Reel Oil

[VinnieT]

I have a Shimano Citica, and I was reading the reel maintenance instructions on Shimano's website. It says to use Shimano's "bantam oil". I have Abu Garcia reel oil. This will work the same, right?

[LgMouthGambler]

Yeah. No problem. I dont use bantam oil on my Shimanos. I use a cleaning kit from Ardent.

[The Next KVD]

Yup it sure will. Just make sure you only use 1 drop per bearing.

[VinnieT]

K thanks. Also, can someone please explain to me how to oil the worm shaft?

[The Next KVD]

Oil is for bearings only. Grease is used for the wormshaft and gears and for that you'll have to disassemble the entire reel.

[LgMouthGambler]

Dont put grease on the wormshaft, just lightly oil. Grease will attract too much dirt. Only use grease for the gears that are behind the crank side plate.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Dont put grease on the wormshaft, just lightly oil. Grease will attract too much dirt. Only use grease for the gears that are behind the crank side plate.

Great advise right there!

[VinnieT]

So a drop of oil on the worm shaft will do it?

[Ima Bass Ninja]

So a drop of oil on the worm shaft will do it?

Yep! A little oil goes a long way

[jbsoonerfan]

I always just put a little drop on my worm shaft. Sometimes there is too much grease from the factory.

[The Next KVD]

Dont put grease on the wormshaft, just lightly oil. Grease will attract too much dirt. Only use grease for the gears that are behind the crank side plate.

Weird, never had an issue with attracting dirt on my reels before, but I don't glob it on like you think I might be doing. I kinda "dry brush" it on to get an extremely light coating. It doesn't matter in the end because oil attracts and collects dirt just as easily as grease and the wormshaft will need a cleaning anyways.

[Bass Junkie]

I lightly grease the wormshaft lightly on everything except for my jig and froggin outfits, which get oiled after every 1-2 trips lightly. The cleaning kit from Ardent is a good place to start!

[jhoffman]

Not all oils mix well either, really you should be cleaning those items down to bare metal before introducing any other kind of oil or grease. Otherwise you might end up with poor performance.

[5fishlimit]

Would a drop of light sewing machine oil work, or is reel oil a totally different creature altogether?

[BobP]

Yeah, sewing machine oil will work.  So will any machine oil.  But I'd rather use an oil specifically designed for reel bearings.  Abu Garcia reel oil will work but JMHO, it is way too heavy to work well in reel bearings.  The Shimano oil has a very low viscosity.  There are lots of bearing oils available nowadays.  I use Yellow Rocket Fuel mostly but wouldn't hesitate to use Ardent Bearing Oil, Friction Zero, etc.  The only one I don't like is the Quantum Hot Sauce.  Not because of its lubrication qualities, which are excellent, but because I hate the red dye in it.  The viscosity of the oil you pick to use in your reel bearings is a balancing act:  performance versus how often you will need to re-lube your bearings.  Very light oils perform best but need to be replenished more often.