Reel maintenance

[Bankfisher22]

I have a reel that needs a bit of oil and grease and someone told me that it was ok to put gun oil. Is that true or is it a load of crap? And if it is true have any of you all ever tried it?

[The Bassman]

Gun oil (a lot of guys use Rem) is fine on spool bearings but everything else needs grease or higher viscosity oil. By the way, your post will probably get moved to the Rod, Reel, & Line forum. 

[OnthePotomac]

I have been servicing my own reels for 15 years and decided early on  to use the oil and grease developed which works for reel maintenance.  In my case it is Yellow Rocket Fuel on SS bearings, ReelX on bait cast worm gears and crank shaft bearings and either Cal's drag grease , or Shimano ACE2 drag grease on gears.  Another good gear grease is SuperLube, or Yamaha Blue Marine Grease.   This is something where every angler doing their own reels, or reel cleaning services, has their own favorite reel lubricants, but they will rarely be general purpose lubricants like Mobil 10-30W ??

[redmeansdistortion]

I've never used Rem oil.  For me, it's TSI-321, Yamalube, Superlube, Reel X, and Cal's drag grease.

[J Francho]

Rem Oil will work for bearings.  The oil doesn't necessarily need to be marketed as a reel oil.  One of my favorites, Oust Metol is for skateboard bearings.  TSI 321, another top tier oil was developed for NASA.  For general use, Cal's drag grease or Shimano Star Grease for gears and moving parts, and Shimano Bantam Oil or ReelX are very good, easy to find choices.

 

You can get all you need here: http://smoothdrag.com/

[tholmes]

I've used Rem oil and it works just fine. Any good quality light synthetic oil will work for bearings and levelwind worm gears. Mobil 1 5W-30 is a cheaper alternative that also works just fine. Regular maintenance is much more important than what specific brand of oil that you use. I oil the bearings at least twice each season, and the worm gear gets a little oil more often. 

For gears, I use Yamaha blue marine grease thinned to the desired consistency with light oil or Tri-Flow. Drag washers get a very light coat of Cal's at the beginning of every season.

 

Tom

[Deleted account]

assuming the viscosity works, gun oil (or any other lubricant) will work fine. Make sure it's not CLP or something like it with a lot of cleaners or surfactants.