Cleaning reel body

[KayakFisherman]

I have some reels (lp baitcasters) that have been neglected and are full of crud, the roller bearing is green in one of them! I'm wondering what I should do with the roller bearing and what's the best way to give the reel bodies a thorough cleaning?

[kamuwela]

sound's like they should be taken apart. wd40 works for me as a solvent but i dont think it will help with the green bearing. vinegar works well too. try with a soft brush and see how you do. you can always take it apart later and do it part by part. hope this helps   
                                                        aloha
                                                        kamu

[wallacewt]

in the chrome factories they use hydra-tetra-chlorine(spelling?)if you breath it in it can kill you!the place where i worked a bloke fell into a vat of it.so if you really want it done properly take it to a chrome factory,but the crud will return unless you get it chromed. ps,im refering to metal parts of course.

[Irish Jigger]

Try soaking the parts overnight in vinegar and baking soda. There was an earlier post on this popular cleaning method some time ago.

[Alto Mare]

I have some reels (lp baitcasters) that have been neglected and are full of crud, the roller bearing is green in one of them! I'm wondering what I should do with the roller bearing and what's the best way to give the reel bodies a thorough cleaning?

Usually you will find domage under the green deposits, try some ss-steel wool soaked with a little WD-40 and buff it. This process will knock off any rough spots, so you could use it for fishing. Sometimes if the green deposit isn't too bad, that reel will come out as good as new.

[KayakFisherman]

Thanks guys, I'll try the wool and wd method. I took the reel down to nothing yesterday, will clean it up today, and start the reassembly process. Thanks again!

[Squirmypug]

Be sure when putting the reel back together to use a good marine or reel grease so that it will last and won't be so hard to clean next time.

[KayakFisherman]

Will do! I'm tired of buying new reels.

[Nessie Hunter]

I have used WD 40 as a cleaner & De-greaser and it works OK..
I stay away from very acidic compounds, Very smelly, caustic or volatile stuff (I work inside the house).
Even Vinegar, just dont know how much metal they may actually remove or pit???

I have now found that the TSI 301 is very, very good at cleaning and removing deposits.
I dont use Steel Wool though, to abrasive IMO..  I do use the Green Kitchen scubby pads to clean/scrub anything that needs it.. 
Much less abrasive and works very good (no metal dust either)...

Make sure that Roller bearing is working good, if at all??, no sense putting a Toasted bearing back in.
Easy to order and change out...


Best of luck and let us know how it comes out...
FYI ~ A pre-use service is almost a must for all my reels..
I try to stay ahead of the issues you are now finding..


.

[Alto Mare]

Nassie, Stainless steel wool comes in course, medium and fine. I dout that you would domage anything with the fine wool, give it a try, I'm sure that you will like it much better than the scrubby pads. I'm talking stainless steet wool not steel wool that you find at hardware stores. I do use it over a trash can, I learned the hard way , had a piece go in my foot . Make sure you wear shoes when servicing reels .

[Alto Mare]

KyakFisherman, I just remembered that my buddy Broadway wrote this article. Enjoy

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=1926.msg9752#msg9752

[KayakFisherman]

Thanks for that, it's a great article!

[Ken_D]

What's an LP baitcaster? Low Profile? I have a negative bias against those things. They are overly complicated for severe fishing, with waaaay too many nooks and crannies to collect salt, and crud. Replacment parts don't seem to come fair priced, either.

[KayakFisherman]

If I didn't fish tournaments I might consider spinning gear.

[Alto Mare]

If I didn't fish tournaments I might consider spinning gear.

There are many spinning reels out there for tournaments, but they're not cheap some spend over a thousand. I can think of many other things that I could do with $1500 instead of purchasing a spinning reel .