Oh No! Not Grease Again!!!

[ijlal]

Hi,

It may be difficult for you guys to understand why I cannot get Cal's Universal Reel and Star Drag Grease, instead of repeating the oft asked questions, but that is how it is...

Getting Cal's or Shimano grease for drag washers here is out of the question. A friend living in Dubai was able to get Penn's Precision Reel Grease, which I will get in a few days time.

Now, I know that Penn grease is not recommended for drag washers, but having no better option, I did try it from the small tube that came with my senator. I have used it on HT100 washers on my Penns, and Carbon fiber washers on my Okuma and Abu-Garcia. So far, I am pretty much satisfied. All the drags are pretty smooth with near-zero startups.

Question is, what are the pitfalls of using Penn grease (the blue/green one) on drag? What must I do to ensure the drags don't get damaged?

Please do keep in mind I have no other option except the common automobile soap grease, which I still use for the gears etc.

Another question is, if I am able to find just any teflon based grease (or in which teflon is an additive) in the local market, should I use that on the drag in preference to Penn's?

Thanks for your expert opinions in advance!

Ijlal

[broadway]

I wouldn't grease them if you don't have the right grease... try em dry.  It worked for years before Cal's drag grease was out there and they come dry from the factory so I'm sure they'll work okay for ya.  Good Luck!
Dom

[alantani]

where are you?

[Bryan Young]

From what I have heard, a few folks in Hawaii used to use marine blue grease on their Penn reels when the HT-100s first came into the scene.  It worked fine as long as the fish didn't take a long and hard run, heating up the drags.  If that occured, the grease would loose it's lubercity properties and start sticking.  And when the reel cooled down, the drags were like glued to the drag plate.

Please note that this is what I have heard and have not found the guys that tried it yet.

[ijlal]

where are you?

Hi Alan,

I live in Karachi - Pakistan; have sent you a PM too.

Thanks!

[ijlal]

From what I have heard, a few folks in Hawaii used to use marine blue grease on their Penn reels when the HT-100s first came into the scene.  It worked fine as long as the fish didn't take a long and hard run, heating up the drags.  If that occured, the grease would loose it's lubercity properties and start sticking.  And when the reel cooled down, the drags were like glued to the drag plate.

Please note that this is what I have heard and have not found the guys that tried it yet.

Thanks Bryan!

So far, I have had good results with Penn grease - Not trying to vouch for it though! Haven't caught anything huge yet after applying the grease, but have had to deal with some fast customers like kings and even a few wahoos. Only once I had a problem was due to my own fault... I experimented by greasing the particle board washer on my Daiwa LD50H, which resulted in negative drag performance, so I cleaned that off.

[broadway]

Bryan,

       I haven't personally put grease other than Cal's on my drags before, but won't a thick grease like Penn's grease (I have used penn grease, but not on drags) gum up the washers? Wouldn't he be better off in the long run with no grease unless he's gonna clean the drags and regrease after every trip?  Just curious? Thanks
Dom

[alantani]

got a couple of ounces in a flat envelope that i'll mail out tomorrow.  we'll see if it gets past security........

[ijlal]

got a couple of ounces in a flat envelope that i'll mail out tomorrow.  we'll see if it gets past security........

Hey Alan that is so very kind of you! Thanks a ton buddy!

[Irish Jigger]

x2 Alan is a great guy,has helped me out too.

[Bryan Young]

Bryan,

       I haven't personally put grease other than Cal's on my drags before, but won't a thick grease like Penn's grease (I have used penn grease, but not on drags) gum up the washers? Wouldn't he be better off in the long run with no grease unless he's gonna clean the drags and regrease after every trip?  Just curious? Thanks
Dom

Hi Dom,

I personally have only used Shimano and Cal's drag grease since I discovered greased drags, so I haven't considered any other grease.  Prior to that, my drags were usually oily felt from oil within the reel.  And, yes, it was not the best drags, but at the time, it did function.

Man, your question is making me think hard about what those guys did and why it would or would not be okay.

Grease.  Used to add lubrication medium.  If the grease has a low temperature index, the grease will break down, and loose it's slipperly properties.  Grease used above this temperature will then start to get sticky and/or start glazing the metal washers that would bind with the drag washers...  Based upon this, I would say that it depends.  If you are fishing where the fish takes a slow run, then the drags will not really get up in temperature, then it shouldn't matter very much.  If he is fishing for wahoo, and from what I've heard about kings, these fish ten to screem line off, it may be a problem if the temperature of the grease gets above it's thermal index. 

With regards to the thickness of the grease and it's sticky factor, it may affect the drag start-up, but once it's going, it will probably not make any difference until it reaches it's thermal index.

This is my own opinion and in no way am I a grease or reel expert.  But, when in doubt, and if you have the luxury to try it out, I'd probably go for it and experiment based upon the type of fish I am targeting.

[Norcal Pescador]

I hear a lot of experience talking, but also some theory, which is good for getting people to think.

This sounds like a good question for Jim Nomura!

[ijlal]

Okay Dom and Bryan, here is what I have experienced with Penn grease on drag washers so far; however, please do keep in mind it is just to share my experience and has no authoritative value. Cal's or Shimano grease would be my top choice too, whenever either is available. Before a few years ago, when I came to learn about Alan and carbontex, all my drags used to run as dry as possible (because Penn said they must!)

Penn Senator 113 (4/0 - Made in USA)
I had this reel lying brand new with me for some time. After selling off my Penn Long Beach 267 (4/0) I took this Senator out, opened it up, greased everything with common auto Caltex soap grease (for want of better grease) and the drag with the small tube of grease that came with the reel. This was in August and have used the reel on around 7-8 full day drips; have caught quite a few fish including Narrow Barred Mackerel (Pacific/Indian Ocean version of the Atlantic King Mackerel) and a Wahoo (with another one getting away due to low gear ratio of this reel and many other slower fish like cudas.

I am not sure if the stock fiber washers in the US made Senators are HT100 or not, but the material did seem identical to the one in a 45GLS I used to have, which was HT100 for sure.

This reel does not have the smoothest of drags but greasing has somewhat smoothed it further. So far, I have not had any issues with the drag.

Daiwa Emcast Sport 6000
This reel is loaded with 40# Power Pro. I use it for vertical jigging and also troll with it as I like the feel of my Barefoot jigging rod. I used Penn grease on the white fiber (felt?) washers in it at the beginning of the season sometime in August or September. So far have caught 2 AJ's, 2 ono's, many kings and cudas and a few jacks.

Penn GLD30-II
Recently bought this (very sparingly) used reel; opened it up and greased the HT100 drag with Penn grease. It now has the smoothest of drags I have ever seen, with zero startup even at heavy drag settings. I still have to catch fish with it. I am planning to take it along with my new Okuma Titus Gold 30-2 speeder offshore whenever I get the chance. If I do hookup into some marlins and YFT's or bigeyes, I guess that would be the ultimate test.

Okuma TG30-II
Yet to be tested... hope to test it offshore soon.

Daiwa LD50H
I guess many of the readers may not be acquainted with this little wonder Daiwa used to produce back in the 80's. It is a small graphite lever drag the size of TLD15. Daiwa still makes it in Japan for the Australian market.

Although knowing grease should not be applied, as this reel has a particle board washer glued to the spool, I still went ahead an applied a light film of Penn grease, just to experiment. As expected, this was a baaaad decision. The drag started to stick and slip, so I wiped it dry again and now it is as smooth as ever.

ABU-Garcia Ambassadeur 6600CL
This is the 'fake' Rocket as marketed by Walmart some years ago. Nevertheless it is a great reel, exactly the same as 6600C4 except that I have only seen 3 bearings. If the 4th one is under the plastic drive gear for levelwind system, I do not know as I have never tried to pry that out for fear of damaging it. I have been fishing with this little reel for quite some time. The carbontex washers were initially greased with a chapstick alternate that a friend brought from UK   and later with Penn grease. Okay, this reel may never boast hauling in a wahoo but it has caught quite a few fish off the bottom. The drag continues to remain as smooth as ever.

While I do not refute the importance of using Cal's or Shimano grease on drags, and I am certainly cleaning the penn grease off my two offshore reels the moment I get Cal's, Alan has so kindly sent! But I was just wondering if you guys say what you say about Penn grease as you always had better alternatives, so never had to experiment with the likes of Penn.

All my reels except LD50H have performed and are still performing at optimal with a light coat of Penn grease (wiped off to leave just a very thin film.) I do check my reels before each trip, and with the slightest indication of performance loss, my reels go down (dis)assembly line  

Just my two cents...

Have a great day, all of you!
Ijlal

[Bryan Young]

Ijlal,

Thank you for spending the time sharing your experiences with Penn's grease.  One great thing about this sites is that we can share our experiences considering the resources we have available in our own parts of the world.  With that in mind, I hope I was not placing one grease over another, but just sharing my experiences irrespective of the grease.  There are a lot of great products out there, including Penn, Inox, CorrosionX, Yamaha, Evinrude, Shimano, Advent, Abu,...

Heck, when I first started taking my reels apart, I was using normal wheel bearing grease.  Then switched to Mobile 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease because of the higher temperature index than the petro base greases.  Discovered that both grease liked water too much (it appeared that it absorbed moisture).  Yeah, I know what some of you guys are actually thinking, "What an idiot."  Anyway, the hunt was on for a moisture resistant grease.  Keep in mind, that I continued to use the Mobile 1 not thinking of looking at the reel manufacturer's grease and oils.  Well, probably a little over a year ago (believe it or not), I met Alan, and he shared what he was using and explained to me why he chose certain lubricants.  Then I made the switch but not completely.  I had some Evinrude Triple Guard grease and tried it.  As many have commented, it's a bit tacky for their liking and mine.  In the process of looking at my 113HLW, I accidentally mixed some CorrosionX with the Triple Guard in my reel.  And you know what?  I liked the results of the mixture.  To be on the safe side, I contacted CorrosionX and asked about the mixing and they said that it should not have that chemical reaction that will harden greases when mixing one type with another (whew).  I liked the coating, consistency, corrosion protection, and continue to use it that mixture.

If it works for you, great.  It may work for others as well given the availability of lubricants in our area.

Thanks for sharing.  Always good to hear experiences and different methods in maintaining our reels.

[broadway]

Ijlal,

      Thank you for your descriptive findings, but dare I ask, why get Cal's with those results...especially how well you maintain them? It ain't the super goo of the century, though it makes my drags buttery smooth  Hope you like the Cal's... let us know what ya think.  Good Luck to ya.

...As always Alan looks out for us all...U Da Man!

Dom