I was given an old quantum tournament bait caster with some old mono on it. should I just respool the whole thing with new or tie onto the old? the guy who gave it to me said its a 4 bearing and sat around for a number of years and was only used once or twice. showed me how to set spool tension and what not.

 

is there anything else I have to do like lube anything or anything special I have to do to spool it? planning on throwing some 12lbs mono like suffix on it and using an old ugly stick and using it for crank baits.

New line & clean it

The current line is probably old and weak, and should be respooled.  I would recommend taking it apart and cleaning/oiling just in case, a little dirt in the wrong place can a wear a reel out fast, plus it will enhance the reel's performance once cleaned and oiled.  I clean and oil all my reels every year.

Respool with Power Pro or another good braided line.  If you don't have the owner's manual you can probably find it online. Lube it per the specifications with a reel lube such as Quantum Hot Sauce or Reel Butter.

If that is too much for you take it to a local tackle shop that works on reels and they wll lube it for you. If you don't know how the previous owner took care of the reel, definitely lube it,whether you do it or you get t done at at a tackle shop.

13 minutes ago, Catt said:

New line & clean it

 

This.  If the line was stored properly it would still be good.  I've used mono several years old with no problem.  However, it will have a lot of memory sitting that long on the reel.  Not something you want when learning.  Sufix Elite, Berkley XL and Sunline Super Natural are three lines I have used that are soft and memory retention is pretty low.

 

I definitely would want a reel cleaned that had been sitting around unused for several years.

some soft mono would be great to learn on as it will not backlash as bad or as easy with an over run.  Set the brakes to max and put on a 3/8ths weight and practice in the yard.  The old line would be good for this as it will go in the trash before you hit the water.  Your first major over run will be free...  I would put some 14 lb berkely XL as it is very kind to the user and will be fine for your crank-baits.  After a few months respool with YHB or CXX and your good to go.  

Any idea how to clean and lube? He's a tournament fisher and uses high end shinanos said he got the reel for his kid and they only used it a few times maybe 2 times. It's in very good condition from what I see. Anything special I have to do when re spooling? Just tie and wind?

30 minutes ago, ohihunter2014 said:

Any idea how to clean and lube? He's a tournament fisher and uses high end shinanos said he got the reel for his kid and they only used it a few times maybe 2 times. It's in very good condition from what I see. Anything special I have to do when re spooling? Just tie and wind?

 

I send my reels to someone like DVT for cleaning.  He will also notice any problems there might be with the reel.  In your case there should be none.    There are plenty of videos showing you how to properly spool new line on a baitcast reel.  Here is one I hadn't seen before.  Looks like his way of attaching the line to the spool is easier than the method I've always used which requires a couple overhand knots.  I do disagree with what pound test mono he says you should use on a baitcast reel.