ALANTANI ... New Reels, what to do???

[GALAZIO]

Alan

I'm sure I speak for everyone on here regarding your informative posts on reel rebuilds...they are fantastic! I look forward to each posts as cracking open a different reel is like christmas morning...you never know what you're going to get. For me, your posts show which reels tend to hold-up under heavy use. Thanks and keep it up.

Here's my question...I thought it would be helpful to show what someone could do to their new reels to keep them from becoming a junk pile. For instance...I always use T-9 spray, hit the moving parts and wipe the entire reel down. I keep the rags with T-9 in a zip lock and wipe the reels down after each use. What are your recommendation for new reels out of the box? After a day in the salt? Proper way to spray reels off? Proper way to store reels between use?

Thanks

[alantani]

pick an old reel, any old reel, and look at the corrosion. it's almost everywhere. now look at a new one. for the most part, you can keep you reel looking new with a little grease, a little oil, a good fresh water rinse and a blow dry.

drag washers - if your reel does not have carbon fiber drag washers, let's find a way to put some in. there is not a single reel out there that cannot be upgraded. and if your carbon fiber drag washers are dry, let's add some teflon grease. while you may (or may not) lose some drag pressure at the top end, the protection afforded by teflon grease is essential. and it eliminates "start up" or stickiness in a drag washer.

bearings - you've seen the post. depending on where they are, let's lube them, or pack them with grease, or something. bearings are simply not forever, but let's try to get them to last as long as possible.

screw holes - no brainer. back out each screw, shoot in small bead of grease, zip the screw back in and go to the next one. obviously it's not needed it the screw is going into graphite, but it's essential for chrome, brass or stainless.

other metal surfaces - all other non-exposed metal surfaces need a light coat of grease. i usually take care of this by just handling the parts with my greasy fingers. i also have a stash of old toothbrushes that the kids leave in the bathroom. just a dab of grease and i work it in, removing light stains, light salt deposits, and light corrosion. works great.

backing off the drag washers - old wives tale. i have reels stacked in the garage that i've left buttoned down for the last 10 years. you can do that with greased carbon fiber drag washers. leather drag washers, and every other type as well, will stick together, whether you back them off or not.

fresh water rinse - essential. get the water hose out and set the kid's loose on the reels. personally, i strip off all the mono from my 20# rigs after every trip. hey, it's 250 yards. we're talking about 75 cents worth of fishing line. THROW IT AWAY!!!!!! you don't want to lose the fish of a lifetime because you have a knick in the line from the last trip. now you can hose off the reel and get the spool, too. with spectra, you just have to accept the fact that salt will eventually get to the spool. you know, i'm just not into washing my spectra.

blow dry - i have a small compressor in the garage. after the reels are rinsed, i shake them out, maybe towel them off quickly, and then hit them with compressed air to blow out all of the excess moisture. then i respool the reels, reset the drags, re-rig them and throw them back into the cabin of the boat.

and sometimes, when i've had a long day and i'm just beat to a pulp, i hose off the rods and reels, throw them in a corner of the garage and leave them there until the next trip. if you properly rebuild and relube a reel when it's brand new, you can slack off a little from time to time and it won't come back around and bite you! too bad the manufacturers won't do that. but then, they'd never sell any new reels if the old ones never broke. funny how that works. btw, are we sponsored by any reel companies, here? that's how i usually get kicked off a board.

[Bigeye10]

pick an old reel, any old reel, and look at the corrosion. it's almost everywhere. now look at a new one. for the most part, you can keep you reel looking new with a little grease, a little oil, a good fresh water rinse and a blow dry.

drag washers - if your reel does not have carbon fiber drag washers, let's find a way to put some in. there is not a single reel out there that cannot be upgraded. and if your carbon fiber drag washers are dry, let's add some teflon grease. while you may (or may not) lose some drag pressure at the top end, the protection afforded by teflon grease is essential. and it eliminates "start up" or stickiness in a drag washer.

bearings - you've seen the post. depending on where they are, let's lube them, or pack them with grease, or something. bearings are simply not forever, but let's try to get them to last as long as possible.

screw holes - no brainer. back out each screw, shoot in small bead of grease, zip the screw back in and go to the next one. obviously it's not needed it the screw is going into graphite, but it's essential for chrome, brass or stainless.

other metal surfaces - all other non-exposed metal surfaces need a light coat of grease. i usually take care of this by just handling the parts with my greasy fingers. i also have a stash of old toothbrushes that the kids leave in the bathroom. just a dab of grease and i work it in, removing light stains, light salt deposits, and light corrosion. works great.

backing off the drag washers - old wives tale. i have reels stacked in the garage that i've left buttoned down for the last 10 years. you can do that with greased carbon fiber drag washers. leather drag washers, and every other type as well, will stick together, whether you back them off or not.

fresh water rinse - essential. get the water hose out and set the kid's loose on the reels. personally, i strip off all the mono from my 20# rigs after every trip. hey, it's 250 yards. we're talking about 75 cents worth of fishing line. THROW IT AWAY!!!!!! you don't want to lose the fish of a lifetime because you have a knick in the line from the last trip. now you can hose off the reel and get the spool, too. with spectra, you just have to accept the fact that salt will eventually get to the spool. you know, i'm just not into washing my spectra.

blow dry - i have a small compressor in the garage. after the reels are rinsed, i shake them out, maybe towel them off quickly, and then hit them with compressed air to blow out all of the excess moisture. then i respool the reels, reset the drags, re-rig them and throw them back into the cabin of the boat.

and sometimes, when i've had a long day and i'm just beat to a pulp, i hose off the rods and reels, throw them in a corner of the garage and leave them there until the next trip. if you properly rebuild and relube a reel when it's brand new, you can slack off a little from time to time and it won't come back around and bite you! too bad the manufacturers won't do that. but then, they'd never sell any new reels if the old ones never broke. funny how that works. btw, are we sponsored by any reel companies, here? that's how i usually get kicked off a board.

I just printed three copies of this and I will laminate them, one for work bench, one for boat and one for backup.

Thanks for taking the time Alan we appreciate it

[CAPTJohnny]

Great idea on the lamination for reference. Great post Alan as always

Hey Alan, as far as the light coat of grease goes for the outside metal surfaces, is there a certain brand you would prefer. I have the Shimano, and corrosion X.

[alantani]

yeah, i use corrosion x for bearings, level winds and handles. i have both the $50/pound shimano drag grease and $24/pound cal's drag grease for drag washers. for the screw holes, i just use the $3/pound yamaha engine grease. one of the nice things about the yamaha product is that it never hardens and stays blue forever. i could open up a reel 10 years from now and know that i'd serviced it before.

[trowpa]

Thanks for that great info Alan -Can you explain the difference in where you 'd use CorrosionX and ReelX?

[alantani]

Thanks for that great info Alan -Can you explain the difference in where you 'd use CorrosionX and ReelX?

as far as i'm concerned, it's only the price and the size of the bottle!

that little tiny bottle of reel x is $6 !!!!!!!! i bought a couple to try. the stuff inside was just ok, but i loved the little squeeze bottle. the big pump spray bottle of corrosion x is $18. what i do now is refill the reel x bottle with corrosion x and save a ton of money. seems to work just fine. alan