# Reel grease - and other reel maintenance stuff



## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

lemaymiami said:


> I was asked on another forum about what kind of reel grease I use and thought I'd share it here...
> 
> Glad you asked since I've been using the same tub of blue grease now for nearly 30 years... All I ever use is high temp grease - and the brand is Kendall (and I imagine every brand has "high temp grease"... It comes in a tub that's about the size of a big coffee mug and I use as little of it as possible on each reel - only for two purposes - the first is on the teeth of any gear or in places where two pieces of metal rub together... The second is to seal up bearings - after they've been filled with oil (and quality gun oil - never "3 in 1" oil since it turns into glue as it gets older...). I clean off each bearing in mineral spirits, dry it off, then work a bit of oil into the seams where it can work down into the bearing race - then seal each side of the bearing with a light coating of grease to prevent water from getting down into the race. Bearings that are treated this way last forever in very hard service... Remember though that no new reel has coated bearings so don't delay in setting them up properly or you'll be replacing them - then doing what I've just described..
> 
> Hope this helps... These days my reel repairs are coming to an end since I've lost my wholesale parts connection - and many new reels these days hardly have a retail parts supply - much less a good wholesale connection... Wish it weren't so...


Need you to show me how to do this one day, Bob. More garage time!


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

No problem - and today I'm finally starting Tom's lure order...


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

On this topic what do you use for drag washer grease? I bought a small (1oz) container of Cal's Universal Reel & Star Drag Grease many moons ago and still have a bunch left over. I had upgraded the drags on a bunch of reels to carbon washers and was "told" I needed to use Cal's. I think it was a ploy to sell me their grease.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Cal's is great stuff...I've been using Shimano's for years (part #DRAGGR...) always on carbon fiber drag washers with great results... A greased drag washer is counter- intuitive but it not only works well - but also extends the life of any drag washer lightly coated with it tremendously... My heavy Penn spinners are using the same coated washers (Penn's HT-100 drag washers) for years now without needing the slightest bit of maintenance - other than backing the drags to zero after a day's hard use.... Can't recommend greased washers for spinning reels enough -had good results with plug reels as well but they're not quite as long lasting (particularly reels with only one drag washer instead of a stack of alternating metal and HT100 washers...).

A little drag grease goes a long way so use it sparingly...


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## spc7669 (Apr 15, 2015)

Cal’s is the bomb for drag washers.


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