Boca Bearings

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

How would REM OIL go with OS7 or SS7 bearings? Ive been using this for stock and it is very thin oil I add bi-weekly(40-45hrs use) so oiling often for me wont be much of a change.

I saw a chart and REM oil was the thinnest on the list plus have it locally and very good price.

Can any give a distance gain from use of upgraded bearings 5-10-20' or 10-20yds gains?

I found the chart here are some oils and ratings

zebco needle 245

red rocket 93

reel x 74

yelow rocket 59

3n1 40

hot sauce 25

tour rocket f 4

rem oil 3

water 1

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Your right about REM Oil being super light. It's probably almost ideal for ceramics that could be run dry. As for SS bearings oil viscosity is a trade off of performance / longevity. The light oil will allow the bearing to spin more freely but will need more frequent application just as you stated. Any potential gain depends on the design and condition of the reel to begin with. Casting distance gains are probably modest in most circumstances. The largest benefit IMO is ease of casting which improves accuracy.

[bocabearingslarry]

For hybrid bearings with ceramic balls, you can run the bearings dry or oiled with out any loss of performance. The ceramic balls are lighter and denser than the stainless steel balls and they have a slight chatter to them when they spin because of the speed of the bearing. By adding a drop of high speed oil it lubes the races and balls and quiets them down. Oiling the bearing also increases the life of the races and cage by keeping everything lubed up. If you are going to oil your bearings make sure you use an oil that is designed to be used with ceramic ball bearings like our high speed oil.

Stay away from oils that claim to bond to stainless steel bearings. Since the bearings in the hybrids are ceramic that type of oil will gum up the inside of the bearings because the oil will not be able to penetrate the ceramic balls causing the bearings to spin roughly.

It really comes down to preference, oiling them will keep them quiet. Running them dry will let you run them without having to constantly oil them and maintaining them. I recommend running them oiled with the seal/shields on.

If you have any questions just let me know.

[Capt.Bob]

For hybrid bearings with ceramic balls, you can run the bearings dry or oiled with out any loss of performance. The ceramic balls are lighter and denser than the stainless steel balls and they have a slight chatter to them when they spin because of the speed of the bearing. By adding a drop of high speed oil it lubes the races and balls and quiets them down. Oiling the bearing also increases the life of the races and cage by keeping everything lubed up. If you are going to oil your bearings make sure you use an oil that is designed to be used with ceramic ball bearings like our high speed oil.

Stay away from oils that claim to bond to stainless steel bearings. Since the bearings in the hybrids are ceramic that type of oil will gum up the inside of the bearings because the oil will not be able to penetrate the ceramic balls causing the bearings to spin roughly.

It really comes down to preference, oiling them will keep them quiet. Running them dry will let you run them without having to constantly oil them and maintaining them. I recommend running them oiled with the seal/shields on.

If you have any questions just let me know.

Welcome Larry, good to have you aboard, plus the information you bring is always welcome! Now we need someone that knows a little about the chemistry of oil to explain the problems associated with mixing oils and comparability problems. I don't know enough about them so whenever I change to a different lube I flush them and start fresh.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I worked in the lube oil industry for years including running a family owned distributorship. The main thing to remember is that there is no magic here and there is lots of hype. Incompatibility between products is a possibility but mostly between greases due to the different soaps (thickening agents/mediums) used. Cleaning/flushing parts before lubing is a good idea regardless of lube to be used however it is acceptable to add oil to bearings between cleanings. Throwing new lube onto dirty parts can do m ore harm than good by gumming up the works. Keep parts clean and lubed with any quality product in a proper application and performance and durability will be no problem.

[bocabearingslarry]

Thanks Capt.Bob. As far as flushing bearings, if you're going to clean a rubber sealed bearing, remove the seals and you can soak them in a spray brake cleaner or spray carburetor cleaner. These cleaners have acetone and toluene which are great grease cutters and they dry clean.

Soak the bearings in a glass jar overnight and pull them and blow them out with compressed air. If you have an air compressor great, if not you can use the cans of compressed air used to blow out computers. Blow the bearings out, add 1 seal, add 1 or 2 drops max of light oil, install the other seal and you're ready to go (be careful not to push the seal too far in).

For shielded hybrid bearings you can leave the shields on and soak them the same way. Pull them and drop the oil directly on the shield. The oil will dissipate through the shield and reinstall the bearings. As far as mixing oils go, I wouldn't do it. I would just clean and start fresh.

The ceramic balls don't need much lubrication to begin with, they're low friction and if you put too much oil in them they're just not going to spin freely. Whatever you do, don't put hot sauce on hybrids it just wont work. Hot sauce will work on stainless but it's a waste on ceramic balls. REM Oil works well because it's very light. We also sell a synthetic oil that can be run on ceramic balls or stainless. We sell it in a 12cc syringe and it works very well for hybrid bearings.

[Capt.Bob]

The main thing to remember is that there is no magic here and there is lots of hype. Incompatibility between products is a possibility but mostly between greases due to the different soaps (thickening agents/mediums) used. Cleaning/flushing parts before lubing is a good idea regardless of lube to be used however it is acceptable to add oil to bearings between cleanings. Throwing new lube onto dirty parts can do m ore harm than good by gumming up the works. Keep parts clean and lubed with any quality product in a proper application and performance and durability will be no problem.

Thanks for pointing that out DVT, that was my point. I have seen guys try to lube drag washers with marine grease, then when you finally get them degrease, (which is a chore with some of them super tacky blue wheel bearing greases), and their reels serviced with the proper grease and oil in the proper places they think you have installed new parts, Thay can't believe how smooth everything works. There are oils that you don't want in bearings also, and can really be detrimental to performance, I now over the years I have been servicing reels I have seen people do a lot of things to make there own "secret formula" that made my job of servicing there equipment much more difficult. And although it doesn't usually destroy the parts, be it bearings, drags or plastic parts, it can, and at times it is cheaper to replace them than trying to prep them for reuse. Some of these additives I know will attack plastic, mainly solvent added to oils, this makes them more capable of being absorbed into the metals, but people use them where they can get into plastic where they ruin parts. sThen there are as stated different micro solid's added that clump when mixed, I can't even spell some of them but there are many, so these are the things I was referring to about a chemist, but mainly wanted to bring attention to those new to servicing there own equipment, to make sure you use the proper lube for the purpose it is intended for, and all oil isn't compatible, they may work great by themselves and be compatible with some other oils, but can be detrimental when mixed with some oils. Why I say I don't mix oil's, I relube with the same product or flush and start over. So if you didn't service your real don't just add your favorite lube without being sure what is already used in it, if you can't be sure, flush it and start from scratch, or have it professionally serviced, and whoever does the service will tell you what they used and can furnish you with the same thing. Your results will be much better and you won't have to wonder why it isn't helping when the wrong products are mixed!