1 minute ago, TcRoc said:

I open any new reel up.. once you have done it a few times it doesn’t take much time at all. 

I have no problems opening the reel up.  Once it’s open, I’m not sure what to do...haha.  

6 minutes ago, Revival said:

I have no problems opening the reel up.  Once it’s open, I’m not sure what to do...haha.  

YouTube is your friend. Some very good videos out there for basic maintenance.

 

32 minutes ago, TcRoc said:

YouTube is your friend. Some very good videos out there for basic maintenance.

 

Youtube is the first place I checked out.  A lot of videos are full tear downs and full maintenance on used reels.  I found a couple that were simple and helpful.  I made this thread because I was also curious to see how many people did full tear downs on a new reel and it’s actually more people than I initially guessed.

I've been tearing my baitcasters and conventionals down for at least 25 years (probably longer).

 

I tore down my first spinning reel about a month ago.  I still don't know how it works, lol.

I fish it as it comes, straight out of the box.  When it needs oil, or service of any kind, I do a complete teardown and clean and lubricate everything at that time.  I don't like to mix two different kinds of oils together.  I'll use two different oils in the same reel, but not in the same spot.  And I don't know what kind of oil various manufacturers used, and sometimes two different types of oils can react with each other in negative ways.  Plus, I use some seriously high end oils that don't really belong in a fishing reel, but I have them on hand for watches, clocks, and camera shutters, and it's actually cheaper for me to use these super expensive oils, which I have plenty of, rather than go out and buy more moderately priced oils made specifically for fishing reels.  And it's less stuff for me to store and keep track of.  

On 3/6/2021 at 5:29 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

I've experienced this on both my Thai and Japanese made Daiwas, dry as a bone.  I usually do a quick service with them; clean the gears, spool bearings, and drag stack then hit the bearings with TSI321, drag with Cal's, and the gears with Super Lube.  Smooths them right out.

How do you apply your grease to your gears? I seem to have everything down, but can't quite get the gears greased. Some reels feel worse (gear wise) after I clean out the gummed up grease and add new grease. Very loud, sort of buzzing sound and feel. Too much? Too little?

From a wear prevention perspective a film of grease is call you need. Some reels come “over greased” to compensate for tolerances and may make a reel feel smoother temporarily. Grease is just thickeners called soaps used as a vehicle to carry oil and hold it in place. I use a cheap craft paint brush trimmed short to apply grease to the teeth of gears.  If you applied grease to the whole circumstance of the gear it’s lubricated and the sound you hear isn’t doing any harm.