Reel Oil

[WdyCrankbait]

Hey everyone,

I am new to this website and am in ah of the wealth of information on it, great site!

My question is with up coming fishing season, I am starting to dust off the rods and reels. I have been oiling up my reels so far, but that lead to wonder which is a good oil for reel lubrication and what to aviod. I currently use Quantam's Hot Sauce, and Abu Garcia's reel oil. I have noticed in some of the manuals that come with my reels a oil and grease is mentioned. What is the difference and why are the two needed?

Thanks for the advice,

[Nkybassfisherman]

the difference in grease and oil is that grease is more of a paste and is applied to things like gears, and oil is a liquid and is applied to your bearings.

[0119]

Be careful using Hot Sauce it will void your warranty if used on other than a Quantum reel.   ARe you talking spinning or casting reels or both?

[WdyCrankbait]

I use that Hot sauce on my BPS Pro-lite baitcasting reel and Shimano spinning reels, Sedona 2500fi, and Symmetry 1500fi

[burleytog]

I use that Hot sauce on my BPS Pro-lite baitcasting reel and Shimano spinning reels, Sedona 2500fi, and Symmetry 1500fi

Why?  What's wrong with the oil Shimano provides with their reels?

[Grey Wolf]

Do not use hot sauce. Baaaaaaaaaad crap.

[tennwalkinghorse]

I use the oil from the reel mechanic you can buy it on his web site and reel butter has two oils one is just for bearings and all so works great.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

What ever brand you settle on: oil for bearings/ grease for gears. If changing brands, thoroughly clean all parts of any residue since some lubes are incompatible with one another.

[Carrington]

i only own shimano reels so all i will use is shimanos own oil and i send the reel to an expert 2 times a year to get fully cleaned and lubed.

[BobP]

Nothing wrong with Hot Sauce oil, it has one of the better viscosity ratings for bearings.  What I don't like is the red dye that migrates all over the inside of the reel.  The new Reel Butter bearing oil looks good and is widely available.  I've been using Yellow Rocket Fuel and Superlube grease for years and they work great.  Superlube is a white PTFE (aka Teflon) grease sold for auto bearings.  Find it at NAPA and a 8 oz can will last a lifetime.  I also suggest getting some Shimano Ace-2 drag grease if your reel has fiber drag washers.  It's a thick, sticky cosmoline that will make your drag system work at least twice as long as regular grease.  There are lots of good low viscosity bearing oils, including the Shimano oil that comes with their reels.  But the lower the viscosity, the more often you need to re-lube your bearings.

[0119]

Rocket Fuel is great stuff especially if your a distance nut.  But it'll require much more frequent re lubing.  If you think hot sauce is good you ought to check out the archived posts and study it further.  Besides it stains reel parts. 

[kikstand454]

stains reel parts?

like i care if they are stained...im not looking at them. i wouldnt put the hot sauce on my daiwas... but it works just fine on all my quantums, and they are as good as new after 3-4 years of service. and thats 4 to five times a month year around.

i understand not mixing lubes between makes and stuff, and i totally respect reelmechanics expertese on the subject and value his oppinion. however, i think its more that the hot sauce isnt THE BEST lube for your reels. not that its chloric acid and will melt your bearings into goo.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

kikstand has a point. The key is regular cleaning and appropriate lubrication. No one's product will do irreparable harm is used correctly.

[Bronzefly]

I clean and lube my reels often - certainly more often than they need it - just because I enjoy tinkering with them so much.  I've tried quite a few oils out there and I really like hot sauce oil.  I use some very high end spool bearings in very high end reels and hot sauce has not caused any damage whatsoever.  It stays thinner in the winter time than some other oils I've used, which is important to me because I fish quite a bit in winter.  To each their own, but I think hot sauce is a fantastic bearing lube!

[b.Lee]

I hope there isnt fake oil ;D buhrum chi*

[coopie84]

is there a good diagram or instructions anywhere anybody can recommend using as a guide for cleaning reels...Thanks

[b.Lee]

Such a wealth of info at the Reel Mechanic Website, on par with BR as far as info goes

[basser89]

Reel Mechanic's grease and oils are top of the line! I'm a Quantum user and can not stand Hot Sauce! From my experience, in moderate temps it's ok but on the two extremes (below 40 and above 90) it either gums up or gets way too thin. When I clean my own reels, I use Ardent's Reel Butter and Reel Grease.

[WdyCrankbait]

Thanks for all the ideas guys!  My Curado is my baby so, I have not put Hot Sauce on it.  But, I have put it in my 4 4 year old Symmetry and 2 yr. old Sedona, as well as the 3 year old BPS Pro-lite reel.  So far, I have not had problems with Hot Sauce, but once that is emptied I probably will dig out my Shimano reel oil and go with that.

Not sure who mentioned about the red tint the Hot Sauce has, but I am split on that.  In a way, I like being able to see if there is oil on the gears.  But also, I am sure that red dye does not help with lubrication, just speculating though. 

-COME ON FISHING SEASON-

[roadwarrior]

Honestly, I don't care what you use, but I don't understand

why anyone wouldn't pay attention to a professional.

Reel Mechanic has been doing this for a couple of years.

:

[Sam]

I thought you were going to take the reels to Knabe in Powhatan County and have them professionally serviced? 

[RobE]

Reel Mechanic has been doing this for a couple of years.

:

So... you're saying that he is 'prematurely grey'? 

[WdyCrankbait]

Sam,  yes, I am going to take my reels to him, but I was just curious about reel oils and one day I would like to do it myself.  I am an engineer, I have to tinker with things, see how they work.

[brophog]

Honestly, I don't care what you use, but I don't understand

why anyone wouldn't pay attention to a professional.

Reel Mechanic has been doing this for a couple of years.

:

That's where the tricky part comes in, isn't it? In every industry and every field you're going to run into professionals with differing opinions. Sometimes those opinions are radically different, and yet often times those people propagate excellent, long lasting products.

In terms of reel lubricants this is extremely common. I'll use Hot Sauce as an example because it tends to have the widest range of opinions. Some professionals both in manufacturing and service praise the stuff. Some despise it. You'll find local service guys that swear at it, and you'll find others that swear by it.

Either way you go in a case like that, you tend to be listening to a professional with years of experience backing up his opinion. It really comes down to which opinion you value the most, and how those opinions match your own personal experience.

[kikstand454]

its really not unlike how shimano and daiwa guys knock on quantum. are most quantums better than most shimanos? no. are they better than most daiwas? no. but theres nothing wrong with them and they work great for those that like them. quantum is like an independent party running against dems and reps.... they cant win for losing. doesnt matter how good they are.