# Economics of reel servicing



## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I've never had a reel professionally serviced except for one that I returned for a warranty issue after 3.5 years and was practically rebuilt.

I considered that if a service cost say $30, and the reel was only $60-$100, I'd be better off doing my own quickie service and replacing the reel whenever it buggered up.

Was in my local tackle shop looking at all the customer reels lined up for service and thought I'd ask the question. They charge between $6-$10 for a vanilla flavoured service. I'd be quite happy to get my reel serviced for that price.

What do others pay for an average service without replacing parts?


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

I so have to leave Sydney.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

That's very reasonable but I've forced myself to become comfortable with servicing my reels. It just makes sense when they see so much saltwater. For any saltwater yakker, servicing reels as much as they need with the regular splashes and dunkings received would become very expensive if we didn't know our way around a bottle of grease, some oil and a schematic. Start simple with an old Abu or similar and work your way up.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

scater said:


> That's very reasonable but I've forced myself to become comfortable with servicing my reels. It just makes sense when they see so much saltwater. For any saltwater yakker, servicing reels as much as they need with the regular splashes and dunkings received would become very expensive if we didn't know our way around a bottle of grease, some oil and a schematic. Start simple with an old Abu or similar and work your way up.


You're probably right scater. How far do you go with servicing, do you completely strip or just disassemble enough to access the major moving parts and just clean and lube them?

I've done both complete strips and partial ones but find that it's so long in between that I need to disassemble 5 times during assembly because I've put things together in the wrong order. More regular servicing would lead to familiarity I guess.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

I don't generally do a complete strip down because regular maintenance keeps thing fairly clean. Therefore I disassemble enough to be able to lubricate those parts that need it and to eyeball corrosion-prone areas such as the bearings. If my reels were to get completely submerged in salt water I would want to do a complete clean and relube.

And nobody, but nobody calls me scared.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

You're not scared anymore.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I've rebuilt engines so a reel shouldn't be a problem. It's just that initial strip of a new reel that I'm unfamiliar with that makes me nervous. They all seem to have little knacks about sliding this across, pushing that while you turn the other thing and making sure you hold the spring from flying across the room etc which I can't really get out of a schematic.

Maybe I should just perservere or do some research first because I actually enjoy doing it. There's an idea, maybe I can service other people's reels....nah, not for $10!


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## bildad (Jun 20, 2011)

fishnut said:


> Mate I wouldn't do it for 10 bucks either :shock: . You are right though some reels you have to watchout for bits flying off but basically most spinning reels and overheads are quite easy to do. The little circlips that hold the spools in on most Abu's are little mongrels and I have had them fly all over the place, just keep a magnifying glass close by :lol: . If you can build a motor most reels will be piss easy, just take it slow. Good luck.
> Cheers Darren


When taking circlips off or anything that might fly apart have a magnet close to where you are working save a lot of time looking and heart ache when can't find piece.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Won't work on good stainless steel.


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## bildad (Jun 20, 2011)

Barrabundy said:


> Won't work on good stainless steel.


Neodemium magnets


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## ringo (Oct 3, 2008)

I pay about $25-$30 and only get it done if my reel gets dunked in salt water or if they don't sound or feel normal.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

bildad said:


> Barrabundy said:
> 
> 
> > Won't work on good stainless steel.
> ...


Or just put the reel in a plastic bag for that bit.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

With a bit of chat going on at the moment about servicing, I thought I'd pop up a couple of photos I took this morning while servicing my reels. This was just an inspection and lube, not a complete strip down. I'll generally do this every few months, or as needed based on amount of use and whether they've copped a particularly rough time. The pictures here are of my Zillion disassembled. I'll just point out a few things.










As you can see, I've got the components laid out in lines, in order. This is important as it makes reassembly a lot easier if you can just go back up a line and replace parts. Not shown, but definitely open and within easy reach was the reel schematic, which was needed at one point to check the orientation of a part. It's also important to do this stuff on a relatively light-coloured, soft surface. If you drop a small part on a hard table, good luck ever finding it! On the left of the frame you can see the edge of my little toolbox. It's important to have a variety of tools and in particular, of screwdrivers. Many of the screws that hold reels together are tiny, and for some reason, manufacturers occasionally see fit to add loc-tite to them. It's vital to use the correct size screwdriver to avoid stripping the heads of the screws.










Here you can see the guts of the reel. In a minor service like this one, my main aims are to check for corrosion, oil the spool bearings and grease the gears. As you can see there is not much in the way of corrosion, but there is quite a bit of dirt, debris and old grease lying around. This was cleaned off and the reel was regreased and oiled. I also checked the drag washers for debris and made sure they weren't wearing out. All in all this service, plus one on my 4000 stradic Ci4 took about 45 minutes, and will stand me in good stead for the barra season ahead.

As a guide when learning my way around, I found this tutorial very helpful: http://www.tackletour.com/articlereelma ... tdsol.html
Though I don't have a sol, the reels are very similar in design and the basic principles are transferrable. The same should be true across other manufacturers as well though there are some notable differences. For instance, many abu's have a non-disengaging levelwind which requires oil rather than grease. Look also for tutorials on youtube, of which there are an increasing number.


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## Jenko (Jan 31, 2010)

After removing the side cover of a reel, take a close up picture for later reference when reassembling.


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