Rough feeling reel. NEED HELP/ADVICE

[ThatFishin'Guy]

Hey guys, I want to start by saying I have done many of my own reels already with excellent results and right now this reel has me stumped. I bet all my Northern brethren are getting ready to do what I am doing or have already done it, but that is a deep reel cleaning. So far I have done my Shimano Citica, Daiwa Fuego and Lews TPG. I am in the process of putting my two Speed Spool LFS reels back together and have come across both reels being rough/geary. Yes I have greased the gears and No I have not over greased it, for some reason no matter what I do these two reels feel rough and all my others feel smooth as butter, same with the Lews TPG. Now I have had these reels for a little over a year now and use them quite frequently (2 or 3 times a week) when I can. Would it be possible that the  gear teeth have already worn out?! After lubing one of the reels in question it feels buttery smooth for about 2 outings before the geary/rough feeling comes back. Now I know you shouldn't have to re-lube your gears every other time you go fishing. That would just get annoying and my 3 other reels do not have this problem and can go months without re-lubrication. So I am hoping you guys have some suggestions or better yet fixes that will help me out.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[ww2farmer]

Dumb question...............but did you put them back together correctly? Were they feeling rough before you took them apart?

 

I have serviced my reels myself for years, and even I sometimes put something back together wrong.

 

Also, what kind of grease are you using?

 

I found that some brands of reels, didn't like some brands of grease. Strange as that sounds, but it was an issue I had with some quantum and shimano reels a few years ago. Using the cheap Abu Garcia reel grease or Ardent reel butter sold at walmart, these reels always felt "rough" after a few outings. I switched to regular automotive wheel bearing grease and that solved the problem.

[ThatFishin'Guy]

Yes, i have put them back together correctly, they are great for maybe 2 days of fishing then they go back to feeling rough. I have tried many types of grease on them hoping to fix the problem from, Abu Reel Lube, Yamaha Blue grease, marine grade grease for outboard engine gears, Molybendum grease and all have had the same results. The only thing that makes sense to me, is my gears are worn. I just find this hard to believe because my other Lews reel is silky smooth. Yes it is a different model (Tournament Pro G) but the internals are basically the same with the acception of carbon drag and different gear ratio.

[ww2farmer]

Have these problem reels ever been under water, or does a lot of water get induced into them during the course of fishing? 

 

Here's another thing to consider....................DVT can back me up on this, as I pulled my hair out with a reel once and sent it to him to see what was up with it..........

 

It was a Shimano Citica 201E, after servicing it would be smooth for a day or two, then feel rough. I would service it again..........then it would feel rough. I sent it to DVT..... come to find out, Shimano..........FROM THE FACTORY installed RH gears in a LH reel, and while the reel worked when clean and full of grease, it got rough reel quick. We were both kind of shocked it worked with the wrong gears in it, but it did. Not saying this is your problem, but it's something to think about.

 

I find it hard to believe that your gears would be worn out to the point of being junk. I have several cheapo Black Max reels that are going on 3-4 years old, that get used over 100 times a season, and they are fine. Brass gears are tough...........almost over kill in a bass fishing reel. 

[iabass8]

 Assuming you did indeed put everything back together correctly,  and nothing else is out of place, your Gears are bad.  If it's a constant rough feeling it's your Pinion l. if you can noticeably tell it's only in one spot it's your maingear. I will venture to bet it's your Pinion thats bad.  Inspect your pinion under a bright light and I bet you find some sort of a Knick or Burr.Either way replace them both . It happens. 

[ThatFishin'Guy]

Thanks for the input guys. I will definitely take a look at the gear teeth under a bright light as this is what I think the problem may be. Most of my fishing buddies just say I'm OCD with my reels but I keep telling them they're wrong. I have also e-mailed Lews to see what they can do for me regarding a set of gears.  Not sure if they use a different metal or metal alloy on their higher end reels gears or not but I just find it odd how my Tournament Pro is still like new while my cheaper Speed Spools are both experiencing this problem, I guess this could fall under the "pay for quality" category. 

Also are the gears supposed to feel sharp or smooth on the ends? I am asking because the main drive gear feels smooth (almost sanded flat on the top of the teeth, if i'm describing this correctly) whereas the pinion has quite sharp teeth on it.

[WRB]

Everyone has thier own favorite reel lubrication, mine are BreakFree CPL for oil and Shimano Star drag grease for gears.

You may need to check the level wind pawl and worm gear. Brass main drive gears could be made from poor quality brass, common problem with reels made in China. Packing the gears with Colgate white tooth paste and running the drive gears using a drill motor at slow speed for about 1 hour, then cleaning with hot water rinse will polish the gear teeth.

Tom

[cottny27]

This has happened to me before and it will drive you crazy.  I polished parts and did the toothpaste thing with no success.  I just ended up ordering a main drive gear & pinion from Outdoor World.  I think it was like $22.  That fixed the problem.  BPS carries Lews now so I'm sure they have some cheap.  

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

A number of new reels have an artificially smooth feel out of the box from being so over lubricated. It's not all that unusual for a clean, freed up reel to have a little more sound. I can't tell from here if that's your case or not. Worn out gear sets are not all that common but anything is possible as evidenced by ww2farmers story. 

[Lunkerplumper]

Ok guys gosh I'm at a loss , this thread is old but I'm new here and don't really know where to go , similiar to this post I'm having a bad issue and my reel is only 2 months old , ok so my reel handle reels very smooth with no load on the line and even sometimes with a lure but I'll go fishing and cast it out( Wich it'll cast a mile smoothly) but om the reel in my handle is really rough when retrieving my lure it'll reel very roughly and I can not for the life of me figure it out , without anything on the line it'll spin freely an smoothly most the time but under tension and in the water the handle is very rough to reel and the rod tip vibrates as well I've checked the rod tip and the guides I see no issues the reel is 11+1 kastking royal legend I know it's a cheaper reel but people swear by them before this issue came up it was absulutely fabulous please help 

[greentrout]

23 minutes ago, Lunkerplumper said:

Ok guys gosh I'm at a loss , this thread is old but I'm new here and don't really know where to go , similiar to this post I'm having a bad issue and my reel is only 2 months old , ok so my reel handle reels very smooth with no load on the line and even sometimes with a lure but I'll go fishing and cast it out( Wich it'll cast a mile smoothly) but om the reel in my handle is really rough when retrieving my lure it'll reel very roughly and I can not for the life of me figure it out , without anything on the line it'll spin freely an smoothly most the time but under tension and in the water the handle is very rough to reel and the rod tip vibrates as well I've checked the rod tip and the guides I see no issues the reel is 11+1 kastking royal legend I know it's a cheaper reel but people swear by them before this issue came up it was absulutely fabulous please help 

you have a one yr. warranty with kastking ... why not use it ...

 

good fishing ...

[Lunkerplumper]

Even without the box or receipt ? I ordered it took it out and immidiatly went fishing my wife was cleaning up and threw the stuff away 

[greentrout]

Just now, Lunkerplumper said:

Even without the box or receipt ? I ordered it took it out and immidiatly went fishing my wife was cleaning up and threw the stuff away 

yep ...

[Lunkerplumper]

Ok neat do I go through kastking website ? This is my first reel from them

[greentrout]

i'd go to the website ... find the warranty section on kastking website ... did you buy through amazon? ...

 

i called 1 855 830 7430 and was taken care of ...

 

good luck 

[Lunkerplumper]

On 8/10/2019 at 3:28 PM, greentrout said:

i'd go to the website ... find the warranty section on kastking website ... did you buy through amazon? ...

 

i called 1 855 830 7430 and was taken care of ...

 

good luck 

Yes thru Amazon

[Will CA]

Hello everyone. I have a lew’s custom SLP reel I used this season . So 3 months of steady fishing. And fished in clear water to mucky water. I would rip clean the reel and lubricate once a week. Just the brake side and spool. I do not take apart the gearing and I don’t feel comfortable doin it when the manufacturer offers a service to do so by professionals. So I sent my reel to lew’s. Was very specific with what I wanted. There was nothing wrong with the reel, I just like taking care of my things. Cleaning , service, gearing lubrication and all that. A month later the reel comes back with 2 fresh nicks on the top and  the same dirt and grime was on it exactly the way I sent it. It’s sickening and very sad that this type of **** happens, but I jut wanted to share my experience. I thing when I send shimano my curator k for the same thing i won’t have the same experience. 

[diehardbassfishing]

 

Can we throw in aluminum alloy gears into the mix?

 

I don't have any experience with Al gears, but seems like a negative when new reels are introduced with them. Prompting users to swap out to brass.

 

 

Karl

 

 

 

[garroyo130]

14 hours ago, Will CA said:

Hello everyone. I have a lew’s custom SLP reel I used this season . So 3 months of steady fishing. And fished in clear water to mucky water. I would rip clean the reel and lubricate once a week. Just the brake side and spool. I do not take apart the gearing and I don’t feel comfortable doin it when the manufacturer offers a service to do so by professionals. So I sent my reel to lew’s. Was very specific with what I wanted. There was nothing wrong with the reel, I just like taking care of my things. Cleaning , service, gearing lubrication and all that. A month later the reel comes back with 2 fresh nicks on the top and  the same dirt and grime was on it exactly the way I sent it. It’s sickening and very sad that this type of **** happens, but I jut wanted to share my experience. I thing when I send shimano my curator k for the same thing i won’t have the same experience. 

 

Have you reached out to Lew's? They're pretty good about making things right

[Gary_Snyder]

Supposedly Shimano used to use (I don't know if they still do?) a special grease which made their reels smoother. Maybe Lew's is doing the same thing?

[Will CA]

On 1/10/2021 at 8:35 AM, garroyo130 said:

 

Have you reached out to Lew's? They're pretty good about making things right

I have, the contact I have said he needs to see it before he can say anything about it as if I’m asking him a question or I was lying. And I wasn’t , I was telling him they completely dropped the ball and this is where the company that failed to provide the service the claim to have, makes good on taking care of the customer they jerked around. I spoke to him via email and he said they would be looking at it today.and they can look at it all they want, honestly I won’t be satisfied until they replace my reel with a completely new one, as a result of them putting two fresh drop marks on the top of the reel. Its so lame that you can’t send your product to the company that made it and feel good about them actually cleaning and servicing it properly. It’s just lame

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

On 1/9/2021 at 9:13 PM, diehardbassfishing said:

 

Can we throw in aluminum alloy gears into the mix?

 

I don't have any experience with Al gears, but seems like a negative when new reels are introduced with them. Prompting users to swap out to brass.

 

 

Karl

 

 

 

This is unnecessary. Alloy gears are actually harder than brass. They only become a problem if misused by over loading them as they won’t bend but will eventually shear teeth off. The perceived roughness is due to the light weight of the reel. A light weight reel transmits vibration more readily same as a light weight rod. 

[diehardbassfishing]

Makes sense.

 

Karl

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

On 1/11/2021 at 2:23 PM, Gary_Snyder said:

Supposedly Shimano used to use (I don't know if they still do?) a special grease which made their reels smoother. Maybe Lew's is doing the same thing?

Our family owned a lube oil distributorship for years. Something I can tell you with certainty is that there is no magic in any of it, especially a comparatively mild application like a reel without high speeds, pressure and heat.