Removing Old Grease

[Mobasser]

I was recently given a French made Mithcell 308 by a friend. The reel is in clean original condition. The gear box on this reel is packed with old grease. What's the best way to clean out this old grease, before I can add new grease to the gears?

[garroyo130]

Scoop out what you cant and then soak in your choice of degreaser and scrub with a toothbrush. Simple green works good for me but you could probably even use dish soap.

[galyonj]

I use Purple Power to clean old wooden milsurp gunstocks. It's amazing. 

[Jig Man]

I wipe off excess with a Qtip, then add new.

[MN Fisher]

53 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

Scoop out what you cant and then soak in your choice of degreaser and scrub with a toothbrush. Simple green works good for me but you could probably even use dish soap.

Simple green is my cleaner of choice for just about everything...including de-greasing reels.

[Deleted account]

2 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Simple green is my cleaner of choice for just about everything...including de-greasing reels.

Careful with the paint on older reels though. 

[MN Fisher]

Just now, BassWhole! said:

Careful with the paint on older reels though. 

Ya - want to dilute it.

 

My scale modeling - a full-strength Simple Green soak will remove even old enamel paint when I do re-builds.

[WRB]

WD-40, rinse with Warm water then coat gears with Colgate white tooth paste re assemble and operate the reel for a few minutes. Clean out tooth paste with warm water and blow dry.

All grease and whatever is gone, lightly grease gears with reel grease.

Tom

[garroyo130]

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

WD-40, rinse with Warm water then coat gears with Colgate white tooth paste re assemble and operate the reel for a few minutes. Clean out tooth paste with warm water and blow dry.

All grease and whatever is gone, lightly grease gears with reel grease.

Tom

 

I read the toothpaste thing in the In Fisherman book Bass except they told you to use a drill. Can confirm it made for a way smoother reel. I wouldn't use a drill on a new reel but what you're describing sounds like a good option.

[WRB]

Off topic.... We used tooth paste to polish brass gears in Ambassador bait casting reels back in the 60’s-80’s with a drill motor.

Colgate white tooth paste is a good hand cleaner for nearly anything and biodegradable. I keep a travel size in my tackle bag to remove smelly scents, grease, oils from my hands.

 

[Paul Roberts]

Hey, Mobasser. The two best things I've found are mineral spirits and Dawn dish soap. And I've tried a number of things so far. Many of the de-greasing products you can buy are mineral-spirits, or soap, based.

 

I use odorless MS and it works great. I use a toothbrush to scrub with. Then I wash the MS off with the dish soap. Then I wash the soap off with fresh water. Soaps can be corrosive over time.

 

For some materials and finishes, Dawn alone is recommended. But, so far, I've not had MS be corrosive in any way to the metals and plastics I've used it with. And it's the fastest de-greaser I've used.

 

Hope this helps.

[Bass Junke]

30 minutes ago, WRB said:

WD-40, rinse with Warm water then coat gears with Colgate white tooth paste re assemble and operate the reel for a few minutes. Clean out tooth paste with warm water and blow dry.

All grease and whatever is gone, lightly grease gears with reel grease.

Tom

Looks like I am going to add colgate tooth paste to my armory of reel cleaning supplies. 

I stripped, cleaned, and re-lubed/greased all my reels this year. First time. I also used simple green to de-grease my bearings. 

7 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

Hey, Mobasser. The two best things I've found are mineral spirits and Dawn dish soap. And I've tried a number of things so far. Many of the de-greasing products you can buy are mineral-spirits, or soap, based.

 

I use odorless MS and it works great. I use a toothbrush to scrub with. Then I wash the MS off with the dish soap. Then I wash the soap off with fresh water. Soaps can be corrosive over time.

 

For some materials and finishes, Dawn alone is recommended. But, so far, I've not had MS be corrosive in any way to the metals and plastics I've used it with. And it's the fastest de-greaser I've used.

 

Hope this helps.

Wow! Another option. Thanks Paul.

[WRB]

Keep in mind the Mitchell 300 series reels rotate counter clockwise when spooling line.

Tom

[CrankFate]

The best way to get the grease off that reel is to throw in the water next time you go fishing. Mother Nature has a plankton and a bacteria in the water that will live off of it for the next 350 years. 

[bulldog1935]

Antique reels has been my hobby business for 20 years, and I've cleaned OP's antique reels up to 140 years old and valued up to $6000.  

Here's the dilute vinegar solution I use.  

 

[garroyo130]

41 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Antique reels has been my hobby business for 20 years, and I've cleaned OP's antique reels up to 140 years old and valued up to $6000.  

Here's the dilute vinegar solution I use.  

 

 

Good write up. Are you still using reserves of old quantum hot stuff?? I would think you would want to stay away from that if for no other reason than the staining.

[bulldog1935]

Hi friend, Hot Sauce Grease is Perfection on click-pawl drag gear in fly reels.  

High contact stress drive gears need more viscous grease, but Hot Sauce stays soft for a decade, and doesn't decompose - lithium grease is the bane of valuable antique fly reels.  

Zebco ran the grease in salt-spray tests for the equivalent of many decades.  

I like other oils better than Hot Sauce Lube, but the grease works great here: 

 

 

I do like the Hot Sauce oil for tapping threads.