Bearings, Greace and Reel repair tools

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With a big “Thank you” to Alan Tani the author of
„Bearings, Greace and Reel repair tools“
in many past reel repair posts, you've seen me open up bearings to clean them, but i've never
had a complete discussion of one this topic before. i'd like to do this now. it's a post that is
long overdue. for many reels, bearings are the weak link. they are often the first things that
will fail. i will start out by saying that shimano recognized this and was the first company to
actually do something about it. as of yet, no other major reel manufacturers have followed
suit. i hope that will change.
basic fishing reel bearing design is fairly simple. you've got an outer race, and inner race, the
balls themselves and a cage. the material almost always stainless steel.
the biggest difference between bearings is the "side plate." avet and accurate bearings are
sealed. the seal itself is often blue or black, and is made up of a phosphor bronze and plastic
laminate that is simply pressed in.
the majority of reel manufacturers use bearings with one of two types of metal shields. the
first is a pressed in metal shield.
the second type of metal shield is held in by a retaining ring. when you see a bearing with a
metal shield, it's a 50:50 chance of seeing one or the other.
and then there are shimano's open bearings. they are touted as having more chromium for
greater corrosion resistance and are packed with a thin grease.
so there you have it, your four types of bearings; plastic seal, pressed in metal shield, retaining
ring with metal shield, and open.
when servicing a bearing, the first thing you have to do is PULL IT OUT!!!!!! trust me on this
one. there is nothing more frustating than having to pull a rusted bearing out of a rusted
bearing cap. to this end, i made a couple of bearing pullers. the small one can be made from
coat hanger material or stainess steel welding rod. one end is hammered flat, then bent to a 90
degree angle, and then shaped on a small bench grinder. it works pretty darned good!
the other is made from a penn handle nut wrench. yeah, don't throw these away anymore!
shape it the same way
the other problem situation is specifically with some of the shimano reels. here is an old
calcutta 400 spool. note that the bearing (well, bushing, in this case) is held in by a cross pin.
we're going to remove the cross pin with a special tool. it's a ratty old pair of vise grips with a
slot cut in one side.
oh, c'mon, stop laughing! it's all i had laying around and i'm on a budget! anyway, i cut a slot
in the side with a bench grinder. if i had to do it over again, i'd use the cut off wheel from my
dremmel.
you just press the pin out half way, the pull it out the rest of the way and be careful not to
mangle it up. remember, you need that pin!
see, nice and clean! now find a bearing with the same dimensions as this old bushing, say
3x8x3mm, press the pin back in and you're in business!
nice, huh!
ok, back to business. let's all agree for the moment that we are going to clean out the bearing
and we're going to to it my way. well, that means removing the seal or shield. we need a few
more specialized tools. our first bearing is sealed. this one is either a piece of cake, or next to
impossible. most are easy. you simply take a small scalpel (hey, one of the advantages of
working in a hospital), slide the blade carefully underneath the shield, twist the blade just a
little and the seal will pop out cleanly. so cleanly, in fact, that you should be able to pop it
back it and it should still work perfectly. if you gouge the cage underneath you will have to
replace the bearing, so be careful.
this is actually a bearing from the drive shaft of the smaller avet reels. newer bearings are easy
to service. THE SEALS FROM BEARINGS AROUND THE DRIVE SHAFTS OF OLDER
AVET REELS ARE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE. you will know quickly if you
have old bearings or new ones.
to remove a metal shield that is pressed into the bearing, you need another specialized tool.
this is an old screwdriver that i've ground to a nice long point. drive the point in between the
shield and the inner race, the pry up the shield. it will be mangled at this point and will have
to be discarded. this takes a light touch. drive the point in to far and you will mangle the cage
and ruin the bearings. i tried using the point of a small swiss army knife for a bunch of small
boca bearings and ruined the entire lot, about $100's worth. be careful!
the last type is a bearing with a metal shield held in by a retaining ring. you need a small fish
hook. see the end of the retaining ring? lift it up with the point of the fishhook right there. if
you have trouble catching the end of the ring, get a sharper hook.
sometimes it will go flying, so hang on to it if you want to see it again.
lift up the shield with the scalpel and don't gouge anything inside.
want to reinstall the shield? simply put it back in place, then hold the retaining ring at the
bottom, then push in the the right side, then the left side of the retaining ring and you're done.
now all the bearings are open. let's clean them up. first is the hemostat. this is the easiest way
to hold a bearing.
now, to clean these things. i've tried a ton of different products. here's the short answer. it's crc
carb cleaner. of all the products i've used, this carb cleaner has the most pressure, and pressure
is everything. nothing else i've used works as well.
now, i've talked about "carb cleaner and compressed air" before and several guys jumped in
and said "no compressed air." i want to know that i took what you said to heart. since finding
the crc product, using lots of compressed air has not been necessary. so i now use the crc carb
cleaner to clean the bearing, and only a gentle stream of compressed air to remove the carb
cleaner.
now we get to lube them up. i was fiddling around with my "secret sauce" mix of corrosion x
and shimano drag grease and it seems to stick fairly well. good protection, lousy freespool.
typically i use corrosion x alone, um, in a reel x bottle. and for the bass guys, i have quantum's
hot sauce, met-ol from smoothdrag.com and rocket fuel. lots of freespool, lousy protection.
to get the maximum amount of protection, i always go back to yamaha outboard engine
grease.
i like to hand pack the bearings and replace the shields. it's the best way to avoid this.....
it's not necessary for any of you to maintain this type of inventory, but it might be a good idea
to keep a couple of bearings as back up. it is very easy to damage a bearing while you're
trying to pull the shield off. you do need to be careful.
i order all of my bearings from bocabearings.com, and i order them all "open and dry."
unfortunately, i still pay retail so you're looking $1-1.5k in bearings in the photo above. after
dealing with bearing issues for all these years, i've come to a couple of conclusions. for lever
drag reels, i like spool bearings that are open and lubed with corrosion x. same with star drag
reels. for side plate bearings and drive shaft bearings, i like them packed with yamaha engine
grease. if the shields or seals can be replace, all the better.
what i don't like is a bearing that has a seal or shield with only a light lube. once water gets
inside, the bearing is toast. a shimano tld 15 has four bearings that cost $10-12 each. i've had
reels that required replacements of all four. the avet sx, mx, jx and lx reels also have bearing
issues. there are six and they are all sealed. i like to open up the two spool bearings, clean
them out and lube them with corrosion x. the other four are opened, packed with yamaha
engine grease, the seals are pressed back into place and the bearings are re-installed. i've even
seen corroded bearings in accurate reels. the proceedure is the same as avet and i think it
would greatly improve the reliability of the reel. yeah, working on lever drag reels is alot of
work.
wet versus dry drag washers. seems like i've been fighting this battle for the last 10 years.
what's the big deal? i still get asked once in a while, so i'd like to go through some points that i
think are important and then i think you'll have a better idea of where i'm coming from.
just so we're all on the same page, i'd like to define a few terms i use. the first is "start up."
when you first pull on the line, some drags tend to stick a little, so you have to pull a little
harder. once the line starts moving, it may take, say, 5 pounds of drag to keep the line moving.
that initial pull may take 6 pounds to get it started. that extra pound (or 20%) is what i refer to
as "start up." with a horribly sticky drag, the start up might be as high as 100%. my personal
preference is zero.
the next is your drag setting. simple enough. it's the number of pounds needed to keep the line
peeling off the spool once it starts moving. that number will increase as the spool height
decreases. it actually doubles when the spool height decreases by half. for spinning, star and
lever drag reels, i will quote a drag setting but always add "at the top of the spool, " even if i
do not.
then there is "accelleration" or "high speed runout." this is the nasty tendency for a greased
drag to become more slippery. a gentleman named cal sheets has done work some on this.
imagine a situation with a large shimano tiagra 80, a 50# drag setting, and a 500# tuna. such a
fish might take a 100 yard run in 10 seconds. cal sheets had found that the functional drag
would decrease as much as 40% during these hard runs. it was not necessarily a function of
temperature, it was interestingly more a function of speed.
the shimano star drag grease is a pure teflon product that has a melting temperature of 300
degrees farenheit. when applied in excess, this problem with accelleration was noted. when
the excess was removed, it became less of a problem, but i do not know how much less. cal
sheets also now sells a pure teflon grease. it has a melting temperature of 500 degrees
farenheit. it is applied liberally to the drag washer of a large lever drag reel, then the excess is
vigorously wiped off. cal sheets says that this has eliminated the problem of accelleration. i
have no reason do doubt his work, but i have not seen the data.
and lastly, my definition of a properly functioning drag system. try this with your own rod and
reel. spool the reel with a desired line weight. let's say 20 pound monofilament, just to pick a
number. place the reel on the rod. run the line through the guides. tie with line off to a 5
pound weight, which is 25% of your line weight. clamp down on the drag star. reel down to
the weight. lift the rod up until the grip is at a 45 degree angle. now adjust the drag until the
weight drops one foot every 5 seconds. if your reel can perform to this level, then you have
near zero start up. this is my definition of a properly functioning drag system.
regarding greased carbon fiber drag upgrades in top drag spinning reels, bait casters and small
to medium conventional star drag reels, i simply find a carbon fiber drag washer that gives me
a "best fit." i can cut them down to size pretty easily if needed. i slap a thick coat of grease on
the drag washers, install them and let the grease squeeze out the sides. when i first started
doing this, my friends were amazed at the smoothness and level of performance and
reliability. many tackle pros, shop owners, repair personel and industry were adament that i
was totally wrong. sometimes, it got personal. so what i did was to slap in more grease, and
then take pictures. i just used the excess grease in non-lever drag reels just to annoy the nonbelievers. and one fisherman, after another, after another, would say "yes, i own this reel," and
"yes, it is as smooth as he says." oh, and "yes, these drags last forever!" and for the most part,
the harassment stopped. it is true that you get no respect on the internet without pictures.
what about lever drag reels? i always wipe off the excess, but that is because it allows me to
get a higher strike drag setting before losing freespool. i am also concerned about
accelleration, but i believe it will only be an issue with one fisherman out of 10,000. the start
up remains zero and that's my main concern. the grease also prevents water damage to the
drag washer and aluminum underneath. and when i say that i've almost won, here's what i
mean. shimano started out with greased carbon fiber. they get credit for that original
innovation. you will now see greased carbon fiber drag washer in all of the flagship two speed
lever drag reels, including penn, daiwa, okuma, accurate and tiburon. only avet and alutecnos
have dry systems. someday, that too may change. and then i will call my victory complete.
why no grease star drag reels from the major manufacturers? only progear has a greased
carbon fiber drag system. i can only guess, but perhaps other manufacturers consider this
system to be too expensive. and why make a reel with a drag system that will last forever,
when they would rather have you buy another reel. as for spinners? they WANT you to buy a
new one each year. otherwise, why would they introduce a new model every year? basically,
start up is the main issue here. accelleration will never be. but this is a battle i know i will
never win. it is simple frustration on my part, but i wonder somtimes if companies deliberatly
make a reel that they know will fail, just so that they can sell another one.
had a couple guys ask about lubes recently. it's a work in progress, so here's where i'm at now
......
for bearings, i have some "speed" lubes for the bass guys, but they don't get used much. i'm
pretty much exclusively using corrosion x, but i keep it in a reel x bottle. that's been a point of
some confusion. i started at the recommendation of my local tackle shop. it's worked well
enough, so i've seen no need to change. the reel x is $5 for a tiny bottle, the corrosion x is $17
for a big trigger spray bottle. the math is easy.
for drag grease, i just switched to cal's drag grease and i'm very happy with it. i had purchased
6 pounds of shimano drag grease late last year and finally ran out. cal's grease is $24 per
pound, shimano's is $80. the math is pretty easy here as well.
for the screw holes and other non-exposed metal surfaces, i am still using yamaha engine
grease. there are four reasons here. first, i was told way back by my yamaha dealer that this
grease had excellent salt water resistance. i've never questioned that claim but it seems to have
held up. two, it's available in cartridges for mini-grease guns. you've seen my grease gun
before. it's a life saver. three, it's dirt cheap, at i think $5 for a one pound tub or $7 for a set of
three mini-grease gun cartridges. and forth, the stuff says blue forever. i can open up a reel
five years down the line and see that i've been there before. that helps me quite a bit, because i
like to know if a reel comes back with a problem.
and then there was my secret sauce. i was goofing around with a mix of corrosion x and
shimano drag grease for a while. i was looking for a lube that i could use in spool bearings.
the goal was more protection than simple corrosion x, and more spin than heavy grease. i got
my best results from a mix of 1 part shimano teflon grease and 5 parts corrosion x. even these
results were disappointing, so i gave up. i've come to the conclusion that bearings will simply
not last forever. if i want a reel to cast, i leave the bearing open and lubed with corrosion x. if
the reel is used for trolling only, then i pack the bearings with grease and reinstall the shields
or seals. it's one way or the other.
a few people have asked about the tools i use for working on fishing reels. i shot a few photos
a while back and thought i'd post them. if you like to tinker with reels, you might find
something here that might help you out.
first the lubes. i use shimano drag grease on all the carbon fiber drag washers. i'm finally
running out and may switch over to cal's grease. it's half the price. corrosion x is the lube i use
on all the bearings, level wind assemblys and reel handles. and lastly, there's yamaha engine
grease. that goes into all the screw holes and all the other non-exposed metal surfaces. it stays
blue forever. i can open up a reel and know immediately if i've worked on it before or not.
here's my tool rack. i found some hard blue styrofoam at work, don't remember where the box
came from, drew a 1 inch grid and started punching holes. it forces me to be neat.
flat, phillips and allen heads.
deep standard and metric sockets, precision screw drivers.
my little handy dandy bearing puller.
6 inch calipers. i use this alot!!!!!!
specialty shimano and penn spool wrenches.
a working inventory of all the penn ht-100 drag washers made. i order all my penn stuff from
pennparts.com. i'm their biggest non-business account!
bearings from bocabearings.com. they like me alot as well.
boxes of screws. mostly stuff that i've accumulated over the years.
this little dremmel comes in handy! seems that i'm always grinding away at something.
more boxes of stuff.
i'd have carpal tunnel syndrome without this little baby! it's a little electric screwdriver from
milwaulke. they're about $100, i have two, finally busted one and i need to replace it.
now for the grease gun. this is another little item that i could not do with out. here's the grease.
here's the gun. home depot has these. note the position of the nozzle.
home depot has these as well. it's a blowgun kit.
take the inflator needle and cut off the tip with the cutting wheel of the dremmel, the screw it
into the adaptor.
screw in the adaptor, load up a grease cartridge and you're all set. this is another "must have"
item.
and lastly, my favorite. 7-8 years ago i found this wrench in a tackle shop for $20. i put it next
to a standard penn wrench so you could see the difference. i bought two, lost one, and just had
a machine shop buddy make a bunch more
i also have a small compressor, a bench grinder, a drill press and a half gallon ultrasonic
cleaner loaded with green soap. the only thing i still need is a small bench lathe. i want to start
cutting sleeves to blueprint lever drag reels. yes, it's taken over my garage....