Need reel maintenance advice

[keithdog]

I have two Garcia ABU C3's and one C4 that need cleaned and lubed. My trouble is that I have never done this on these reels, and I have lost the paperwork that came with them. I'm not real sure as to what all needs to be disassembled, cleaned and lubed. I'm also wanting to know what kind of lubricant would be best for my reels. I have the little kit that came with my reels that has some oil to use, but I have heard there are much better lubricants to use that what is packaged with the reel. Should I just open it up and spray with WD40? And lastly, is there any warnings you might have before opening up the reels, as far as what not to do? What not to mess with, things to beware of. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[pig n jig]

Keith, The only real problem to watch for is the little clip on the shaft assembly.Once in a while it will take flight on ya and its almost impossible to find.The oil that comes with the reel is fine, might want to use a little grease on the ring and pinion gear. Lithium grease works well if you don't have any other reel grease.I use simple green to clean the reel parts. P N J

[keithdog]

Thanks P&J. I know I have heard of a product called Hot Sauce for lubricating reels, but havn't seen it around here anywhere.

[Rebbasser]

Keith:

http://www.abu-garcia.com/product_sc...c26d7338e1a0bf

Hot sauce is made by Quantum. I like it not only because it is an excellent oil/grease designed for reels but it is red so I can see where I need or don't need oil/grease.

[Raul]

Keithdog, WD-40 is not a lubricant recomended for fishing reels, if you spray in WD-40 it´s going to dissolve away whatever little grease and oil you have left in your reel, later it´s going to vaporize and you end up with gearing and bearings that are not lubricated which is going to cause wear. It can be used as a solvent to clean the gearing, never as a lubricant.

Download and print the schematics of your reel from the site Reb posted, get your tools and a digital camera since it´s the first time you are going to do it. Take a pic before you unscrew or remove anything, remove a part, take a pic and so on until you have disassembled the reel completely, that way after you have cleaned all the parts and are ready to reassemble & grease or oil the reel you can see how the reel looks step by step by step through the disassembling process and reverse it. And whatever you do, do it on a large table, small parts have ( like "E" clips and springs ) a mind of their own and have the bad habit of dissapearing.

Gears have to be greased, bearings should be oil with light oil. The only gear I do not recomend grease is the worm gear, heavy oil to lubricate that one.

You can use Red Sauce grease or Abu´s white grease for the gearing.

[pig n jig]

For those of you who was wondering about Ardent reel butter brand oil & grease.It is another good choice if it is available in your area. P N J http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...004000_100-4-1

[keithdog]

Thanks guys. Some very good info and ideas here.

[flfireman]

Love the hot sauce. Biggest thing I found out- If you actually start taking things apart- Take a digital picture before and during the procedure. I trialed and errored a reel for months trying to figure out what the hell I put together wrong. Ended up being a stupid washer, had it below something and screwed on vs. on top and screwed.

[BigBassin144]

This soudns complicated, and unfortunately, I havent oiled/greased my reel since I bought it (about 6 months ago) I'll have a friend of mine to it, he's got all kinds of fancy baitcasters and whatnot. he fishes tourney's too, he'll know where to oil it.

[Charles E. White]

Originally Posted by Rebbasser

Keith:

http://www.abu-garcia.com/product_sc...c26d7338e1a0bf

Hot sauce is made by Quantum. I like it not only because it is an excellent oil/grease designed for reels but it is red so I can see where I need or don't need oil/grease.

I also use Hot Sauce and thinks it's the best I have ever used.