Hi folks,

Just did my first tear down of a reel and I had a few questions before I start in on my nicer reel.

I took my bps pq completely apart, cleaned every single piece with simple green and a toothbrush, then soak/rinsed in 70% alcohol like others have mentioned here. There was grease EVERYWHERE. I got it all out, greased gears, oiled bearings, put some oil on edges of thumb plate, and oiled my worm gear.

First off, does tearing it down completely at least once help at all? Are there any other parts that should be lubed besides above mentioned (besides drag washers, waiting on drag grease for that)? There was grease literally everywhere inside and now it's just so....dry. Also I don't see much of an improvement. The only thing I noticed is the spool spins a bit better with line on it.

My last question is about the spool on my lews tp. I got a nasty backlash on it this fall and had to cut it out. I got a minor knick in the side of the spool. Should I do anything about it? Its really hard to see, but I can feel it when I run my finger along the spools edge.

Here's a pic of the spool.

No I don't think I can feel it while reeling.

It's not in a spot that will affect the line. You may feel it while thumbing the spool on a cast but I'm not aware of how you cast either.

If it's not affecting the spool's spinning it's fine. As for clean/lube of reels the sliding parts of the clutch should have a light coat of oil. All the extra grease inside the cases wasn't doing a thing, don't sweat it.

Thank you for the replies. I was a bit worried it would affect performance.

Oddly enough, I tore it down and cleaned it tonight and although it's performing a lot better now, it doesn't outspin the cleaned bps pq. I'm getting 4ish seconds of spin (handle) on the lews tp and 6 on my PQ (2 second diff on free spool as well). Still a lot better than the 3 or so rotations I was getting uncleaned!

Wouldny worry much about handle spin. Adding a bearing to the knobs is the most significant thing I've done to make a reel noticeably smoother. I only had one extra bearing and added it to the knob on a pro qualifier tournament and it made such a big difference I ordered another. You can literally blow on it and make them spin now.

If that were mine, I would polish the sharp edges off that nick. Get out the dremel, felt wheel and polishing compound. No need to try to get it all, just knock the edges off.

One last question - do you oil or grease the one way clutch?  It's part #53 on the lew's TP schematic..the spot that the sleeve goes in and has all those rollers in it.

 

Really appreciate all the help!

That's your anti reverse bearing and if you use to much grease it won't work properly. I generally leave that one alone as far as soaking it in degreaser goes. I'll put a little oil on a q-tip and run it around the inside of the roller bearing. I mean just a little though.

AR roller clutches should be lightly swabbed with oil. Grease gives a little smoother feel but it takes experience to know just how much to use without adveresly affecting performance. The ones that are pressed into the frame are harder to flush without harming the finish on the case but it can and should be done at some point.