Grease fitting ?

[Mic]

I have tore down and rebuild a couple of Penn reels over the last couple of weekends and I've been trying to make sure I coated everything with Cal's enough to leave a finger print.
A thought crashed between my ears that after I wash everything with break clean, I might not re-greasing as I should ? The wreck happened when I was looking at the bridge and sleeve and wondering if I got all the old oil and grease from behind it ? Then I wondered if the break clean was all gone ? Then I wondered, how am I going to know without driving out the pin ?

Part # 23-60 states "oil" on it, but I've not read where anyone uses oil there and I been told, not to mix Cal's with anything else. So, how do you get your Cal's grease behind the sleeve ?

Then I smelled burning rubber and break pads when I thought, Why can't I get a grease cert sized for the bridge sleeve that I can force Cal's through the sleeve and out the hole in the bottom of the sleeve which would "purge" anything behind the sleeve ?
Now, this same grease cert could be used to shoot some Cal's in the main gear between reel service and maintenance ?

Could this grease cert be made and do think it would work ?

Thanks for any advice yawl offer me~!

Mic

[Reel 224]

I have tore down and rebuild a couple of Penn reels over the last couple of weekends and I've been trying to make sure I coated everything with Cal's enough to leave a finger print.
A thought crashed between my ears that after I wash everything with break clean, I might not re-greasing as I should ? The wreck happened when I was looking at the bridge and sleeve and wondering if I got all the old oil and grease from behind it ? Then I wondered if the break clean was all gone ? Then I wondered, how am I going to know without driving out the pin ?

Part # 23-60 states "oil" on it, but I've not read where anyone uses oil there and I been told, not to mix Cal's with anything else. So, how do you get your Cal's grease behind the sleeve ?

Then I smelled burning rubber and break pads when I thought, Why can't I get a grease cert sized for the bridge sleeve that I can force Cal's through the sleeve and out the hole in the bottom of the sleeve which would "purge" anything behind the sleeve ?
Now, this same grease cert could be used to shoot some Cal's in the main gear between reel service and maintenance ?

Could this grease cert be made and do think it would work ?

Thanks for any advice yawl offer me~!

Mic

I'm not sure you are using Cal's for the right application according to what I understand from those that are in the know here.

CAL'S: For Drag Washers.

YAMAHA GREASE: for the gears and reel parts.

As for the grease cert, if you can thread it into the areas that are needed it should work, as long as it doesn't interfere with the crank handle. I'm really not sure I understand your question only because I'm not familiar with the situation you have stated. It's my understanding that when you clean the reel parts the reel is disassembled, if so then that would be the time to apply grease.     

[johndtuttle]

There is nothing wrong with using Cal's grease on the entire reel. In fact, Accurate does this with their reels from the factory.

In general, we prefer basic Marine Bearing Grease for other parts because it is much less expensive than Cal's and more readily available (from nearly any store front that sells auto supplies).

The grease/oil fittings on the reels are used all the time for the handle, lubing the sleeve etc as needed but these are generally used only when we don't have time to open the reel. I think Alan in his tutorials has always stated using oil on the sleeve but I am sure many use grease too, it is not critical what type of lube you use as long as it gets some of something and if oil, regular application as oil is not as durable as grease.

In general we are trying to protect and lubricate and nearly anything will do other than drags where we prefer hi-temp drag greases. But for other parts again, nearly anything will do we just choose based on a decision tree of priorities like so:

1. Protection then it gets grease (all interior surfaces, non-spool bearings).

2. Durability of Lube then it gets grease (Gears and I grease my gear sleeves FWIW).

3. Speed of Lube then it gets oil (spool bearings).

4. Generally things on the outside of the reel get oil, but things that don't freshwater rinse well get grease (ie under hidden surfaces). So if you and dirt can see it, it gets oil, but if its a mating surface or under the star etc then it gets grease.


But don't over think it! Any lube will generally protect some are better than others, thicker or thinner, have prettier colors or taste better on crackers (kidding  ). If you try something new just use it and watch and see how it works for your needs. Go back to the basics if you don't like the results.

[Mic]

Thanks for the information yawl. It sure gives me another angel.

My thoughts were that if I lubed the drag washers with Cal's, I don't want anything else coming out of the weep hole at the bottom of the sleeve except Cal's. Now with that being said, How do I the sleeve lubed between fishing trips without total disassemble of the sleeve and drag washers ? That's where I thought if I could remove the handle nut and temporarily install a grease cert to shoot Cal's into the sleeve and forcing it through the sleeve and out the weep hole and into the drag washers.

One of the reasons this thought came through my mind was when I was driving the pin from the sleeve the pin just about fell out of the sleeve. How many times can a pin be removed from a sleeve and not be trashed?

I don't know if a handle nut could be modified to a grease cert/nut from a oil cert/nut where it can stay on the reel full time ? Maybe I'm overthinking it like you said, but If I can keep lube in the sleeve/drags longer and easier, then I have extended the amount of times my reel has to be opened.

Thanks for your thoughts fellers~!

Mic

[johndtuttle]

Thanks for the information yawl. It sure gives me another angel.

My thoughts were that if I lubed the drag washers with Cal's, I don't want anything else coming out of the weep hole at the bottom of the sleeve except Cal's. Now with that being said, How do I the sleeve lubed between fishing trips without total disassemble of the sleeve and drag washers ? That's where I thought if I could remove the handle nut and temporarily install a grease cert to shoot Cal's into the sleeve and forcing it through the sleeve and out the weep hole and into the drag washers.

One of the reasons this thought came through my mind was when I was driving the pin from the sleeve the pin just about fell out of the sleeve. How many times can a pin be removed from a sleeve and not be trashed?

I don't know if a handle nut could be modified to a grease cert/nut from a oil cert/nut where it can stay on the reel full time ? Maybe I'm overthinking it like you said, but If I can keep lube in the sleeve/drags longer and easier, then I have extended the amount of times my reel has to be opened.

Thanks for your thoughts fellers~!

Mic

The Brass Sleeve on a Stainless shaft doesn't need much lube between trips. Literally, they will work for decades without lube. Regardless if you used grease or oil a little oil down the grease fitting is more than thousands of reels ever got.

Also, don't worry about whatever comes out of the underneath of the main gear...it is not going to migrate to the drag washers in any amount worth worrying about. The grease in the washers will fight off any contamination.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my senators running smoothly as much as the next guy...but we don't need to baby them either if it is not convenient for us to do so...

[cj6530]

I just finished putting yamaha blue grease on the main and pinion gear of my Baja Special (and pretty much everywhere else).  The handle now has a little tension when the drag is pinned (no tension unless max drag). is "to much" grease causing this......or do I have an assembly issue?

[Mic]

The Brass Sleeve on a Stainless shaft doesn't need much lube between trips. Literally, they will work for decades without lube. Regardless if you used grease or oil a little oil down the grease fitting is more than thousands of reels ever got.

Also, don't worry about whatever comes out of the underneath of the main gear...it is not going to migrate to the drag washers in any amount worth worrying about. The grease in the washers will fight off any contamination.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my senators running smoothly as much as the next guy...but we don't need to baby them either if it is not convenient for us to do so...

Thanks John,
That's a bit more understandable than not for me. If the periodic drag adjustments don't have a negative effect on keeping a good amount of grease on the drags, then it's all good.

Thank you all for the help and information~!

Mic

 

[johndtuttle]

I just finished putting yamaha blue grease on the main and pinion gear of my Baja Special (and pretty much everywhere else).  The handle now has a little tension when the drag is pinned (no tension unless max drag). is "to much" grease causing this......or do I have an assembly issue?

If you well greased the drag stack and with a new reel it is common to have some residual "drag tension" from the stack.

If you tighten down the drag and wind against it you will help squeeze excess grease out of the stack and eventually the belleville washers fatigue a bit too and it goes away. But a little bit of drag resistance left over is nothing to worry about as it will go away as the drag washers and bellevilles wear normally. Only worry if you cannot get good free spool.

[Mic]

I just finished putting yamaha blue grease on the main and pinion gear of my Baja Special (and pretty much everywhere else).  The handle now has a little tension when the drag is pinned (no tension unless max drag). is "to much" grease causing this......or do I have an assembly issue?

CJ,
I can't help you as I'm still trying to understand all this myself. I would look and make sure the spool bearing is not tightened down too tight or if the level wind bearing (if it has one) is not too tight.

You might find some information in old post about it ?

Good luck to ya!

Mic

[johndtuttle]

Thanks John,
That's a bit more understandable than not for me. If the periodic drag adjustments don't have a negative effect on keeping a good amount of grease on the drags, then it's all good.

Thank you all for the help and information~!

Mic

 

Well greased drag washers will remain impregnated for a very long time. Only excess gets squeezed out over time.

The reason we don't need to worry so much about the gear sleeve lube is that naturally there is little friction between the soft brass and the stainless stud. Gear sleeves that haven't been oiled in 10 years (if ever) and fished hard turn freely.

What is often not appreciated with the Senator design is that even though the choice of materials limits the max drag of the stock reel, it is also a design that can survive amazing neglect and still function ie a brass main gear meshing into a stainless pinion will feel remarkably smooth despite nearly no lubrication due to the relative hardness of the metals.