Submerging reels

[Mbirdsley]

I guess this is Probally more aimed at the river guys who wade for bass.  How anal are you guys in stripping your reel down greasing and oiling it.

 

 I took my bait caster on the river last Thursday and when I parked the canoe. the spot I chose to get out of was a 4 foot hole on the bank.  Rod went to bottom of river.  I found it luckily however, it did have sand in the reel.  

 

got it home tore it down and re grease everything.  I only took the side plate off. I didn’t remove any gears except the bearings that are on the handle. It took me about 6 times of taking my black max apart and than back together to get it right

 

I usually make it a point every spring take to take the spool and all of the side plates off of my spinning gear to get oil and grease in the gears and bearings.  Is this sufficient or if they get submerged I need to take apart and re-grease everything? 

 

 

 

[Tywithay]

After I get done wading the river, I'll flush it with some fresh water, much like the salt guys do. It's just to get some of the loose debris off of it. If the internals are well-greased, most of the water will just bead off everything. If mine sits in the sand, or on the bottom of a river, I'll break it down and clean everything. Sand in the gears can wear the teeth and make it sloppy over time. 

[Mbirdsley]

How do you flush your reels? Do you take anything apart or just run the whole thing in the faucet? 

[Tywithay]

I take off the sideplate and pull out the spool, then hit it with the sprayer in the kitchen for a bit. Then, set it out to air dry. Been doing it for years and haven't had any issues yet.

[craww]

Generally speaking if it gets dumped, it needs to be torn down, throughly cleaned and relubed if you're trying to get the most long-term use out of it. Once you get grease wet, it no longer works as well. 

 

I learned the hard way this year with two spinning reels, both Abus that got dunked once each last season. I had tore them down and flushed most of the bearings and repacked the gears with grease since it happened. But I didn't take out the anti reverse clutches as the pins can be a nightmare to keep seated. Sure enough the reels started getting rough, tore them ALL the way down and pulled the clutches up out of the frame to see rusted messes.

 

You may be fine,  or it may take a while to see any issues. Personally going forward whenever dunking a reel I'm going to take the thing down to the frame and clean every bit and relube. Grit in the worm gear, main gear, pinion, etc can cause premature wear if nothing else. 

[OnthePotomac]

As far as just wet reels, think about how wet they can get laying on the deck in the rain.  Granted you do not have the potential sand/dirt issue. Years ago I bought computer keyboard blower and it has been invaluable.  It doesn't blow at hurricane speed, but does a nice job of blowing out water.  I use it to blow my bearing dry after cleaning and reels at annual cleaning time.

[Mbirdsley]

I guess, If you are going to take the side plates of you might as we’ll throw some grease in the gears.  You are that far already.  I noticed after taking my accurist apart this year that the bearings were starting to rust. 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

A brief submersion in relatively clean water shouldn't cause any harm. If they lay on the bottom or grit or symptoms are evident I suggest a deep cleaning which is even further than You went. 

[Mbirdsley]

6 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

A brief submersion in relatively clean water shouldn't cause any harm. If they lay on the bottom or grit or symptoms are evident I suggest a deep cleaning which is even further than You went. 

how far do you go? to the point of taking the gears and everything else out?  This last time the rod and reel went right to the bottom luckily the sand only got to the handle/drag area. I ran all of that under the faucet than like I said re oiled the bearing and re greased the gears.  All of the grittiness went away after that. 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

When I recommend deep cleaning I'm talking about a complete frame off tear down. 

[Armtx77]

I got back yesterday from a 4 day Float/Fish/Camping trip in Northern Arkansas.

I spent yesterday afternoon setting up all the hammocks and camp gear to dry out, eventhough it was packed in waterproof bags, it still gets damp from humidity.

Today, I have cleaned all the rods with warm/soapy(Dawn) water and the reels have had the covers taken off and blown out with compressed air from a can(keyboard air). I have taken the spools off and cleaned them up as well.

I, nor my wife had any gear get dunked, but we spent 6-8 hours a day in a canoe and stuff gets wet. I didnt notice any water intrusion in any of my reels, but that doesnt stop my OCD from telling me water got in there and I just cant see it.

 

Gear does not come cheap, a little bit of leg work every few times out. Not only prolongs the life, but gives you the chance to correct things, before they turn into costly repairs. As stated earlier, I have OCD when it comes to my "gear". Whether that is how I clean my $2k canoe, vacum out the debris in my Hennessey Hammocks, clean rods/reels or air dry plano boxes full of lures...etc.

 

I want my stuff to work, the next time it gets used. 

[BassThumb]

Any reel that can get rained on can also get submerged in water for a short time without damage. Sand and grit is the problem, not water.