when did they stop putting grease in and start doing oil? i grabbed this reel used, so maybe one of the previous owners did it? any insight will be much appreciated!

it spossed to have oil in it

The VS is filled with some sort of oil and you should expect a certain amount of leakage.

It makes sense to use a seal that allows a small amount of oil to leak past in order to keep the seal pliable. It also keeps the shaft area clean so the seal doesn't score and let the water in. It is actually a pretty difficult application, you have the potential for negative pressure inside the gear box and positive pressure from the water outside.

Hope that helps

Toby,

When I was servicing my own Penn and Fin-Nor Ahab spinners that got dunked a bit, I would *lightly* coat the internals with Penn reel grease - just enough to get the gears, bearings, and shafts sticky.

Then, before I closed up the sideplate, I would squirt a copious amount of Pennzoil Marine 100% Synthetic White Marine Grease into the housing.

This is a lightweight lithium grease that protects parts against saltwater corrosion. It has a consistency slightly more viscous than cooking oil. It's very cheap (less than $3.00 for a tube at Wal-Mart) and it seems to work.

Obviously, in the Penns and Fin-Nor Ahabs the one drawback with using a lightweight grease was that oil would occassionally leak through the shaft in small quantities.

Not sure how this would affect the VS o-rings, but the internals should be okay.

-WW

One more thing...

If you want to completely degrease the components in the reel without resorting to harsh volatile organic solvents, get yourself a cheap tub of GOJO hand cleaner (very cheap, also available at Wal-Mart).

Just coat parts with GOJO, let sit for a minute, and then rinse off in a tub of warm water (an old toothbrush helps to get the gunk off). Yes, the stuff is wonderfully water soluble. Repeat as necessary.

Dry parts on a paper towel, or blow dry, or if you really want to be anal, dunk parts in a little rubbing alcohol to further evaporate the water.

Then lube your parts as necessary.

-WW

thanks guys. i have taken other Van Staals apart, but this was new to me seeing the grease. looks like somebody else must have thought that grease was a better lube than oil.

:smash: :smash: :smash: now i missed the freakin' tranverse guide! :smash: :smash: :smash: this is gonna get interesting very soon...... just put a call in to rick. i hope he is around!

Originally posted by t.lapinski
:smash: :smash: :smash: now i missed the freakin' tranverse guide! :smash: :smash: :smash: this is gonna get interesting very soon...... just put a call in to rick. i hope he is around!

Unless VS was kidding when they showed me how to reassemble the reel, you're going to need a dremel to get back into that thing. :eek5:

i got into her. no dremel required. :D