Smoothest gear grease.

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.
adam lancia
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1464
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 12:24 pm
Location: Donkin, Nova Scotia

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by adam lancia » Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:15 pm

tincanary wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 5:03 am
adam lancia wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 4:22 am
I picked up some Super Lube synthetic and mixed it with 321 on a whim of making it thinner because it really slowed down in the cold (sub 10*C). While I do like how the gears feel now, I'm wondering if they're actually compatible or if I've just concocted a slimy grease or a greasy oil... Any input? I'm definitely out of my depth when it comes to understand technical oil and grease information.
Due to TSI being a thin film bonding lubricant, it doesn't mix with other lubricants, but displaces them. This is because TSI was not designed as a liquid wet oil lubricant. It was originally designed for application to hard drive platters. The tiny read/write heads hover over the platter on a cushion of air less than the thickness of a human hair, so out of necessity the platters must run dry. If you want to thin out Super Lube, use one of their PTFE based oils. Conversely, you can purchase their Engine Assembly Lube which is a much softer grease than the more common Super Lube PTFE grease.
Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. Good thing I have the whole winter to decontaminate my reels, pretty well every one of them has my oily-grease concoction in them...
Thanks!

dennis_rf
Elite Angler
Elite Angler
Posts: 268
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:57 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by dennis_rf » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:35 am

tincanary wrote:
Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:34 am

As for smoothest gear grease, I'll reflect on why I use Yamalube cut with Corrosion X. Yamalube is very tacky stuff, it sticks really, really good. Yamalube is a NLGI 2 grease, which on the NLGI scale means it has the consistency of peanut butter. Corrosion X mixes very well with it, and it's pretty easy to thin it out to something like a NLGI 1 or even NLGI 0 consistency. Most of your regular greases out there are NLGI 2, this is what's considered "normal" grease. Thinner grease will mean smoother operation, and Yamalube has a stellar reputation in reel maintenance circles due to its ability to stay put. It's made for harsh conditions and does really well in reels.
I’d like to try your recommendation - here in Germany I can get hold of Yamalube Lical Grease and Yamalube Marine Grease. Which one do you use?

tincanary
Elite Angler
Elite Angler
Posts: 302
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:34 pm
Location: SE Michigan

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by tincanary » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:49 am

dennis_rf wrote:
Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:35 am


I’d like to try your recommendation - here in Germany I can get hold of Yamalube Lical Grease and Yamalube Marine Grease. Which one do you use?
The marine grease is the one you want. It's really tacky stuff so it will stick to your gears well even when thinning it out.

adam lancia
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1464
Joined: Sat May 10, 2014 12:24 pm
Location: Donkin, Nova Scotia

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by adam lancia » Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:09 am

tincanary wrote:
Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:49 am
dennis_rf wrote:
Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:35 am


I’d like to try your recommendation - here in Germany I can get hold of Yamalube Lical Grease and Yamalube Marine Grease. Which one do you use?
The marine grease is the one you want. It's really tacky stuff so it will stick to your gears well even when thinning it out.
What can be used to thin the marine grease effectively?

tincanary
Elite Angler
Elite Angler
Posts: 302
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:34 pm
Location: SE Michigan

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by tincanary » Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:13 am

adam lancia wrote:
Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:09 am

What can be used to thin the marine grease effectively?
Corrosion X.

User avatar
uljersey
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1416
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:39 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by uljersey » Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:21 pm

One place I find where TSI performs very well (besides bearings obviously) is the level wind. Debris does not stick to a TSI treated level wind shaft. I’m basing this on my waters which have a good amount of pollen and other organic materials which will quickly foul a greased level wind.

User avatar
jvelth74
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 7:03 am
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by jvelth74 » Tue Feb 21, 2023 1:06 pm

tincanary wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:07 pm
DrPerf wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:51 pm
uljersey wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:54 am
What, no love for Super Lube synthetic anymore ? That & TSI 321 oil been doing right by me for years now.
I think that I have a couple of tubes of Super Lube and a few ounces of TS 321 that you can have :lol:
TSI is awesome. Try this out; 8 parts 99% alcohol, 1 part TSI. Dip your spool bearings, dry with compressed air. Thank me later :D
In my country I can buy basically only 40% alcohol and I can purchase 80% alcohol from Estonia, but only really strong alcohol I can purchase is Marinol, but it's really not medical grade alcohol. But I think I can order this for laboratory use: https://www.laboratoriumdiscounter.nl/e ... VsQAvD_BwE It's not Ethanol but it's Benzyl Alcohol - might it work?
Last edited by jvelth74 on Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bassfanatick
Angler
Angler
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:47 pm

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by bassfanatick » Wed Feb 22, 2023 1:55 pm

KY Jelly, oh you talkin' bout reel grease, never mind :lol:

Paul Shibata
Senior Angler
Senior Angler
Posts: 130
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:47 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by Paul Shibata » Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:30 pm

jvelth74 wrote:
Tue Feb 21, 2023 1:06 pm
tincanary wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:07 pm
DrPerf wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:51 pm
uljersey wrote:
Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:54 am
What, no love for Super Lube synthetic anymore ? That & TSI 321 oil been doing right by me for years now.
I think that I have a couple of tubes of Super Lube and a few ounces of TS 321 that you can have :lol:
TSI is awesome. Try this out; 8 parts 99% alcohol, 1 part TSI. Dip your spool bearings, dry with compressed air. Thank me later :D
In my country I can buy basically only 40% alcohol and I can purchase 80% alcohol from Estonia, but only really strong alcohol I can purchase is Marinol, but it's really not medical grade alcohol. But I think I can order this for laboratory use: https://www.laboratoriumdiscounter.nl/e ... VsQAvD_BwE It's not Ethanol but it's Benzyl Alcohol - might it work?
The alcohol being referenced to serve as a thinner for TSI321 is isopropyl alcohol also commonly referred to as rubbing alcohol. I think in Finland it is called bentsyylialkoholi? If you are wishing to thin TSi321 (not TSi301 same as TSi321 except include Butanol) any 99% (low water concentration) alcohol you can find in a pharmacy will work.

Practically speaking, thinning TSi321 would likely only make a noticeable difference if you can't effectively clean the bearings. Provided you have an effective process to prepare the bearings (acetone, ultrasonic, alcohol etc) a single drop of TSi321 directly to the bearings should be sufficient. The premise of thinning TSi321 certainly makes sense if you desired to only add micro film of lubricant to maximize distance at the expense of long term lubrication.

Hope this helps

User avatar
jvelth74
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 7:03 am
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by jvelth74 » Fri Feb 24, 2023 1:48 am

Paul Shibata wrote:
Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:30 pm
The alcohol being referenced to serve as a thinner for TSI321 is isopropyl alcohol
Thanks! That helps a lot! I think I can get 99+% Isopropyl easily!

Yes, cleaning reel parts acetone, I have always small glass jar with acetone ready for that :) Small ultrasonic cleaner might also be worth of buying.

Mavn
Angler
Angler
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2016 12:04 am

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by Mavn » Wed Mar 15, 2023 1:53 pm

Not to derail the post from greases. I'm not a fan of using acetone personally to clean plastic parts. If my memory serves me right, acetone is alcohol and a chemical added to thin out paints. That same chemical can weaken or gum up plastics. If you can easily buy high proof isopropyl for not a whole lot (in the US 8L is $40) I'd just use isopropyl as more plastics won't react with it (only added things are to make it toxic to consume) and since it's high proof it dries super quickly. Just a piece of mind sort of thing.

toddmc
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 2091
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:31 am

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by toddmc » Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:39 pm

If you want the least resistance, use the lightest grease on the gears and light oil on all of the bearings. Daiwa 104 grease is one of the lightest greases. The SLPWorks shop and a lot of JDM BFS guys use it. The heavier the grease, the more resistance, but I think most of us know that the heavier grease will last longer. A lot of the tuners mix grease and oil to get the right viscosity for bearings. You will often start to get a hollow sounding reel if you only use light oil on all bearings. After tuning reels for a lot of decades, I found that I like a medium light oil (Hedgehog) on all bearings except for the pinion bearing in the frame. I mix
ZPI medium grease and oil on that one to give that bearing more longevity and to prevent the hollow sound that you tend to get with just oil, especially in magnesium framed reels. I hear a lot of guys complain about magnesium framed reels getting hollow with more use. The pinion bearing and gears probably just need some grease.

dragon1
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 10513
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:23 am
Location: Murfreesboro TN

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by dragon1 » Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:05 pm

I'm going to be thoroughly testing Hiro Seiko RC grease this season...blue tube for metal gears and gray for metal mechanisms. Also using German made Maexler ball bearing oil and driveshaft and gears oil.

These are RC centric lubes and oils, but my local buddy that owns an RC hobby shop and raceway has told me that these products have been beaten on hard for years and always stand up to the abuse and rigors of RC racing.

I'll report back, but initially the results are very promising.
"It is like a finger pointing away to the Moon...don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of that heavenly glory."

SSS
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1379
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:38 pm

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by SSS » Sun Aug 27, 2023 11:37 am

dragon1 wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2023 4:05 pm
I'm going to be thoroughly testing Hiro Seiko RC grease this season...blue tube for metal gears and gray for metal mechanisms. Also using German made Maexler ball bearing oil and driveshaft and gears oil.

These are RC centric lubes and oils, but my local buddy that owns an RC hobby shop and raceway has told me that these products have been beaten on hard for years and always stand up to the abuse and rigors of RC racing.

I'll report back, but initially the results are very promising.
Smoothness is not important in an rc car. Bearings are also spinning at much faster speeds than what you'd see inside a reel. It might protect the parts like every grease, but i doubt that it'll be smooth under load.

As for the thread, i just got the Daiwa 104 grease earlier in the season, and while i am not seeing daiwa suggesting it to be used on gears, i have been using it on my 21 zil gears, and it has been excellent.

Slazmo
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 1513
Joined: Fri May 08, 2015 11:43 pm
Location: Gold Coast, Queensland. Australia

Re: Smoothest gear grease.

Post by Slazmo » Sun Aug 27, 2023 3:44 pm

Is anyone actually looking at the lubricants their using and researching the base carrier and the anti wear packages involved?

Post Reply