Simple Spinning Reel Maintenance

In recent times I have not been fishing much, so updating this blog with a series of reel maintenance tutorial. This posting will cover the most basic one of all, oiling the bearings on your reel to simply keep them in a smooth operating condition.

Ever wonder why the brand new reel you purchased feel silky smooth when you first start to use it but after a few fishing trips and been kept in the storeroom after a period of time, they does not feel as smooth as your first purchased it?

Irregardless of either a budget or high end fishing reel, they do need to be cleaned, serviced and lubricate. Reason being these reels are basically mechanical equipment, and with all mechanical equipments, without any lubrication they will fail to function well and wear and tear rate will increase drastically.

Some anglers have their lucky reel, some reels have sentimental value, and some might feel it is a waste to throw away a reel just because it is not longer just as smooth as it is just purchased (like me.....)

Though spinning reel have different gearing methods, but some parts remain very identical from budget to mid range to high end reels. And one such part is bearings that are found on either side of the reel support the handle assembly. Lubricate these bearings not only will it prevent rust and will also bring back some of the smoothness back. If you have never oil them before, imagine what is happening in the bearing – steel rubbing against steel without any lubrication. Albiet, some budget reels have bushing rather then bearing, in this case, then there is not need to oil those busing.

What about the gears inside the reel? Does it need to be lubricated?
As a matter of fact, the answer is YES. However, as most reels are packed with grease internally when they are shipped out, thus there is a good chance that there is enough grease to keep it going for a while.




Fishing reel oil – Available at most tackle shops
Screwdriver – Required for some models
Syringe – Totally optional






Remove the Handle End Cap and slide the handle out.

In some models, the handle is held by a screw (right image), after removing the end cap, remove the screw and then slide the handle out.  This is an rather old design method, usually found in older reels, in this case, a Daiwa SS700.




Between the housing and the driver gear is where one of the bearing is located. As the gap is usually very tiny, and if you favorite reel oil container does not comes with a precision tip, you need the precision of a surgeon to drop the reel oil onto the bearing. Thus I fill the syringe with some oil and am able to precisely drop oil onto the bearing, syringe can be bought from medical hall, I got mine for about $0.70. One or two drop will be sufficed.


Turn over to the other side, and oil the bearing as per above.

Re-assemble the handle assembly, and give the handle a few turns to spread the oil in the bearing. Viola, job is done. I bet you can feel your reel turning smoother if you have never done this before.
If your bearing have a tiny little bit of rust on the bearing, this step could help to smooth out the roughness slightly. However, it is not going to remove the rust spot, the remedy is to change the entire bearing.

Here are some of the reel oil commonly found in tackle shops, this is just a small fraction of what is available. In order from left to right, Shimano, ZFX, ABU Teflon, Sure catch.
In actually fact, I will recommend Reel-X for this application simply because of it's rust resistance properties.  But I didn't have them and have so many others around me to use, I dun think I will get one soon.
Of the 4, I like the ABU Teflon best for it's smoothest, but not too sure of it's protection over long term usage thus I usually use it for my freshwater reel.
Coming in a close 2nd, is the ZFX, it is a high modulus oil, thus is very thin and very smooth. BUT being a high modulus oil, it's does dry up pretty fast compared to others, thus I usually use it only on my BC reels bearing, where rotation speed of the spool bearing is very important.
Only gripe I have of all these 4 oil is the Surecatch oil, it smells and feel like normal engine oil. I got it when I first start to fish, now it is still almost 100% filled up, no need for me to state anymore, I really dun like the oil, but I am sure it can still do it's job.