# Spin reel mainenance - no body agrees with me



## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

I've posted about this before and all the "experts" disagree with me, but I'm stubborn and how do you trump success???
Ok, went fishing up in Idaho and was catching em like crazy, (L.M.). And then my reel started getting harder to crank. Oh, Oh, haven't done my "thing" on the reel for quite some time. Decided to quit. 2 hrs of fishun, before I did any damage to the worm gear, too bad too, was great fishun but I had caught a bunch so, that's ok. Better safe then sorry.
Went home, and did my normal maintenance/thing and loooo and behold, everything is back to working fine.  
Ok, what's my "thing"? Very very simple. I simply unscrew the crank handle and squirt some light machine/turbine oil into the bearing area, both sides and it's back to normal. In this case the reel is a President but I do the same on my Okuma/Explor with the same results. Why do I keep trying to post this? I've never owned a reel that has lasted more than 2 years (I fish a lot), even your favorite brand, guys. These reels are going over 3 years and if I do this oiling every few/several months they keep going.

P.S. everyone says this doesm't do the job - come on guys! How do you argue against success?
My theory, it's not so much the bearings, but I feel that the oil seeps into the worm gear area and prevents excess wear/hard turning/freeze up and increases the life of the reel w/o tearing it apart and re greasing, which I have done by the way, and didn't work long.
Good fishun be with ya


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

A little bit of maintenance on a reel will go a long ways. I'll pull my spinning reels completely apart every couple of years and clean out all the old grease and put some new back in. You can use either some expensive reel grease or as I do just plain old Vaseline. My dad showed me how to do it 50 years ago and I have never had a reel go bad from something inside. Now I have broke them by riding around in a truck or dropping them onto rocks with them landing the wrong way but everything inside was still nice and clean and in working condition.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Stick with whatever works for you Leaky.

I pretty much do what Critter does.


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## ibfishing (Jul 25, 2012)

sounds like you got it figured out to me..


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

I like to soak my reels with WD-40. Then I wash them with hot water. After drying, I apply grease to the moving parts. I also use machine oil in the hard to get to places.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

Leaky, are you dunking your reels again?


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## Moostickles (Mar 11, 2010)

We've got a few Penns and Shimanos that have been used in saltwater for 10+ years without any problems, and they have yet to be cleaned  (other than the occasional fresh water hose-down)

Looks to me like you need to keep trying new brands...


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## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

Went fishun today everything worked good with the added oil.


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