, so I spent my time lubricating and cleaning my reels. Then, an idea popped in my mind- 
What if I’ll share it with the guys at P&S? 

Lubricating our reels would bring back the smoothness that was lost due to lack of lubrication, months of service, and due to saltwater and dirt. I used the Shimano Stradic FI 5000 as an example. The new reels in today’s market have stainless steel ball bearing, ARBB & CRBB, but this gears and bearings wouldn’t last long without proper maintenance. Proper maintenance of our reels would also bring us years of service.

I use the Shimano Oil & Grease to maintain my reels and some Shimano oil that came with the Stradic I recently purchased. _(I will be expecting a shipment of Shimano Oil & Grease from Japan, they are sold at ebay for $24+ shipping, I’ll sell mine for $19 shipped, let me know if anyone is interested- I just had to plug that in, I can’t help it!) _ 

Anyways, please don’t use WD40 for the gears and bearings, it will damage your reel. Use some reputable reel oils and grease (i.e. perma lube, a-dragger, hot sauce, Bantam Oil etc.) A positive (Philips) screwdriver and a negative (flathead) screwdriver is also needed. If you are going to clean your drags, a long nose plier would be helpful to pry open the drag washer retainer.









The first thing to clean are the areas which are hard to access. In this case, we will start with the bail trip/spring mechanism. To get to the spring, we must first remove the plastic bail spring cover. The cover is attached to the bail arm by 2 screws of different sizes. 
*NOTE:* _remember which screw goes to which hole, forcing the wrong size screw to the wrong hole will damage the groove._









Set the reel on the table and dont flip or move it when you remove the spring cover or the bail trip cover and the bail trip lever will pop out and you might lose it, or you might not know how to put it back.

*NOTE:* The *BLUE* arrows indicate to use the *OIL* on these areas while the *RED* arrows indicate to use the *GREASE*.









Clean the main shaft and the spool washers with a soft cloth. 
You can put a drop or two of alcohol on the cltoh and wipe the shaft and washers with it.









Also put 1 drop of oil on the handle knob shaft. Under the handle knob shaft is a handle ball bearing. 
Bearings needs to be oiled and lubricated to keep its smoothness, it is also necessary to prevent the balls from grinding against each other.









invert your spool and lubricate the following with oil _(the screw that attaches the drag click collar, click spring and drag click to the spool)._ 
Put a drop or 2 of oil on the drag knob as well.









Oil the connection between the bail arm and the rotor. _(in some reels, especially on the higher end shimano's and daiwa- grease is needed on these areas.)_ Under the line roller is a ball bearing the allows the line roller to turn as the line passes thru it- this eliminates the friction from your line and you line roller. 
DO NOT oil the line roller but the sides of the line roller allowing the oil to go under it.









To clean and lubricate the drag assembly, a long nose plier is needed. 
You can also use a negative or flathead screwdriver to take out drag washer retainer but it might fly off and you might lose it.
So a long nose plier is much better than a screwdriver because the plier will grip or hold the retainer clip. 










here's a closer look at the drag assembly.









When you put back the drag assembly, make sure that there is always drag washer inbetween each metal piece. 
The drag washer of the stradic is kind'a limp and I wouldn't think this can hold up to 25# of drag. 
I will replace the drag washers witha different type to increase it's drag capacity to more than 25#, but that will be on another article.









And lastly, when you have put back your reel together (hopefully), the last thing to lubricate is
the maintenace port. Drop 1 or 2 drops oil/grease on the easy access port- 
_(*NOTE:* Do not over lubricate the main gears inside the body or your reel would feel lethargic, 
this happened on my Shimano Spinpower & Twinpower. I put too much grease)_









A properly maintained reel will give you years of service, a properly maintained reel will give you the peace of mind that your reel won't fail in the heat of a fight. By doing the maintainance yourself, you will save $$$$ rather than bringing it to a reel service center. It will also familiarize you of your reels components- strength and capabilities. 

This applies to most reels especially to shimano and daiwa reels. i am not familair with the other reels, i.e. Penn, Quantum, Okuma. But most of the parts are at the same location (i.e. line roller, bail arm, shafts) except for the drags. some drags are located internally or at the back of the reel which requires a total breakdown of the main housing.


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## narfpoit (Jun 16, 2004)

Nice to see you back and with a great tutorial to boot.

John


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

Since I can't edit my post. Here's one that I left behind and wasn't able to post.

For some reels which doesnt have an access maintainance port, you can still lubricate your drive gear thru the handle port. There is also a ball bearing on both sides that you can lubricate thru this port.


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## Al Kai (Jan 8, 2007)

Welcome back.
You said you lived in Olongapo, I was at Wallace air station for a while.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

wow. great post....I see a permanent thread in your future


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## INDIO (Jul 10, 2002)

thank you , for the time and info spent on helping others. 


you da man !


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## jcreamer (Mar 6, 2001)

Very nice


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*I don't have a stradic*

But your post was great. Thanks for sharing.


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

RuddeDogg said:


> But your post was great. Thanks for sharing.


it doesn't only apply to stradics. it applies to "most" reels.

All spinning reels have the same placement of the line roller, knob handle, handle port and bail trip spring mechanism, shafts and spool clickers. With regards to drag assembly and drag washers, some are built inside (VS) and some are at the rear of the reel. these parts that i've named are the main areas of reels. The placement would differ if you have a baitcaster.


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## outfishin28 (Jul 15, 2005)

bible worthy


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## SeaSalt (Apr 29, 2002)

nice post... bible time...


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## fingersandclaws (Oct 17, 2005)

Nice job HR!!!


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

*Much thanks*

for that, most manuals are very poor at providing porper maintenance instructions.

I've gotten use to servicing my conventional reels, but pretty much just sprayed off the salt from the spinners and would maybe toss a drop of oil on the shaft once in a blue moon.

Thanks to your post, I will now consider doing a much more thourough job, I have several spinners in dire need of it.

Definitely bible worthy.

Welcome Back :beer:

:fishing:


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

Bible for sure !!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Hellrhay


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

*Total Tear Down*

If sand was able to get inside your reel,
here's a step by step demo on how to totally tear down your reel. 

Tools needed for tear down:
Wrench
WD40
Alcohol
screwdriver flathead/philips
toothbrush
Compress Air
Reel Oil/ Grease









in this example i use a shimano spheros 6000.
most spinning reels are alike, except for the number and placement of some screws and bearings. 
Shimano / Daiwa/ Tica reels have the same steps to tear down the reel to get to the internal parts in the main body. I have no experience in tearing down and cleaning any other reel other than the 3 mentioned. 









our first step is to take the handle and handle screw cap off the reel. Then we loosen the drag knob to remove the spool. 
for cleaning and lubricating the drag, please refer to the previous post- reel maintenace on a stradic.









removing the spool would give us access to the spool washer and the metal thingy that holds the washer- it is called spool support. 
_(the spool washer would dictate whether the line lay on your spool is forward tapered, even, or reverse tapered)_









after removing the spool, remove the small screw beside the rotor nut. the screw blocks the rotor nut from moving. with my old penn, 
if i remember right it was a spinfisher 5000ss, there was no screw that blocks the rotor nut from loosening and
sometimes causing the knot to come lose while fihisng.









use a wrench or an adjustable wrench to remove the rotor nut. 
Some rotor nuts- ESPECIALLY JDM's , _i.e SPINPOWER to unscrew the nut, you must turn clockwise instead of the norm which is counterwlockwise_









the rotor assembly taken out from the main body. You may or may not take the bail assembly apart. 
The bail assembly can be cleaned by WD40 and compress air without unscrewing it from the rotor.









view of the bail trip mechanism with the bail spring cover removed. 
The spheros has a more complicated bail trip assembly compared to other reels.
_My SpinPower's have a less complicated bail trip assembly._









with the rotor assembly removed, the roller clutch assembly can now be accessed. when you remove the screws make sure you are holding it level to the table and not at an angle so you won't lose some of the clutch rollers.









view of the roller clutch assembly with the screws and cover removed.
if you find sand in the assemlby soak it in alcohol and wash it with WD40.
IMPORTANT the clutch roller and the spring can easily be blown/remove or unseated. So becareful when cleaning the whole assembly. _Believe me, it's a pain in the butt to put them back together, happened on my spinpower- spinpower has also (8) clutch rollers._









with the clutch roller assembly removed and soaked in alcohol, the anti reverse and the ball bearing can be cleaned. 
Depending on how dirty it is, you can use a brush or jsut wash the dirt/sand away with WD40 and blow it with compress air.









turn the reel body to its side. You can see some screws, in this case there are 4 screws that holds the body together. 
Unscrew them and remember the placement of each screw. _in this picture i remove the screw first before i removed the roller clutch assembly. You can also remove the roller clutch first before you remove the screws. You can do it either way._









after removing the screws that holds the body together, pry open the sides by using a flathead screwdriver. now we have access to the gears inside the main body.









You can wash the gears inside with alcohol to soften the grease and sand. You can use compress air to blow sand that are inside and beyond reach. Use WD40 liberally to wash off the grease and sand inside it. you can move the slider and the gears by turning the pinion gear. 
_refer to the above picture to see which part is the pinion gear._










when everything has been cleaned, apply grease on all the gears inside the body and apply them liberally. 
Put a drop of oil on all ball bearings and on every part the rubs on other part. Put back the reel by following the pictures in reverse.

Goodluck and have fun fishing.


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## Seymore Bootie (Nov 1, 2007)

Wow! Very informative, with great pics. We're not worthy!


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

Great detail HR, thanks! This thread definitely belongs in the bible. 

Let me add one thing that I do on a complete tear down. I find that the line roller can get some muck built up in the grooves, so I remove the one screw that holds the assembly together and clean each washer before putting them back in and re-lubricating. Make sure when you take it apart to remember the order the washers are stacked so you can put it back together correctly.


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

fishbait said:


> Great detail HR, thanks! This thread definitely belongs in the bible.
> 
> Let me add one thing that I do on a complete tear down. I find that the line roller can get some muck built up in the grooves, so I remove the one screw that holds the assembly together and clean each washer before putting them back in and re-lubricating. Make sure when you take it apart to remember the order the washers are stacked so you can put it back together correctly.


i will do the line roller as well but it would be on another reel. looking for a daiwa reel that's commonly used, i'll check my friends reels.


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

HellRhaY said:


> The first thing to clean are the areas which are hard to access. In this case, we will start with the bail trip/spring mechanism. To get to the spring, we must first remove the plastic bail spring cover. The cover is attached to the bail arm by 2 screws of different sizes.
> *NOTE:* _remember which screw goes to which hole, forcing the wrong size screw to the wrong hole will damage the groove._
> 
> 
> ...


Hi HellRay - I need a bit of help here mate. Last night I was lubicating my Twinpower and while trying to grease the screw and oil the bail hinge on the roller side of the bail arm I untightened it too much and the bail spring popped out. I see in general how the spring mechanism locates ut I just can't work out where the metal rod that goes through the bail spring locates at the bail hinge end - it's the end of the metal rod which is bent at 90 degrees that I can't figure out where to place. You can't see that end in your picture because the end of the bail arm covers it up.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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## okimavich (Nov 13, 2006)

Check reverse side of the bail arm cover. There should be a small hole that the rod fits into.


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## snowy (Mar 7, 2008)

okimavich said:


> Check reverse side of the bail arm cover. There should be a small hole that the rod fits into.


Thanks okimavich. I actually found it myself last night - it was exactly where you said it was. Once you figure out the order in which to reassemble everything it's pretty easy really.


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## Fishman (Apr 23, 2000)

Need a little church time send it to the Bible.

Good post


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## Fishman (Apr 23, 2000)

Just a thought wouldn’t it be easier the remove the line roller bearing to oil the bearing?


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

Fishman said:


> Just a thought wouldn’t it be easier the remove the line roller bearing to oil the bearing?


you can certainly do that, but if the purpose is just to oil the line roller bearing- you dont have to. if i do a complete cleaning i'd remove the line roller assembly. c


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## phoenixshard (Apr 9, 2009)

Great post!


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## Jackman1950 (Sep 28, 2008)

*Great post*

Thanks for talking the time to put it up again. Jack


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## oldschool (Apr 8, 2008)

This one needs to end up in the Bible.


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## Jigmaster (Apr 3, 2006)

*Stradic Line roller guide*

This thing makes noise i have taken it apart and cleaned and oiled with the Shimano oil that came with it.

After 30-40 casts it act's up again would a light coating of grease on the bearings be a better option?


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

Jigmaster said:


> This thing makes noise i have taken it apart and cleaned and oiled with the Shimano oil that came with it.
> 
> After 30-40 casts it act's up again would a light coating of grease on the bearings be a better option?


try grease. i use grease on my twinpower and stella rollers. if it acts up again, call shimano.


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## New Kent Newbie (Apr 25, 2006)

If its the white fh stradic that is a very common problem with the reel i have 5 and they all do it


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