Is there a break-in period with NOS or gently used vintage reels?

[CincyDavid]

Speaking generally, will a properly-assembled and lubricated vintage worm drive spinning reel feel smooth right out of the box, or will be get smoother and feel better after some use? I have a Penn 710 Greenie that is not NIB or NOS but shows almost no wear and it just feels vaguely gritty or mechanical, like I can feel gear teeth engaging. Is something wrong or do I just need to hang it on a rod and use it as intended?

[oldmanjoe]

 My best guess is that the ball bearing is doing that gritty feeling .
  many times I have a bearing that feels good in the hand and after assembling it feels gritty .  Sometimes you add the grit with grease or oil because you moved a hidden particle in the bearing race .   

[CincyDavid]

Thanks Joe, I'll dig into it again and see what I find.

[Midway Tommy]

Many times when you completely and thoroughly refurbish an older spinning reel there will be a transitional breaking in period before the reel becomes smooth and quiet again.

Think about it, if you do the cleaning appropriately you have removed years of old grease and oil that had hardened and created a film that coated the gears, main shaft, etc. once cleaned and burnished you are back to original bare metals. Sometimes it takes a little while to recreate a lubricant coating. Once you get that coating things quiet down and smooth out. It's a normal process, but it usually doesn't a long period of time.

[CincyDavid]

I'd like to add a layer to this discussion...what if the reel feels syrupy smooth while reeling backward, but gritty while reeling forward? The 710 does this and the new Zangi/Ted Williams 400 does too.

[Midway Tommy]

Use helps quite a bit, but without it in hand it's tough to precisely diagnose if there's another issue.

[Gfish]

Maybe something slightly misaligned due to excessive use and lack of lubrication in the forward cranking  mode. I'd look closely at the crank-shaft and the worm-pinion and the pinion bearing.

[quang tran]

Most of time it's the bearing issue ,clean or replace bearing may solve problem . On Mitchell reel a thin brass washer in rotor is very sensitive and they shim it according to variation of reel ,some have 3 some only have 1 .Try to loosen the nut if it got better then you need to re-shim

[slosh]

In my worm drive spinners, if it's rough it's the pinion bearing.

I had similar issues before with small baitcasters, they definitely seem to prefer a break in after a major clean up or a gear swap. When I ran a fleet of Ambassadeur C3s, I even marked the main and pinion to try to keep them perfectly aligned if I took them out.

[cbar45]

I've a Ted Williams 460 (Shakes 2062 clone), that is barely used with similar issues.

Typically a worn bearing will be gritty rolling both directions; while properly meshed worm drive gears will be VERY smooth turning just the same.

But this 460 is the one reel that has me stumped. Shimming either the drive gear or the pinion has little effect, so it just currently sits in a box. Shame, as the drivetrain it sports is the good 'ol brass main and stainless pinion.

I guess if the AR dog was loud enough for my diminished hearing—-such that it overcomes the annoying geariness—-I'd take it fishing.

[foakes]

Over the decades, I have realized even a new unused reel out of the box deserves a "pre-fish" basic service and inspection.  This includes all bearings to be evacuated of grease and lubricants —- the replaced with the products I have confidence in and am certain will work well.

There are very few exceptions to this little rule of mine.

Few know how well a quality reel will perform when properly prepped —- except for the members of Alan's site.

Best, Fred

[cbar45]

Fred makes a good point.

If only reels could talk. Unless you've had it since new and pre-serviced as such, there's no telling how many hands it has passed through, nor the treatment it has seen. Was it smooth when you first got it?

I'd expect the standard for a new reel of reasonable quality is no grittiness whatsoever. Other than a manufacturing anomaly, that feeling might be something introduced through use (or mis-use) at some point, over the years.

[CincyDavid]

It was gritty when I got it, servicing it helped but it's still not as smooth as my other reels. I always get nervous when I open up a vintage reel and it's bone-dry inside, or dang close to it. Makes me wonder how much it got used without lubricants in it.

[Midway Tommy]

When you opened it up and serviced it did you soak all the non-painted metal drive train and mechanical parts in lacquer thinner or acetone and then burnish/polish them, and any bushings, before reinstalling everything? If not then there are a lot of areas or parts that could be creating the issue. When I service a spinning reel every part gets cleaned to the point that it looks like new before it gets reinstalled.

[jgp12000]

I normally replace bearings on 50+year old reels during tear down.If I don't have a new bearing I soak it in lacquer thinner
Remove one shield acid brush the bearings again with lacquer thinner.Spray with alcohol,blow out with canned air,then add lucas reel oil & slather in
Superlube replace shield or leave off with open side facing inward.Its slicker than Dick's hat band.