Shimano TN20a...regreased now it's making noise

[FISHUNTR]

Hi all... new to this board.  Been lurking for a while occasionally visiting to get the latest scoop on reel repairs / service.  Now I need help.  I have 2 TN20a and lately one has just seemed a little off..just barely... not quite as smooth and just a hint of noise when turning the handle.  The reels are about 2 years old so I figured probably needed a little cleaning and service.   So I broke it down cleaned out the old grease applied some new Shimano "special reel oil" (grease) to all the areas that I had cleaned the old grease from and put it all back together.  Now it's really making noise... kind of a high pitch whirring sound with a little gear growl especially when it's not under a load.   I'm not new when it comes to breaking reels down so I'm certain I got everything back  together right, it almost seems like the Shimano grease I used is to light or something was left ungreased.. I double checked everything and even cleaned it out again and tried some triple guard grease which is much thicker than the Shimano stuff i have and it only made a slight difference.  Any help would be appreciated as I'm trying to avoid sending it off for service.

[alantani]

first guess is gear noise.  if one was put under a heavy load the gear teeth might have some slight wear, which would account for the noise.  if you're lucky, it's bearings, but that would make noise when the spool is spinning.  check both.  since you have two reels, you can switch parts back and forth, but do not mix main and pinion gears.  if you mix a good gear with a bad one, then you can damage the good gear. 

[alantani]

oh, and welcome!!!!!!

[REK]

What about the ball bearing that fits around the pinion gear? One of the improvements between the old Trinidad and the "A" Trinidad, to keep the pinion centered for better freespool. And another bearing under the driveshaft, but I can't see that making a bunch of noise.

[FISHUNTR]

Thanks for the replies... Not sure how a bearing or gear issue could have gotten worse from cleaning / regreasing?  Some of the noise I am hearing now is definatley from the gears (growl) but again why would it get worse after just servicing.  After your response Alan I checked a couple bearings.. the outer pinion bearing felt rough and actually made a little noise when turned so I thought I had the culprit but after taking the one out of the "good" reel I found it does the exact same thing...??!  I dunno guess I'll have to send it in cause I'm stumped.

[alantani]

a bad bearing makes more noise when it's clean than when it's greased.   same for the gears.  they will make more noise when the are clean.  by cleaning a reel, you can uncover problems that you may not have appreciated before.  remember that i mentioned not to mix gears.  if you have a bad set of gears, replacing one will not get rid of the noise.  main and pinion gears must always be replaced as a set.  replacing one or the other will not get rid of the noise.  you have to replace them both at the same time. 

[FISHUNTR]

Thanks  for that tip (about the bearings)..makes sense.  I took  the shield  off the outer pinion bearing and cleaned it out and regreased it..that did help quite things down.. still  had a bit of noise though, ended up taking it into a shop today to get it over with I've had it apart and back together so many times I'm just tired of messing with it.   I'm gonna pick the repair guys brain when I pick it up and get the scoop so I'll know in the future what went wrong.  On a sidenote anyone know for sure what type of grease shimano uses in the new Trini's.. a tutorial on their site for "conventional" reels says to use shimano drag grease

[alantani]

shimano should still be using their standard drag grease.  sounds like you were having bearing problems.