You know it is bad when your reel winds in and sounds like a coffee mill in action. Yes, I've been struggling with most of my bait casters as they all have significant use on them. Unfortunately I've not managed to service the bearings adequately, till this evening! Let me back up a bit and explain.
Over the past couple of weeks I've been trying to find a suitable way to lubricate the bearings. While I'm able to get to all the bearings I've not been able to properly clean and re-pack them in grease. I've been researching all the information posted on line, specifically the fantastic amount of information at Tackletour.com. Their articles are all crafted well with good photos to complement the helpful information. Through reading all the various articles I've known just how to complete the bearing service. Now I just needed the tools.
As previously stated accessing the bearings was not all that difficult. Fairly straightforward. Interesting it is very similar across all the bait cast reels that I own. My challenge was to get the retaining clip off the individual bearings so I could remove the side cover and expose the actual bearings for cleaning and re-lubricating. Always that one thing. My research revealed that most are able to be removed using a needle. Unfortunately all the needles I tried were not sufficiently sharp or small enough to disengage the clips.
Recently my lovely wonderful wife reorganized our linen closet where we also stored all sorts of care products. In doing so she located my tube of professional grade dental probes. Aaah, now there is a sharp point! Also suitably stout for the task at hand. Yes, it was. Using the dental probes I was able to easily remove the retaining clip followed by the bearing side shield. This allowed me to properly clean out the bearings and the rest of the assembly of debris and old lubricant. Yes, the lighter fluid did have a difficult time cutting through the very old residual lubricant. Fortunately, some aggressive swirling helped to get the solvent to do its thing. After the bearings were cleared off it was a simple matter of packing the bearings back with Tetra lube. < we shall see just how well that works and for how long >
I progressed through all the bearings and serviced each with a good cleaning and re-lubricated. After buttoning them all back into the appropriate position I took the reel to the yard for a few casts. Previously it was quite the accomplishment to make it all the way to the hedge. My second cast almost easily cleared the top of the hedge towards the neighbor's yard. I had to deliberately stop it short by clamping down on the spool. Impressive casting with very little input effort.
I may eventually change over to the Lucas Oil Red & tacky #2 which I use for a number of other applications. That has slightly more viscosity over the tetra lube. All in good time as there are other reels to address too. Gotta get them ready for some bigger fish action.
My initial impressions are positive. I've got to put it through the paces before making another assessment. Hopefully that opportunity will come soon enough.
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