Reel maintenance

[BlueBack79]

so ive had an ambassadeur revo sx for a few years now and love the thing. this thing has become my #1 steelhead/salmon reel and gets TONS of use. it's also been through 3 years of salt fishing as i go up to whidbey every summer to salmon fish for about 7-10 days. well the last two years it tends to start screaming when casting heavier set ups. starting loosing its "smoothness". since i can damn near tear a standard ambassadeur round reel down blindfolded, i thought "this wont be too bad". ha. i guessed wrong. its amazing how many more parts are in a low pro reel. needless to say i discovered a tiny washer that wasnt installed from the factory. noticed a hair amount of slop in the level wind before taking apart and checked the schematic. bingo! also had two bearings completely froze up. soaked in some carb cleaner and flushed. spinning great now. its amazing where gunk can work its way into. its dismantled into 100 pieces right now, all cleaned and ready to be reassembled oiled and greased...just as soon as the 25 cent washer arrives from abu. i'm very maticulous about tearing my reels apart, but low pros always seemed too much. this one is a lot tougher, due to the amount of parts and configuration, but it'll get easier with time. i just love taking things apart and figuring how they go back..without paperwork telling me how. should be ready for steelheadin' in no time. so moral of the story is dont neglect your reels, especially the high dollar ones when you're using them in salt. okay, cabin fever rant over. ha ha.

 

[SuperD]

Just reinforced in my mind how good I feel for paying the $20 to get them stripped down and gone through by someone that knows what they are doing. My time is too valuable to spend it swearing at a reel in basket condition. LOL!

 

[BlueBack79]

$20 a pop per reel doesnt take long to add up to the cost of buying new reels. between kokanee/stealhead/salmon i fish with around 8 or 9 baitcasters a season. id much rather spend my money building my reel collection than paying for someone to clean/maintain them for me when i know i can do it myself. its really only frustrating when you have parts left over. lol!!

i'll have the revo down pat after a couple more tear downs. picking up my calcutta 201te friday. never worked on one of those so i'll probably open it up saturdaygolucky

 

[RalphL]

Just reinforced in my mind how good I feel for paying the $20 to get them stripped down and gone through by someone that knows what they are doing. My time is too valuable to spend it swearing at a real in basket condition. LOL!

ditto ditto ditto amen

 

[BlueBack79]

well, i've got the revo sx figured out and back together. better than new. just did one of my c4 6601 reels this evening. i highly recommend using quantum hot sauce oil & grease for those that do maintain their own reels. best stuff on the market. the oil is fast and the grease STAYS where you put it.