I have three reels, one penn 320gti, a penn 6500ss and a shakespeare level wind. Do you have to take them all apart to lubricate them? What type of lubricant/grease do you use? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

For a really good, season ending cleaning, they should come apart. At least once a year and those reels are worth keeping up. Most good places will charge about $15-25 per reel (depending on model) for a good cleaning. Cleaning reels by yourself is not difficult but it can be time consuming, but definitely worth it in the long run. Just think, if you had to clean just four reels a year, you can save the money by doing it yourself and buying a new reel every year 8) ... And what self-respecting fishing hardware junkie would not like a new "free" reel every year, eh?
[img=http://www.striped-bass.com/Images/evil.gif]
Best bet for you would be to find someone you know who is good at it and watch, do, and learn. After a while you will feel very comfortable doing it yourself and end up saving the money.

Another thing to keep in mind. If you are hard on a reel or it takes a sand bath over the season, you may want to clean it immediately instead of waiting a couple weeks for someone else. Also, March and April tend to have 1-2 MONTH waiting periods for reel servicing from some particular authorized dealers :P

Well I can't tell you about the conventionals but I have a Penn 6500SS and I just dipped into cleaning it.

It was all very easy. Nothing too complicated. Just pay attention to how the reel works and put it back together the same way. Basically you have that big gear in the middle. When you turn that, the extension turns the gear laying against the side of the reel. There is a metal piece that sits on top of that. The main shaft sits in that metal piece and makes the spool move up and down.

If you go back ot that big main gear, that sits in the gear that the main shaft slides through. That's what makes the bail turn around.
That's the basic setup of the reel. Of course there is still the anti-reverse function and the clicker. To clean it, I set up two dishes. One with hot soap and water, one with just hot water. All the pieces got a good soaking and then cleaned off. A good thing to use are toothpicks and cotton swabs. Then I dried the pieces off and gave them all a good coating of oil. I used Penn Lube. Then I threw it all back together.

One thing to watch though. When you open up the case, look on the left side. There is a seal washer. I never knew about it. So then I popped it out when I was putting the bearing back in. It's only a felt washer but it helps keeping the saltwater and sand out. Mine was ripped so I ordered a new one. It's only like a dollar or so.

My reel now works better than ever. Even when I first bought it.

Oh, this is for the 6500SS. I tried this on one of my 4000 somethings. Maybe it's a 4300SS I'm not sure. Anyways, you have to pulle the whole anti-reverse off to get at the the main gear. It was a total pain. The smaller reels work the same way as the larger ones, it's just you have less space to work.

Enjoy it,

Patrick

Pulling them all apart and putting them back together all cleaned , lubed and buffed is one way I get my rocks offs during the off season. I highly recommend it to those with fishing withdrawal syndrome.
Its important to look everyrhing over before pulling stuff apart. George Hevey at Murats once told me that its a common thing for people to pull everthing apart and then not be able to reassemble the reel. He says they regularly bring in a box of parts for him to reassemble.
A real good idea is to put a cooky sheet under the reel to catch any parts you may drop during breakdown and reassembly. Even on a reel you could take a aprt and rebuild in the dark , a dropped and lost part is a disaster.
All the penns I've done are pretty easy. Can't comment on the Shakespear since I've never had one.
Be brave , go for it!

Definately a worthwhile winter project and like John said the money saved can be put to new toys. I like to do it on my kitchen table and before I even begin, I spread out a bunch of paper towels to avoid any loose parts bouncing or rolling off the table. If youv'e never done it before, then go slow and lay out each part in a line above your work area and in the order it was removed.

If the reel is complicated or you question your ability to get it back together, draw a hand sketch of the internal layout before you start to pull it apart. If you have a digital camera a few pictures on macro will be even better.

Refer to the owners manual, because some parts require grease and some oil and you don't want oil going where there should be grease. One more caution, go sparingly on both, you can actually cause yourself problems by applying too much oil and especially grease. Also make sure you use a lint free cloth, because a bunch of lint getting into the reel will also cause problems down the road.

Good luck and tight lines.

A few tips on making spin reel maintenance easier.
1) table/bench used must be clean, dry and well lighted.
2) purchase simple green, reel grease , penn reel lube, 3in1 oil or WD-40 if needed. You can use lithium grease for gears if you have it. (stay away from solvents, gas and kerosene)
3) use paper towels or old t-shirts for wiping, an old toothbrush, q-tips or toothpicks to get in those hard to reach places. (I remove most of the cotton from q-tip prior to use - otherwise you will have strands of cotton everywhere).
4) work area should be covered with 3 - 4 layers of newspaper to absorb oil/grease spills.
5) get out schematic of reel to be taken apart from your files or request one from an on line site or tackle shop BEFORE you start. This document will save you valuable time @ reassembly, help you order parts and tell you where to lube.
6) take an old egg carton (that you have cut in half so the top and bottom are separated) and number the cups 1 - 12.
7) turn on the radio, roll up your sleeves and "get to it".

Proceed taking the reel apart in a systematic manner starting with removing the spool, next he handle and then the reel cover plate. Place each piece, screw, washer assembly, gear etc. in its' own cup of the egg carton AS YOU DISMANTLE IT starting with cup # 1. I like to clean and inspect these parts as I remove them. Once all ofthe internal parts are out -clean the inside housing well, wipe it out and you are ready to start reassembly.
The parts go back together in reverse order and with the egg carton sections numbered it is a snap! I prefer to lubricate the parts as they go back into the reel instead of lubing when job is complete because I tend to "overlube". Be careful also during reassembly that you do not overtighten any parts or you may have trouble later. Just take your time and do a thorough job.
One final tip - when you have parts that need replacing and cannot reassemble the reel - don't panic! Just place the egg carton and reel in an old shoe box, put the cover on and put it in a safe place. Order the parts and when they arrive - presto just start from where you left off!
Give it a shot you just might be suprised at how well you do!
Good luck!
Rich

Thanks for the tips!!!

John R. This site saves people money!!!

BTW that is a great pic on the main page! Did you take it??

Nice list Striperbum! I like the egg carton suggestion. Never thought of that and it does make things work very well for disassmebly/reassembly order!! The only two things that I would add are;
1 A pipe cleaner is also great to get in to clean various parts
2 If you have time (plenty for the winter cleanings) make sure you let the parts soak a little longer in the solvent and a good air dry followed by a good wipe should remove all of the crud stuck to the parts.

Fishing Rookie, thanks for the good word. What I have found and one of the main reasons for me starting this site is that there is an incredible wealth of good information and ideas out there, not to mention some good natured fun. There are alot of RIGHT ways to do things, not just one correct way.
You've heard something like a construction company having 45 years of experience based on how long 5 guys have been building homes, well places like this could say "275 years erxperience" if you used the same measure. Just excellent, quality, knowledgeable people.

As far as the pic on the front page, that was Slipknot's photo op. Great shot too. Saltheart can tell you how weel my pictures come out (but they are only bad when he is in them, I wonder why :P ).

All excellent advice. I used to use naphtha as a solvent to degrease the parts, but WD-40 works just as well and is safer. Buy a gallon jug at Home Depot and the difference in price between that, and kerosene or naphtha is minimal, and worth the added safety. Don't even think of using gasoline to soak parts in, or turning on the radio might be your last mortal act in this life.

As far as lubricants go, I use 20 weight 3-in-1 electric motor oil to lubricate bearings and level wind components. I tried Rocket Fuel and found that any additional casting performance was trumped by the inconvenience of having to re-lube more often--sometimes the bearings would get noisy after half a tide. A shot of 3-in-1 oil lasts for several trips. I use Super Lube grease on the conventional reel gears and internals, like the dogs and free spool clutch. A little goes along way, and excess grease can contaminate the drag washers that sre housed inside the main gear on conventional. I use Penn HT-100 washers where they'll fit in other reels, because they can take a little grease and oil without getting sticky. In the Daiwa reels I have with felt washers, I use my ever-dwindling supply of Braid drag lube. I may try the Shimano product experimentally over the winter, to guard against the day when the Braid supply will inevitably run dry. Since I tend to use my Penn Z-series spinning reels under wet and sandy conditions, I pack the entire housing with that waterproof grease The Surfcaster sells. I lube the line roller and the oil ports around the handle with 3-in-1 oil. Mine don't have bail springs, but they should also be oiled if yours does.

One other product you should buy is denatured alcohol, to clean and degrease your drag washers. It also comes in handy in the wintertime to clean road salt and other contaminants from your vehicle's wiper blades, to eliminate streaks and extend blade life.