Oil and Lube New Reel

[FrankN209]

How many of you oil and lube a new reel before using it? Do you find it necessary? 

 

Regards

[desmobob]

I do.  I disassemble the new reel, clean out all the factory lube, flush the spool bearings, then re-lube everything lightly and carefully with the appropriate high-quality lubricants (MiliTech grease, Boca Lightning Lube, Cal's drag grease).

I don't find it necessary, but it sometimes makes a noticeable difference in performance.

Tight lines,

Bob

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Reels are typically over lubricated and performance improves with the first deep cleaning. My advice is to fish a new reel hard right out of the box to rule out any warrantable issues. Once satisfied, have at it. 

[FrankN209]

I use Militech Syn Grease also and Boca Lightning Lube. Thanks I'm doing that now. 

[Nick S]

I flush new spool bearings on casting reels and maybe clean the extra grease out of the inside of the pinion gear to improve casting but that's it. 

Spinning reels there's no point, extra lube in a spinning reel won't hurt anything. 

[.ghoti.]

My SOP is to ride a new reel like I stole it. I want any warranty issues to show up quickly. As soon as I'm satisfied the reel is OK, I will do a complete tear down, and lube to my specs. A positive improvement is almost always obvious.

[XzyluM]

I tend to tear all my reels down and do a full cleaning and lube them properly once I receive them. Fishing them hard to make sure there isn't any problems does make sense though. 

[cadman]

I would fish them hard for the first year like mentioned above. After that, you can clean the reel and super tune if you like to your needs. I will say that my Revo Premiers cast must better and with more ease after I cleaned them and then flushed the bearings.

[J Francho]

23 hours ago, .ghoti. said:

My SOP is to ride a new reel like I stole it. I want any warranty issues to show up quickly. As soon as I'm satisfied the reel is OK, I will do a complete tear down, and lube to my specs. A positive improvement is almost always obvious.

This is pretty much my SOP with a brand new reel, though I rarely buy brand new.  Any reels sent to me for review are not touched, since I'm reviewing the from an average user's perspective.  Used reels are immediately inspected, test casts performed, and completely broken down, cleaned, rebuilt, and lubed the way I prefer.

[kickerfish1]

I usually don't mess with new reels. Like others, I fish them first and see how they preform. If something does not seem right or I am not happy with the results they either get sent back for an exchange or serviced hoping this will fix the issue. Sometimes I will flush and lightly oil the bearings if I feel it is not casting all that well. My reels get serviced annually so if it doesn't get attention then it will in the off season.

[Buckeye Ron]

Does anyone have a link that details the cleaning,lube,and flush process they use?

[OnthePotomac]

Only clean and oil spool bearings on new reels.  Everything else is only affected on retrieve anyway.

[kickerfish1]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 9:15 PM, Buckeye Ron said:

Does anyone have a link that details the cleaning,lube,and flush process they use?

Why make and model of reel are you looking for? Asking because some reels are fairly easy to work on while others are more complex and require things like spool bearing removal tool/plier. If you have a that uses the VBS breaking system, there are several on YouTube.