Forum | Reel Lube

Did you also know that in an emergency you can use plain water in virtually any piece of hydraulic equipment, including brakes on cars. Granted you got a big problem to solve after the emergency but you can do it and it will work.

Got my eye on a ultrasonic cleaner. It's one of the good'uns and as such a bit costly so it'll be awhile before it finds a home here. But someday. At least once a year I go completely through my reels all the way down to parade rest. Sometimes…. I'll do a couple of them thoughout the year if I notice a loss of performance. NEVER WD-40.

By the way are you aware that ATF Dextron III…………………can be used in place of hydraulic fluid?

My bobs info sheet stated that.So if you need some in a pinch are in the middle of nowhere,comes in handy to know what can replace it.

I copied the following from tackletour.com. It shows the viscosity of various oils. Of particulare note is the difference in viscosity of Dextron III ATF and Hot Sauce 62 vs 28 respectively. In locating this I discovered some folks are using rem oil… remington fire arms, oil with good success. Might give it a try as well as the KG-4 you use. Looks interesting.

I measured the viscosities of a number of lubes a while back and thought I'd post them here in case anyone might be interested in the numbers. These may not all be common reel lubes, but I threw some various oils in for comparison. I also recently ran the Reel Butter oil, but I need to look that one up and then I'll add it into the list. Note as well the changes in viscosity relative to temperature at the bottom of this list!

The viscosity units are in centi-Poise (1/100 of a Poise) and the lower the value, the less viscous. For a few points of reference, water is 1 cP, vegetable oils run in the range of 70-80 and SAE 30 Motor Oil would be around 200 cP. I also ran Mobil-1 0-30W synthetic and interestingly, it looks a lot more like a 40W than an 0W. So here's the list in order from highest to lowest:

Lube………………………..Viscosity@78F (cP)

Mobil-1 0W-30 (syn)………………400
Superlube w/PTFE…………………245
Zebco Needle Oiler………………..206
Quicksilver Storage Seal…………203
Abu Silicoat Reel Oil……………….176

Browning Midas Gun Oil (syn)…140
Quicksilver PS and Trim Oil……..136
BSB Speed Bearing……………….114

Red RF (hc)……………………………93
PMI Paintball Gun Lube……………90
Power Steering Fluid……………….90
Diawa Std Needle Oiler……………84
Reel-X…………………………………..74

ATF Dextron III………………………62
Shimano Std. (hc)…………………..60
Yellow RF (hc)………………………..59
3-In-1 Oil………………………………40

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Reel Butter…………………………….28
Quantum Hot Sauce………………..25
X+1R…………………………………….21
Diawa TDZ lube (syn)………………18
Diawa/Liberto Pixy Lube (syn)…..18
Whale Spit (hc)……………………….14
Abu Black Max ………………………..14

WD 40……………………………………6
Tournament RF (hc)………………….4
Friction Zero Lub (hc/syn )…………4
Rem Oil (hc)…………………………….3

Reference: DI water…………………1
——————————————-

Lube….Viscosity (cP) @ 38F………@78F……..@ 98F (cP)

Yellow RF ……………………285…………..59…………..35
3-In-1 Oil…………………….161……. ……40…………..20
Quantum Hot Sauce……..100…………..25…………..16

mark

Just wondering what you guys use for oilin' up your reels.

When I first started tearing down reels in the mid 60's the o'l 3in1 oil was king of the hill. The draw back was in cold weather it resembled 90wt gear lube. Chevron did and I suppose still does market reel oil in a pen type applicator which is nice but the oil it's self, and I used it for awhile, reduced casting distance by factors of 10 when the weather got cold.

Then reel manufactures started including oil in the reel purchases so there was Penn oil, Abu Garcia oil and Mitchell oil. For grease seemed to me that the Penn grease as hard to beat. There was a period in time that graphite based grease showed up on the fishing scene but it didn't hang around long. Now as build tolerances have gotten tighter and tighter synthetic oil is on top of the mountain.

And there is a plethora to choose from! Abec bearings grade 5 and up demand a low visosity oil if you want any kind of performance from them at all in the winter time. The fact that the newer oils are synthetic based makes them less affected by extreme temperature. That and you can get them in very low visosities.

I use Quantum Hot Sauce reel oil and the Quantum synthetic grease. I've also tried the relatively new Ardent Reel Butter. Another oil I've heard good things about but never used is one named Rocket Fuel. But back to the Reel Butter…

I stripped down and cleaned a Shimano Chronarch super free reel recently and wanting the best oil I could find for this application I purchased some Reel Butter. After cleaning the reel I applied Reel Butter in all the places it should be applied – bearings. Then reassembled the reel. First non-scientific test – free spool spin. While it was in fact smooth as butter the spool stopped spinning far short of the time where Hot Sauce would have continued to spin. Next non-scientific test - reel engauged handle spin. Same results – smooth spin but noticeably less spin time.

Disassembled the reel again. Pulled the bearings and cleaned them again and re-applied the Quantum Hot Sauce. Reel performance returned to previous levels. Someone would be hard pressed to get me to stop using Hot Sauce in the future. But… I'm always on the search for something better.

It doesn't matter if you're pitching a bait at low speeds or raring back and letting fly with a crankbait. Spool startup and spin time with these low visconsity synthetic oils is nothing short of phenominal. If distance on cast is important to you it would behove you to give them a try. I highly recommend the Quantum Hot Sauce. Some don't like the red color suggesting it gets on the reel and clothes – and won't wash out of the clothes. But… all it takes is a single drop per bearing from the excellent applicator and you're good to go.