High quality oil, lube, etc

Reels are the hottest topic for TackleTour. Everyone wants to know what the latest and greatest is and how they compare to the old guard. What's the best for light stuff, or what's your suggestion for heavy cover. Do we really need different retrieve ratios? It's all in here.
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freelancer27
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High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by freelancer27 » Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:33 pm

Hi guys,

over the Holidays I am planning to do a through cleaning and lubing of all my reels. Since I have some more expensive reels (Antares DC MD, Steez, Conquest) I want to use the best lubricants for the job.

WHat would you recommend to use for:

* Gears
* Worm-shaft
* Bearings

Thanks for your recommendations!

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LgMouthGambler
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by LgMouthGambler » Sat Dec 01, 2018 2:38 am

Shimano grease is always a good option. TW sells it. As far as oil for bearings, ZPi and Alchemy are good options.
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Rippin-lips
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by Rippin-lips » Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:37 am

You have a bunch of good options available for this task.
For me I go by this...
Gears - grease
Worm gear - grease
Frame bearings - grease
Spool bearings - oil

I use Abu silicote or Daiwa blue grease and Zpi F-0 oil, or Daiwa bearing oil if I’m out of the other.
There’s also Shimano grease and Cal’s. A bunch of oils are out there also. Tsi 321, boca lightning lube, reel x, Hedgehog alchemy.

lifeofRiley
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by lifeofRiley » Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:34 pm

Rippin-lips wrote:You have a bunch of good options available for this task.
For me I go by this...
Gears - grease
Worm gear - grease
Frame bearings - grease
Spool bearings - oil
^^^ just like this. I usually stick to shimano lubes for everything. Paying high prices for "magic" oil is a waste of cash IMO

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BARRAMANIAC
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by BARRAMANIAC » Sat Dec 01, 2018 1:26 pm

you really cannot go past CALS grease , it is perfect for drags and brass gears, for alloy gears I use a ceramic grease and for oil I use TSI-321.

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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by Jeffbro999 » Sat Dec 01, 2018 1:40 pm

TSI 321 has been the biggest breakthrough for my uses. I use it in my spool bearings, levelwind and ARB and no longer have any rust/corrosion issues at all. Corrosion X grease has been great used to pack frame bearings, and again, never any rusted or seized bearings. Penn grease seems to protect my aluminum gears the best, so I’ve gone back to using it in my brass geared reels as well. I consider my reels Saltwater proof with these lubes, and it amazes me how well it works. Also a light coat of Cals grease on the drag washers to increase the smoothness, sticky drags have no place in the inshore arena.

As an example, I dunked my Curado 51e twice in the past 3 weeks. Didn’t have time to break it down, so I ran fresh water through the gear box drain holes, took the spool and cast control cap off, and put it in front of a fan to dry. Kept using it and had zero issues with it, but knew it needed cleaning so finally broke it down the other day. Zero rust/corrosion anywhere, and the greases were still holding up well.

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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by poisonokie » Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:02 pm

Two letters and a number are all you need to remember: WD-40 :evil22:

Just effing with ya. Seriously, though. Don't ever do that.

I also like the Daiwa blue Space Age Greaser. It's easy to see where you've applied it and doesn't make a mess. I use it for all the things Rippin Lips mentioned. I do wish I could figure out what they put on worm gears at the factory (Cal's Light?), but the blue stuff seems to work fine. You can oil those, too, but you have to do it all the time. The only time I do that is on synchronized levelwinds. For drags, Cal's is great. Daiwa's needle point oiler is really handy. The oil itself isn't the lightest, but it lasts. I've never tried Alchemy, but I want to. I've used Ardent's oils and greases and while the bearing lube is good, the grease sucks IMO. It's dry and doesn't stay put or lubricate all that well. Some people swear by Quantum's Hot Sauce, but the red dye in it stains certain materials.
This is the way.

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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by SSS » Sun Dec 02, 2018 9:09 am

Before you do, i would suggest you get yourself a microsonic bath off of amazon. They do an excellent job for cleaning everything inside a reel.

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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by wilddog66 » Tue Dec 04, 2018 7:57 am

ZPI Friction Zero grease Medium on gears, so far it’s doing a superior job protecting my aluminum MicroModule gears, use the Light version on worms & other internals. Hedgehog Alchemy Medium Light for spool bearings. TSI 321 for spool and “SuperFree” bearings used in saltwater.

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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by ShimanoFan » Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:35 am

When choosing lubricants one should be concerned with what each brand recommends and does not recommend.

Some reel brands make parts for reels that could be damaged by using the wrong lubricant. They do this on purpose.

So as a general rule stay away from petroleum based lubricants. Go with synthetic like Super Lube... they make grease and oils that are recommended for just about all reel brands.

Also be aware using the wrong lubricant can and will void warranties. One brand in particular, if a reel is sent to them under warranty and they find hot sauce inside, they may put it back in the box and send it back to where ever it came from.

I fully expect that as more and more people service their own reels, that brand names are going to make it increasingly more difficult for end users to service their own reels. And we are already seeing this now...
Why is there a concerted effort of hate? And why is it allowed?

reason162
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by reason162 » Wed Dec 05, 2018 4:10 pm

JBcrankaddict wrote:TSI 321 has been the biggest breakthrough for my uses.
Since copycat site turned me onto TSI132, I've used nothing else!

edit: Really guys? "copycat site"?

Jeffbro999
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by Jeffbro999 » Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:02 am

reason162 wrote:
JBcrankaddict wrote:TSI 321 has been the biggest breakthrough for my uses.
Since copycat site turned me onto TSI132, I've used nothing else!

edit: Really guys? "copycat site"?
It really is some amazing stuff! I learned about it a few years ago on Alan Tani’s forum and have been using it ever since. Haven’t seen any rust in years, which was a common problem before this.

QUAKEnSHAKE
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Re: High quality oil, lube, etc

Post by QUAKEnSHAKE » Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:59 pm

ShimanoFan wrote:When choosing lubricants one should be concerned with what each brand recommends and does not recommend.

Some reel brands make parts for reels that could be damaged by using the wrong lubricant. They do this on purpose.

So as a general rule stay away from petroleum based lubricants. Go with synthetic like Super Lube... they make grease and oils that are recommended for just about all reel brands.

Also be aware using the wrong lubricant can and will void warranties. One brand in particular, if a reel is sent to them under warranty and they find hot sauce inside, they may put it back in the box and send it back to where ever it came from.

I fully expect that as more and more people service their own reels, that brand names are going to make it increasingly more difficult for end users to service their own reels. And we are already seeing this now...
If you mean Shimano thats not true.

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