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So I decided to cure my winter fishing withdrawal by organizing my tackle and doing some reel maintenance. I had a couple of questions that I couldn't really find an answer for online, hoping you guys can help.
For Shimano reels, they recommend Bantam Oil, which I could not find anywhere other than ordering directly from Shimano. Lot's of people saying it's just regular mineral oil. I have some 100% mineral oil that came with a high quality set of hair clippers for oiling the blades. Do you think this would a good alternative?
Also, couldn't find anything online regarding one specific part (forgive my lack of knowledge here). Its the shaft that extends from the handle assembly when removed. Should this part be greased or oiled? I'm hesitant to put a drop or two of oil on it, in case it should be greased instead.

Thanks in advance for the help. Can't say enough good things about this awesome community on FH!

Not sure it will answer your questions but I found this a while back. I have never done a spinning reel and sent mine in last month directly to Shimano.

http://fish.shimano.com/content/sac-fis ... 0Reels.pdf

I plan on doing my baitcasters still though.

Grease gears and oil bearings. You could grease both gears and bearings though because grease will last longer because it's obviously thicker. Not sure I'd put mineral oil in a reel.

I've never successfully cleaned out a spinning reel, maybe River Monster will chime in. I know he has experience with spinning reels.

Thanks very much guys.

Biggs - The mineral oil seemed weird to me at first too, but I came across a couple different forums in which people said their Shimano rep or Shimano support told them that the Bantam Oil was just pure mineral oil. So I checked out some sewing machine oil and the Wahl oil that came with my hair clippers, and it was labelled 100% mineral oil. Still, alot of conflicting info out there on this topic.

Thanks again.

I've cleaned 3 spinning reels. 2 daiwa's and a pfleuger. It was last winter so I don't have the greatest memory in how I exactly did it. As far as I know it went well I barely used the reels last year. Now that being said I know I used boca Lightning oil on all the bearings. For the rest of the moving parts I used grease/lube. My issue with oil is it wears off to easily. I apply a very light coating of the grease/lube using a make-up brush that wife generously donated to me. Now I just started using super lube. This stuff is great, very water resistant. I ordered it from Home Depot and it was delivered very quickly.

Now considering my lack of experience I wouldn't really take my advice. But I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. When I back at work on Tuesday I know I have a link saved on my computer I can post.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a pm.

I rip all my reels apart every winter,
this is a pretty good video for shimano spinning reels hope that helps abit
http://youtu.be/kflr4kraG50
Incase you have any baitcasters, here's a good vid for that
http://wired2fish.scout.com/story/14684 ... lean-reels

Thanks very much for the info and sources guys. It's a little bit daunting to tear apart a reel for the first time, but I'm sure it's the best way to learn about them too. I emailed Shimano asking if they have a suitable alternative to Bantam Oil, I'll see what they have to say.

Just did a dozen. The lighter the oil the more often you will have to service the reel. Spinning reels are not like baitcasters. The bearings are not involved with casting (i.e. Spool and worm gear) so it basically comes down to preference to use grease or oil. I use Reel-X and Ardent reel and bearing oil and Ardent and Penn grease. You can't screw anything up by lubricating either way but the feel of the reel might seem different sometimes. You may also get a different "feel" sometimes if you pull the drive gear and pinion gear. Older well used reels mesh in over time and if pulled and placed back in a different orientation the reel may not feel as smooth as before.
If you got $500+ Shimano flagship type reels, the smart thing to do is send them to Shimano for servicing.

Hey guys, just a quick update. E-mailed Shimano customer service, and of course they don't recommend any other oil for their reels. They were kind enough to direct me to their online store, which it turns out doesn't ship to Canada. When I pointed this out, I received no response, BUT a package showed up at my door today with 2 small bottles of Shimano Bantam Oil. So I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease.....or oil.

ha ha...

Nice - I love it when that happens.

Back when I worked in sales at a big-shop, I'd do free stuff like that just to make people happy.
We always had stuff kicking around to give away.

Now the big question?

Was it Shimano Oil ? or something else?

hmmm?

MichaelGA wrote:ha ha...


Now the big question?

Was it Shimano Oil ? or something else?

hmmm?

You know, come to think of it, it's possible I offended the man. Maybe he's sent me super glue disguised in bottles of reel oil. I'm going to take a sip to verify.

ha ha ROFL

I didn't mean to imply he was going to sabotage you, just that it is probably regular old mineral oil, maybe even heavy mineral oil.
Just like you would use on your cutting boards, reels or a stuck but!

http://www.rougier.com/newEnglish/displ ... =7&pid=131

Given the helpful information in that link, I think I'll know if it's mineral oil from sipping it, in time.....

I apologize for bumping, but thank you for this information! I
I know you asked for basic service. But
Here is a detailed video I made about disassembling Penn Battle II http://www.ricksbaitandtackle.com/how-t ... ster-reel/
There really is not much to carry one.

https://youtu.be/ezs2Fgv00fI