I don't own a shimono baitcaster yet, reason for the questin, how do u clean yours, do they have a metal shield & if so can u take it off & how

The only bearings I would bother with removing shields would be on the spool bearings only. I leave the shields on and grease in the other non-spool bearings in the reel and may add a little oil if too stiff.

 

Usually I remove and replace the stock bearings with a ceramic hybrid bearing and I order them with dry lube and remove the shields and install. I have nearly 30 reels with them. The stock SS bearings are tossed in a bag and put away.

 

Reel repair tech Alan Tani has good tutorials on his website:

 

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=13.0

Shimano stock bearings are pretty good. Flush and lightly oil stock bearings before making the leap to replacements.