Worm Gear Greasing

[Jeffbro999]

This is some really great info. Very interesting to hear the opinions of the reel tuners on this board. I do all my own maintenance and have been back and forth on this. I used to use grease on some of my reels wormgears, but have been using TSI on them instead for the past few years. Never had any wear on my gears, and never had one fail for any reason. I always noticed more trash getting in there and sticking to the grease than with the TSI.

[brownhl]

To each his own I guess, I have only ever used ReelX on my Shimano worm gears and it has served me well for the last several years with no problems. Not a worm gear subject, but I have been dipping my pinion bearings in TSI 301 for the last two years and that works very nicely. I got this from Allen Tanni. No grease packing.

[toddmc]

The technicians at both Daiwa and Shimano have also told me that oil is fine. I previously used a light grease and I agree that it offers more protection, but oil makes your reel noticeably smoother in my opinion. I think the manufacturers just want the reel to last as long as possible. So, they use grease during assembly because they know the average customer is not going to do much service.
My home lake gets horrible algae blooms this time of year. It gets all over your line guide and worm drive. Fortunately, the Daiwa needle oil seems to do just fine and the debris hasn't seized anything. I do clean the worm drive after each trip with heavy algae with a Q-tip to prevent build up and then I reapply oil. The debris comes off easily because of the light film of oil. I'm always scared that I will ruin a worm drive because I use oil, but I've caught a lot of big fish and I have never had any issues.

[Scattergun2570]

The technicians at both Daiwa and Shimano have also told me that oil is fine. I previously used a light grease and I agree that it offers more protection, but oil makes your reel noticeably smoother in my opinion. I think the manufacturers just want the reel to last as long as possible. So, they use grease during assembly because they know the average customer is not going to do much service.
My home lake gets horrible algae blooms this time of year. It gets all over your line guide and worm drive. Fortunately, the Daiwa needle oil seems to do just fine and the debris hasn't seized anything. I do clean the worm drive after each trip with heavy algae with a Q-tip to prevent build up and then I reapply oil. The debris comes off easily because of the light film of oil. I'm always scared that I will ruin a worm drive because I use oil, but I've caught a lot of big fish and I have never had any issues.

After seeing your post, I decided to call Daiwa...and they told me they use a light grease,not oil,not heavy grease,,but a lighter type of grease.. Its amazing that there are such different opinions here.

[Teal101]

The technicians at both Daiwa and Shimano have also told me that oil is fine. I previously used a light grease and I agree that it offers more protection, but oil makes your reel noticeably smoother in my opinion. I think the manufacturers just want the reel to last as long as possible. So, they use grease during assembly because they know the average customer is not going to do much service.
My home lake gets horrible algae blooms this time of year. It gets all over your line guide and worm drive. Fortunately, the Daiwa needle oil seems to do just fine and the debris hasn't seized anything. I do clean the worm drive after each trip with heavy algae with a Q-tip to prevent build up and then I reapply oil. The debris comes off easily because of the light film of oil. I'm always scared that I will ruin a worm drive because I use oil, but I've caught a lot of big fish and I have never had any issues.

After seeing your post, I decided to call Daiwa...and they told me they use a light grease,not oil,not heavy grease,,but a lighter type of grease.. Its amazing that there are such different opinions here.

Really depends on who you talked to, a customer service rep may honestly have no idea.

[toddmc]

The technicians at both Daiwa and Shimano have also told me that oil is fine. I previously used a light grease and I agree that it offers more protection, but oil makes your reel noticeably smoother in my opinion. I think the manufacturers just want the reel to last as long as possible. So, they use grease during assembly because they know the average customer is not going to do much service.
My home lake gets horrible algae blooms this time of year. It gets all over your line guide and worm drive. Fortunately, the Daiwa needle oil seems to do just fine and the debris hasn't seized anything. I do clean the worm drive after each trip with heavy algae with a Q-tip to prevent build up and then I reapply oil. The debris comes off easily because of the light film of oil. I'm always scared that I will ruin a worm drive because I use oil, but I've caught a lot of big fish and I have never had any issues.

After seeing your post, I decided to call Daiwa...and they told me they use a light grease,not oil,not heavy grease,,but a lighter type of grease.. Its amazing that there are such different opinions here.

Really depends on who you talked to, a customer service rep may honestly have no idea.

I worked as a reel tuner/repairman in the late 80's early 90's her in SoCal in a certified repair shop called Turner's Outdoorsman. I was not real impressed with the so called expert guy from Shimano that trained me to service their bigger saltwater reels. I have a friend of friend that currently works as a repairman at Shimano. He says that they replace so many reels with new ones under warranty that there are many boxes full of expensive reels with minor problems just sitting around. This doesn't speak well to the repair ability of the techs. I've talked to some clueless people in the service/parts department at Daiwa also. But, both companies have told me that you can use oil on the worm gear and also the roller bearing. I think it makes your reel that much smoother.
I would use grease if I was fishing salmon or other big fish in fast moving water or saltwater. But, I think it's overkill for somebody that maintains their reels properly and fishes bass. The oil feels much better in my opinion.
I previously used the old Penn lube (light amber grease) on the worm gear, but I haven't been able to find it for a couple of years. No issues with oil yet.

[Scattergun2570]

The technicians at both Daiwa and Shimano have also told me that oil is fine. I previously used a light grease and I agree that it offers more protection, but oil makes your reel noticeably smoother in my opinion. I think the manufacturers just want the reel to last as long as possible. So, they use grease during assembly because they know the average customer is not going to do much service.
My home lake gets horrible algae blooms this time of year. It gets all over your line guide and worm drive. Fortunately, the Daiwa needle oil seems to do just fine and the debris hasn't seized anything. I do clean the worm drive after each trip with heavy algae with a Q-tip to prevent build up and then I reapply oil. The debris comes off easily because of the light film of oil. I'm always scared that I will ruin a worm drive because I use oil, but I've caught a lot of big fish and I have never had any issues.

After seeing your post, I decided to call Daiwa...and they told me they use a light grease,not oil,not heavy grease,,but a lighter type of grease.. Its amazing that there are such different opinions here.

Really depends on who you talked to, a customer service rep may honestly have no idea.

I worked as a reel tuner/repairman in the late 80's early 90's her in SoCal in a certified repair shop called Turner's Outdoorsman. I was not real impressed with the so called expert guy from Shimano that trained me to service their bigger saltwater reels. I have a friend of friend that currently works as a repairman at Shimano. He says that they replace so many reels with new ones under warranty that there are many boxes full of expensive reels with minor problems just sitting around. This doesn't speak well to the repair ability of the techs. I've talked to some clueless people in the service/parts department at Daiwa also. But, both companies have told me that you can use oil on the worm gear and also the roller bearing. I think it makes your reel that much smoother.
I would use grease if I was fishing salmon or other big fish in fast moving water or saltwater. But, I think it's overkill for somebody that maintains their reels properly and fishes bass. The oil feels much better in my opinion.
I previously used the old Penn lube (light amber grease) on the worm gear, but I haven't been able to find it for a couple of years. No issues with oil yet.

And it continues

[toddmc]

The technicians at both Daiwa and Shimano have also told me that oil is fine. I previously used a light grease and I agree that it offers more protection, but oil makes your reel noticeably smoother in my opinion. I think the manufacturers just want the reel to last as long as possible. So, they use grease during assembly because they know the average customer is not going to do much service.
My home lake gets horrible algae blooms this time of year. It gets all over your line guide and worm drive. Fortunately, the Daiwa needle oil seems to do just fine and the debris hasn't seized anything. I do clean the worm drive after each trip with heavy algae with a Q-tip to prevent build up and then I reapply oil. The debris comes off easily because of the light film of oil. I'm always scared that I will ruin a worm drive because I use oil, but I've caught a lot of big fish and I have never had any issues.

After seeing your post, I decided to call Daiwa...and they told me they use a light grease,not oil,not heavy grease,,but a lighter type of grease.. Its amazing that there are such different opinions here.

Really depends on who you talked to, a customer service rep may honestly have no idea.

I worked as a reel tuner/repairman in the late 80's early 90's her in SoCal in a certified repair shop called Turner's Outdoorsman. I was not real impressed with the so called expert guy from Shimano that trained me to service their bigger saltwater reels. I have a friend of friend that currently works as a repairman at Shimano. He says that they replace so many reels with new ones under warranty that there are many boxes full of expensive reels with minor problems just sitting around. This doesn't speak well to the repair ability of the techs. I've talked to some clueless people in the service/parts department at Daiwa also. But, both companies have told me that you can use oil on the worm gear and also the roller bearing. I think it makes your reel that much smoother.
I would use grease if I was fishing salmon or other big fish in fast moving water or saltwater. But, I think it's overkill for somebody that maintains their reels properly and fishes bass. The oil feels much better in my opinion.
I previously used the old Penn lube (light amber grease) on the worm gear, but I haven't been able to find it for a couple of years. No issues with oil yet.

http://forums.tackletour.com/posting.ph ... 0&p=567520#
And it continues

This is nothing compared to the mountain biking forum (mtbr.com) that I frequent. Guys have been arguing about brake fluid and chain lube on the same threads for page after page and year after year. I don't know why all of the closet chemists come out when the conversation turns to lubricant choice, but it never fails. This site is much more friendly compared to most others. The one thing that you can usually take from all lubricant threads is that you should service them regularly or you end up with parts like the destroyed worm gear pictures.

[brownhl]

Bottom line is it all works. Just depends on what one likes the most. As a friend of mine said when I told him I was going to dip my pinion bearings in TSI301 and stop packing them in grease, "It will never work". Two years now and it works fine.

[JTinKC]

use the grease. Every time.

Clean out with a small brush, and reapply.