Reel Oil & Grease

[Chinacat]

Hey Pete
I hope this is a basic straightforward question
My 2 local go to tackle shops are on limited hours and both were closed today when I tried to go to each
I ended up going to a bigger place in Hampton Bays thinking I would have multiple choices of reel grease and oil to purchase to move forward with my winter maintenance projects
WRONG
They had a a big tub of Penn Grease , super small tubes of grease and nothing else
So now my options are to use generic oil and grease I have on hand, buy something from Amazon, or hit a shop “up island” the next day Im on the road for work

Do you have a preferred brand or type to use for maintenance or am I over thinking it

 

[captmike28]

Hey Pete
I hope this is a basic straightforward question
My 2 local go to tackle shops are on limited hours and both were closed today when I tried to go to each
I ended up going to a bigger place in Hampton Bays thinking I would have multiple choices of reel grease and oil to purchase to move forward with my winter maintenance projects
WRONG
They had a a big tub of Penn Grease , super small tubes of grease and nothing else
So now my options are to use generic oil and grease I have on hand, buy something from Amazon, or hit a shop “up island” the next day Im on the road for work

Do you have a preferred brand or type to use for maintenance or am I over thinking it

Hi Mitch,
While Pete is our resident guru on all things related to tackle repair, I believe he uses the same grease as I do, the Yamaha Blue Marine Grease. Since you have a Yamaha outboard, I have to believe you have a tube of that at home. Works great on all my reels as well as many of my windlass parts and all other saltwater greasing applications.

Regarding thin viscosity oil, I bought a 2 oz. bottle of Penn Reel oil at Dick's about 3 years ago. 2 oz. goes a long way with that stuff.

 

[Chinacat]

Hi Mitch,
While Pete is our resident guru on all things related to tackle repair, I believe he uses the same grease as I do, the Yamaha Blue Marine Grease. Since you have a Yamaha outboard, I have to believe you have a tube of that at home. Works great on all my reels as well as many of my windlass parts and all other saltwater greasing applications.

Regarding thin viscosity oil, I bought a 2 oz. bottle of Penn Reel oil at Dick's about 3 years ago. 2 oz. goes a long way with that stuff.

Thanks Mike!
Thats exactly what I did use on the first reel I did. My shimano Tekota 300 A
I always have that on hand in the grease gun fir all fittings on the motor, bearings on the trailer, etc
I figured that is as good as it gets when it comes to holding up to saltwater and hard use. After I did it I figured I’d better check.
As for oil, over the years with every reel I’ve purchased new whether its Penn, shimano, abu, etc., I put the little tube they sometimes give you in a bag in a drawer in the garage. Im finally just about out. I’ll hit up Dicks on my next Riverhead trip or if I head up island hit a shop out that way for the Penn Oil

 

[OVERBORED]

Im partial to reelX

 

[Leprechaun]

Somewhere in the past I wrote a very long post on this subject. I can't find it, but try these threads for my fairly recent thoughts on the subject. Its all in there. These are individual posts from the captioned threads. If you have the inclination, click thru and read the entire threads for better context. Grab a cup of coffee and dive in:

Post in thread 'Tatula 150P'

Aug 26, 2025

Any small baitcaster regardless of manufacturer, needs a good bit of preventative maintenance, if its expected to live a long life in SW use. I know all about reels that are advertised as "SW Safe." Nonsensical marketing baloney. Baitcasting reels have too many points of entry for the water to work its way into, regardless of so-called coated bearings and little rubber seals, which are only marginally capable of keeping corrosive SW out of the inner workings. Daiwa Coastals (and the larger Lexa's) as well as the Shimano Tranx models are examples of this. Use one of these for a good day of...

• Leprechaun

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Post in thread 'Daiwa MQ Body opening tool'

Feb 5, 2023

I've never cared for white lithium grease for use with SW-intended reels. In fact years ago I threw away a big tube of Lubriplate white lithium grease, after finding that it tended to harden and cake inside the reels, and caught salt crystals from any SW with which it came into contact. I know that many people do use it for reel lubrication, but there is better out there, and so that's how I roll.

I use Yamalube grease and find it to be about the best I've tried in the reels I service. Having said that, my supply of it is currently just about exhausted, and so I'm about to spring for a...

• Leprechaun

Post in thread 'Need Ocean Fluke rod recommendation'

Jun 9, 2022

Here's what’s sitting on my BH CS:

OG Daiwa Zillion Coastal with the following mods:

Kawa 100mm curved carbon fiber handle
Gomexus 27mm "soft touch" knobs
Weihai Tackle carbon fiber drag star with sky-blue anodized aluminum bearing cover
Smooth Drag Carbontex drag washers
Daiwa metal factory drag washers lapped super flat with 600-grit paper taped to a glass pane
Full Ceramic bearing on LW worm gear (a metal bearing is a waste of time here)
4.9:1 gearset from the OG Zillion Crazy Cranker
Boca Orange Seal 1/2-ceramic spool bearings
Hedgehog Studios sky-blue anodized aluminum...

• Leprechaun

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Post in thread 'O.K., Here We Go Again - a New Deep Fluking Reel Build'

Oct 4, 2019

Part 4

Here's the reel's new 4.9:1 gear train completely installed and the reel's insides properly coated with my favorite lubricant/protectant - Yamaha Yamalube grease. Great stuff. What you cannot see is the new CarbonTex drag washers, installed DRY - for true h/d drag pressure. Daiwa, like Shimano, prefers to lightly grease their drags with special drag grease - for start-up and overall smoothness. This it certainly does.

However, the unintended consequence of using a drag grease is that overall drag performance is GREATLY decreased. Frequently this prevents the drag from being...

• Leprechaun

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Post in thread 'TEAR IT DOWN! TEAR IT DOWN! The G4 Revo Winch, I mean . . .'

Jan 19, 2019

Next job is to unscrew the three right side plate screws. Take note that the rear two are equal length long ones, and the front one is a small-head shortie screw. Please remember to put them back in that orientation. To complete removing the side plate there's one more screw, on the other side of the frame. It goes through the frame, and also secures the removable "lube port" to the side plate. Remove it as well, along with the lube port cover.

And here's the right side plate removed from the reel. Note the size of the Abu main gear - massive, given the overall teeny size of...

• Leprechaun

When I think about the time I've put into these threads . . . well anyway, enjoy.

 

[Chinacat]

Wow!
Thanks Pete
I will absolutely go through all of this information
Much appreciated

 

[Chinacat]

I will go ahead and use the search feature to find more detailed info that you shared and posted over the years
My apologies for initially taking the lazy approach and not doing that first