Renewing several old Daiwa reels

[OldMan]

Hi Folks,

New member, first post. I'm renewing a pair of vintage Daiwa Ultralight reels (500C and 700C) and a 2500c.

I'm learning others are making new parts for my old, used reels. My wife's 2500C (salmon rig) needs the drag renewed and her 1300C might need the drag done, too. Luckily, they are not the only game in town.

Parts for the ultralights were hardest to find, but there's a guy in Missouri who sells bearings and drag washers on Ebay so I'm buying everything from him. I've never repaired reels before but I've always been a guy who likes DIY, so I will just tear into it once all my parts are in for any given reel. He has YT videos I can follow, too. Well-lit and coherent, too!!!

SO...I'm looking for recommendations for reel grease. Better to have just one kind (for bearings AND drag washers), because I don't have space for a full-on shop, no garage or basement.

OB_First_Post

California native, still live here. Age 65. Mostly I fish for trout and occasionally salmon, but I'm just a beginner with salmon. Not a bass fisherman (I don't like skinning fish so I fish for species where skin removal is not required) and salmonids are the healthiest fish to eat, as long as they're not farmed. I'm a float-tube guy, too. I have a mount for my sonar (Striker4) and another mount I use on rental boats. I do a LOT of catch and release fishing and most of my lures have single, barbless hooks. Lot of work, removing and replacing all the barbed, treble hooks.

First trip this year will be the Northern California Trout Anglers Challenge (NTAC) trout derby at San Pablo Reservoir. Probably just bank fish with the old standby, nightcrawler on a #8 topped with a marshmallow to keep the bait off the bottom. I could win a BOAT!!!

Glad to have discovered y'all...

[Washougal]

If you go to a bearing/industrial supply company you can get just about any bearing you want, everything is pretty universal, with many products using the same bearings that can be bought from more than one company usually. For instance some of the ceramic bearings from a microchip processing tool just happen to fit my reels. Drag washers and parts have been kitted out for decades, used to be a company in Florida that had drag washers for just about any saltwater reel ever made.

[tholmes]

Greetings from another "old man"!

For lubricating your reel bearings, any good quality light oil will work. I prefer Rem-oil, but I've used 5W30 Mobil 1 and it works just fine. Just a small drop on each bearing.

I'd use grease on the gears. I like Yamaha Marine grease, thinned with light oil as required. 

Tom

[cadman]

There are a lot of oils and greases on the market for reels. Yamaha marine grease is a really good grease. You can also use super lube, Penn reel grease and Abu silicote grease. Use grease only on gears. For oil I personally I don't like motor oils, but some oil is better than no oil. I would recommend, TSI 321, Abu Oil or rocket fuel. Each has there own purpose. TSI 321 is about universal as you can get. Also remember to use Cal's or Daiwa grease for drag stacks. Do not use other greases for drag stacks, as the grease I mentioned is made for that purpose. This is just my personal opinion.

[Cagey]

Be aware that some brands create internal parts in some reels that react with petroleum lubricants which can cause the part to break down and fail. In the shop all we are allowed to use is silicone grease and synthetic oil. There are no brands that I know of that recommend any petroleum based lubricants. So in the shop we use the same synthetic lubricants on all brands of reels.