Thread: Roller bearing, oil or grease?

So, I haven't used my 706 greenie in a while. Of course the roller is a little rough. What is the best lube for the bearing? I already ordered a new bearing, just waiting now. Even on the new one what is best?

Thanks!!!

I use the small tube of Penn lube on all my reels

Thank you. I cleaned the roller in some solvent and it worked amazingly well with no lube. It would spin for about twenty seconds before stopping. I dripped one drop in it of the Penn lube and now it won't spin for more than 10 seconds. Is that just the surface tension of the oil. I can't believe there is such a difference with no lube. I am tempted to try silicone dry lube and see what that does.

There is low viscosity lube for pure turning speed (a casting reel bearings for distance casting) and there is higher viscosity lube for turning under load (a concentional reel for winching up a reluctant tuna by raw force and your will). A fixed spool reel doesn't need casting oriented speed-lubing since spool doesn't itself spin. Roller needs not to heat up on a run under load which could weaken line. Bearing needs to turn on hub as you drag line across it to fight wear and heating line on run, which is why folks have loose drags on kings. To a lesser extent when you pressure the bearing at slower speeds like tug of war with a jack lube must stand up to protect the metal.

The existing hub will not be free-spinning long as metal scratches metal microscopically without any lube. Use less oil or just crank it a while under load to throw off excess and reduce drag from over-oiling. A dry lube must not just allow it to turn but protect from water, salt, and corrosion as well as an oil. I would worry about that.

Originally Posted by cheesegrits

Thank you. I cleaned the roller in some solvent and it worked amazingly well with no lube. It would spin for about twenty seconds before stopping. I dripped one drop in it of the Penn lube and now it won't spin for more than 10 seconds. Is that just the surface tension of the oil. I can't believe there is such a difference with no lube. I am tempted to try silicone dry lube and see what that does.

You're overthinking it, IMO. put a drop of Penn lube or some other reel grease or lube, keep the sand out, clean every now and then and don't worry too much about it.

Penn lube. Machine oil if I have nothing else around.

A chart of some common reel lubes:

http://www.stripersonline.com/conten...61/id/1763592/

CorrosionX oil is what I use.