cleaning your reels

[Stephen Callus]

 ???on a recent trip with Nomad and after a day of popping we started washing down our gear with fresh water, one of the most experience guide suggested to myself and two other anglers to tighten up the drags and submerge  the stella`s in a bucket of warm water for ten minutes then letting them dry off and all the salt will be removed just washing the reel the way we where do would not penetrate and remove the salt and this is how they clean their reels on Nomad.
Well we tried this back at our apartment wail we were waiting for our flight back home the next day.
One of the guy's had to take his Stella back to Shimano in Sydney for a loose part in his reel the technician who was dealing with the reel asked if the reel had been drop into the ocean because there was a lot of water in the body. He told him what we were told on cleaning the reels and his comment was this is a BIG NO NO he said just to tighten up the drag and gently go over the reel with fresh running water then using a cloth spray WD40 on the cloth and go over the reel and its working parts.
So i checked my three stellas and sure enough they all had about table spoon of water and had to undo the three side plate screws and empty as much water as i can. The shimano guy said we would need to spray WD40 into the the hole until it came out then tip it out and again repeat this process, do up the screws and put in a couple of drops of oil and the reel is back to how it was. Has any body been told anything similar on cleaning their reels   

[Scott Stonex]

Do not submerge any reel, your guide was incorrect!!!!! or taking the piss
As per Shimano instructions (1) Tighten drag (2) low pressure water wash or (instead of low pressure water I use Salt Away in a spray pack and towl off) (3) towl off (4) and then a wipe over with some WD40 or Inox. I would also suggest couple of drops of Inox on bail roller and wrapping some line around the roller and turning it so oil penetrates bearing and displaces moisture. Also one drop of Inox on any exposed screw heads showing on reel body or rotor assembly.
Be careful not to have any lubricant penetrate drag assembly.

[Stephen Callus]

Thanks for that Scott, I will try salt away for sure and the guide was serious. What are your views on a dry silicon spray over the reel?

[Scott Stonex]

Steve I have no experience with dry lube on reels, suggest you stick with Inox or WD40 because just of the salt environment. Just my two cents worth

[craig breadsell]

The other thing to remember is that wd 40 and inox can act like a degreaser, I do use them but watch that they do not dry out things like bail rollers and levelwinds. I use either tri flow or a product called protecta I think on my roller guides/bails and on my baitcaster levelwinds. We used tri flow on the gameboats I worked on for roller guides for both light and heavy tackle. Shimano Tlds and the like we use Silicone spray as it sticks and sheds water quickly from the bodies as they are a pourus graphite.

[Ben Thomson]

silicone spray! it does eveything that you need.

[Chris Webster]

I tighten up the drags, give a quick rinse with fresh cold water, spray some salt away, leave it for a minute or 5 then wipe off with a clean dry towel.
I also take the spools off and wipe the inside (not the shaft or greasable parts - is that a word??? greasabe?you know what i mean).
Have always dont this with all of my good reals and have never had an issue.

Chris

[John Sykes]

Hi All,
   Tighten up the drags, rinse with fresh water at low pressure and shake of the excess.  Leave to dry and then spray with lubricant of choice, Ballistol is excellent in my opinion.  I have switched to it from Inox and can't praise it enough, the bonus being that Ballistol is an excellent bearing lubricant as well. Wipe of the excess and last but not least don't forget to loosen the drag back off!
Cheers,
   John.

[Graham Blackmore]

People have said "spray" with their favourite lubricant ... is this just a general spray or on moving parts and screws etc?

[Andrew Poulos]

I rinse with water lightly, dry, then use inox or lanox on my reels. Never had any issue with the reels.

[John Sykes]

Graham,
   Others may be different but I will expand on how I go about this.  I don't plan on replacing any of my tackle anytime soon due to poor maintenance so I take my time and I am fairly particular about this.  If I am on a trip I will do as previously mentioned and when using the Ballistol I will give the whole reel a light misting and wipe off/spread the excess with a soft cloth (If you keep using the same cloth you end up with the situation where you will not need hardly any lubricant to coat the reel.) I then apply lubricant specifically to the handle bearing closest to the reel, the line roller bearing by directing spray in behind the line roller itself.  Every 4 or 5 uses I also remove the spool and wipe down the spool shaft and relubricate it with suitable grease.  I believe this is very important on Stellas to prevent salt crystals from cutting the shaft seal it be overkill but I do it anyway. At the same time I also remove both the handle and shaft cover and apply a single drop of oil to each main gear bearing.

   I haven't owned the Stella for that long but my other lesser reels show no signs of corrosion nor have I had any bearing failures since I started this routine a couple of years ago.  Another great thing to do is coat your reels in lubricant when new before spooling this serves to close the grain of the aluminium and will instantly increase the resistance to corrosion.
   Cheers,
        John.

   

[Graham Blackmore]

No problem with lube and braid?

[John Sykes]

Not so far with the Ballistol Graham, but I know some other brands such as CRC may cause problems.  Anecdotally I can vouch for Ballistol but I certainly haven't done any line tests subsequent to prolonged exposure.
   Cheers,
        John.