2 tips I found on servicing spinning reel

[hahmmo]

Hi members, 

 

Just wanted to share what I found out today while working on a spinning reel. Maybe it is obvious thing for some but wanted to help those in my shoes..

 

I got a new pflueger xt reel, and it felt gritty when turning, with heavy handle turn feeling..I couldnt believe president xt felt worse than trion.

 

 When I give a free spin on handle, it would barely make one turn. This was a new reel that I replaced with the same model because I thought the first one was defective..The replacement was doing the same thing.

 

After several disassembly, I found 

Gritty turning feel resolved after removing and re-seating pivot gear. 

 

Then I cleaned shaft and inside of worm gear of any grease, I put only oils, and now my handle turns 3~4 times when I give it a spin. 

 

Just wanted to share as I am really excited to solve this issue on a brand new reel. Hope this helps some out there..

 

[MN Fisher]

13 minutes ago, hahmmo said:

Just wanted to share as I am really excited to solve this issue on a brand new reel. Hope this helps some out there..

I know there's another thread where some of us check and service brand-new reels before taking them on the water.

 

My President BC and my Trion-30 got that treatment last year. My Supreme and Trion-35 are getting it this year. One comment I made was that it seems Pflueger puts some 'gunky' lube in...either that or it's been sitting so long on a shelf that it gummed up.

[hahmmo]

7 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I know there's another thread where some of us check and service brand-new reels before taking them on the water.

 

My President BC and my Trion-30 got that treatment last year. My Supreme and Trion-35 are getting it this year. One comment I made was that it seems Pflueger puts some 'gunky' lube in...either that or it's been sitting so long on a shelf that it gummed up.

Yeah each vendor has different storing condition I guess.. I am glad that now I can set it up correctly for any new reel! 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Why does it matter how many times the handle spins? That’s not how reels are used. That’s not a mistake or defect. Oil won’t stay put inside the pinion. Be prepared to oil it regularly. Hopefully you didn’t degrease the gears as well. 

[MN Fisher]

20 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Why does it matter how many times the handle spins? That’s not how reels are used. That’s not a mistake or defect. Oil won’t stay put inside the pinion. Be prepared to oil it regularly. Hopefully you didn’t degrease the gears as well. 

Missed that earlier.

 

Mike has it right...my old Pflueger 640 (retired) doesn't even give one handle spin, but it's still smooth. I could put it on a rod and fish it now (well, when the ice disappears). Long as the reel performs smoothly, that's all that matters.

[garroyo130]

23 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Why does it matter how many times the handle spins? That’s not how reels are used. That’s not a mistake or defect.

I had a buddy who decided to add a shim to a gear on a spinning reel. It made it much smoother and increased free spin like crazy. He fished it for a bit but as soon as he hooked into a good fish those gears were toast. Unless you can out-engineer an engineer dont try it. 

[hahmmo]

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Why does it matter how many times the handle spins? That’s not how reels are used. That’s not a mistake or defect. Oil won’t stay put inside the pinion. Be prepared to oil it regularly. Hopefully you didn’t degrease the gears as well. 

 

Number of turn itself doesnt matter but what it does mean is effortless spinning.. Before I serviced there was resistance when reeling.. now its smooth but also effortless to spin. Nothing wrong with wanting best performance out of a gear..

 

My point was that there are parts that should be grease free. I didnt realize spool shaft on spinning gear was one of them.. Maybe many people already know.
 

Putting oil on a shaft takes a minute so I am prepared because now the reel feels perfect! 

 

[Bass Junke]

I understand we are talking about a spinning reel but this still applies. Tackle Junkie has a 4 part very extensive video on cleaning a bait caster. It is very good. In the video he explains and cautions that he degreases his reels and uses oil instead. This results in way more maintenance but a much smoother reel. He still puts grease in a couple of strategic locations where its dust attracting properties are needed.  Something to consider when current temps are below 20.

[J Francho]

17 hours ago, hahmmo said:

Before I serviced there was resistance when reeling

If I had to service a brand new ANYTHING, I would return it.

17 hours ago, hahmmo said:

Nothing wrong with wanting best performance out of a gear..

Straight out of the box, yes.  Otherwise....

17 hours ago, hahmmo said:

Putting oil on a shaft takes a minute so I am prepared because now the reel feels perfect!

Oiling to spool shaft has zero impact on smoothness of retrieve on a spinning reel, and does not affect retrieve in any way.  I would not add any oil to a shaft since it could get into the drag stack and affect drag performance.  Not sure what you think you accomplished here. 

21 hours ago, hahmmo said:

Gritty turning feel resolved after removing and re-seating pivot gear

Not sure to what part you are referring here.  The crown gear?

21 hours ago, hahmmo said:

Then I cleaned shaft and inside of worm gear of any grease, I put only oils

A President does not have a worm gear, only a crown and pinion.  At any rate, terminology aside, gears like this get grease, not oil.  I would not expect current performance to hold up, and I would be worried about them wearing out prematurely.

 

As far as grease getting gunky, or drying out, not sure what this means.  Grease is oil with detergent added.  What would dry out?  I mean, I've seen grease get old, and oxidized in VERY old reels, but this takes decades.  A new reel, not so much.  At the very worst, I've seen reels come from the factory with too much grease on them, or what could also be called more grease than needed.  What happens is the gears shed this excess to where it doesn't effect the reel at all.  This takes only a few minutes of use to happen.  It's not as big a deal as the internet makes out.

 

Again, gritty feeling when new out of the box - something is not right.  If something is not right with brand new, return it.

4 hours ago, Bass Junke said:

I understand we are talking about a spinning reel but this still applies. Tackle Junkie has a 4 part very extensive video on cleaning a bait caster. It is very good. In the video he explains and cautions that he degreases his reels and uses oil instead. This results in way more maintenance but a much smoother reel. He still puts grease in a couple of strategic locations where its dust attracting properties are needed.  Something to consider when current temps are below 20.

In practice and actual on the water use, this practice results in MORE maintenance and ROUGHER operation.  His videos go in depth, but his logic is often questionable, and I'm not sure I've ever seen him fishing.  Granted, I'm not a fan, be he sure sounds like he knows what he's talking about though.

[craww]

If its "gritty" outve the box, thats purefishing or perhaps the retailer you bought it froms problem.

 

 Now if its just a bit too much resistance, which I find most spinning reels have for my preference when I buy one..Theres an easier trick I always use without fully tearing it down, taking everything off the shaft, etc and degreasing. 

 

On alot of reels you can get the cover plate off the body and access the drive gear and most of the pinion without tearing it down. Take that off and with a VERY clean tooth pick remove some of the excessive grease in the teeth. Turn the handle a bit to where you can access things better as needed. Just be careful, dont use a qtip or something that will get things in the teeth...It makes a big difference without running a reel too dry or losing a clutch spring or something fooling with everything on the top of the shaft.

[J Francho]

You can crank the reel several times, and any excess grease will not be left on the teeth.  No reason to open a reel up or stick anything inside.  The grease that remains fills in the space between the gear teeth tolerances, and keeps the meshing of the two gears smooth and prevents wear.

[redmeansdistortion]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

At the very worst, I've seen reels come from the factory with too much grease on them, or what could also be called more grease than needed.

This is a big pet peeve of mine, some manufacturers over lubricating.  The worst offenders are the Pure Fishing brands.  I have yet to meet a Pure Fishing low profile reel that doesn't have excessive grease.  Heck, even the Pflueger President XT I own had straight grease in the spool bearings, it was like a whole new reel after cleaning them and applying TSI 321.  Daiwa and Shimano on the other hand, they do one hell of a job.  At least the ones I've serviced seemed to have been assembled with a "less is more" approach in comparison to the Pure Fishing reels.  

[J Francho]

4 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

This is a big pet peeve of mine, some manufacturers over lubricating.

It doesn't really bother me as much as a reel that doesn't have enough.  Nothing worse than a squealing reel two hours into using it new.  Too much doesn't really hurt, and protects the metal when it's sitting on a shelf.  Cleaning them after a year worth of fishing, well that can be messy.  Good degreaser helps, but it's a pain, so I'm with you there.  A lot less is a lot more when relubing a degreased reel

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

When I think of “over greasing “ I envision casting reels with grease coating the spool bearings and shaft negatively affecting casting and maybe gunked up sliding clutch parts which doesn’t show up right out of the box. 

[craww]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

You can crank the reel several times, and any excess grease will not be left on the teeth.  No reason to open a reel up or stick anything inside.  The grease that remains fills in the space between the gear teeth tolerances, and keeps the meshing of the two gears smooth and prevents wear.

I couldve been more clear, not just the teeth....The grease that gets pushed off the drive gear teeth is often excessively all over the inside lip of that gear itself, often ALOT, it gets on the shaft, and the pinion and the tight little tunnel/cavity that it lives in -  plus elsewhere where the assembly oscilates ...Point is removing the excessive gobs on moving parts (where applicable) makes for a more free feeling spinning reel...there are obviously some trade offs but the results are consistently there for me.

[hahmmo]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

If I had to service a brand new ANYTHING, I would return it.

Straight out of the box, yes.  Otherwise....

Oiling to spool shaft has zero impact on smoothness of retrieve on a spinning reel, and does not affect retrieve in any way.  I would not add any oil to a shaft since it could get into the drag stack and affect drag performance.  Not sure what you think you accomplished here. 

Not sure to what part you are referring here.  The crown gear?

A President does not have a worm gear, only a crown and pinion.  At any rate, terminology aside, gears like this get grease, not oil.  I would not expect current performance to hold up, and I would be worried about them wearing out prematurely.

 

As far as grease getting gunky, or drying out, not sure what this means.  Grease is oil with detergent added.  What would dry out?  I mean, I've seen grease get old, and oxidized in VERY old reels, but this takes decades.  A new reel, not so much.  At the very worst, I've seen reels come from the factory with too much grease on them, or what could also be called more grease than needed.  What happens is the gears shed this excess to where it doesn't effect the reel at all.  This takes only a few minutes of use to happen.  It's not as big a deal as the internet makes out.

 

Again, gritty feeling when new out of the box - something is not right.  If something is not right with brand new, return it.

In practice and actual on the water use, this practice results in MORE maintenance and ROUGHER operation.  His videos go in depth, but his logic is often questionable, and I'm not sure I've ever seen him fishing.  Granted, I'm not a fan, be he sure sounds like he knows what he's talking about though.

I did return the first one. The second one I got was the same. I had several pflueger and every model including lower end models have been butter smooth. I couldnt believe this particular president XT

model was badly designed, so I decided to see if it could be oil/grease isssue.

 

Not sure about all the technical stuff but whats true is my reel feels 100% better after cleaning the inside, especially the shaft. The only area that got grease was gear tooth. I am not sure if cleaning grease from shaft or oiling did the trick, but I am happy about the outcome, maybe there are some who is in similar shoes.

[a1712]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:01 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Why does it matter how many times the handle spins? That’s not how reels are used. That’s not a mistake or defect. Oil won’t stay put inside the pinion. Be prepared to oil it regularly. Hopefully you didn’t degrease the gears as well. 

I agree. There's a big difference in "easy to turn" and smooth. Brian.

[Bass Junke]

20 hours ago, J Francho said:

In practice and actual on the water use, this practice results in MORE maintenance and ROUGHER operation.  His videos go in depth, but his logic is often questionable, and I'm not sure I've ever seen him fishing.  Granted, I'm not a fan, be he sure sounds like he knows what he's talking about though.

Well, I wanted to learn to service my own reels, I heard it was a good video. It is quite in depth, definitely does a good job explaining what he is doing. Very specific what he uses on the different parts, kinda funny. I did learn alot, not going to adopt all his philosophies, but I will review when I need to strip my bait casters down again.

[ChrisD46]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:01 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Why does it matter how many times the handle spins? That’s not how reels are used. That’s not a mistake or defect. Oil won’t stay put inside the pinion. Be prepared to oil it regularly. Hopefully you didn’t degrease the gears as well. 

+1 Grease where grease is supposed to be used and oil where oil is supposed to be used !