I’ve used grease in my bait caster frame bearings; as far back as I can remember. I initially packed them by hand when shields couldn’t be removed, and later removed a shield and filled them with grease when they could. Unfortunately, both methods can be agonizingly slow, frustrating and messy processes with miniature bearings! I eventually made my own greasers, so they could be filled with the shields still installed. However, I was never really happy with them; they seemed awkward to use, wasted grease and required at least two or three different versions to cover the bearing sizes for my reels. But I believed strongly in greasing my frame bearings, so I “made do” and muddled along …until I found “The Greaser”.

I stumbled upon “The Greaser” on a hobby website about 4 years ago; it was listed for greasing helicopter and other RC bearings.  I did some homework and got one, tried it out with my favorite reel grease, and have never looked back. It is quick, simple to use and does an excellent job in filling a wide-range of shielded bearings. I’ve somehow managed to collect 4 of them now!

I initially mentioned “The Greaser” in my Reel Bearings 201 Article.  I suspect there are a lot of Tackle Tour “greasers” out there, based on the PMs and email I’ve received since that time. There are also several posts in the Maintenance Section of the Tackle Tour forum about it. So, I’ll use a little blog space to provide an update, a lot more information, and a few tips based on my experience. If you’re a “greaser”, this blog is for you!

Background

A Definition: I’ve defined frame bearings in this blog, as those directly mounted on the reel frame itself.  So, spool or handle knob bearings (if your knobs have bearings), are not included in my definition of frame bearings.  However, pinion gear, level wind, drive shaft, drive gear and other bearings that don’t rotate during a cast would. [I’ll have more information on knob bearings later.]

There has been an age old debate between grease vs. oil for reel frame bearings, ever since the beginning of time. Just like a lot of things in life, there are upsides and downsides to each. Although I won’t get into much detail about the pros or cons of either in this blog (if you’re a “greaser” you’ve already made your decision and enjoy the advantages of grease) – I’ll just casually touch on them from a very high level.  Simply put, you use grease in your frame bearings or you use something else, and the choice is totally yours.

In many ways that’s one of the neat things about our hobby, we can do pretty much as we please when it comes to our equipment. Although many manufacturers grease frame bearings at the factory; that may or may not change due to personal preference, or specific needs and conditions encountered ‘on the water.’ It’s actually very similar to the rods, reels and line we select – and it’s great having options and choices!

The oil vs. grease topic comes up periodically on some forums, and members identify what they use in posts that ask for advice. Unfortunately, many responders seldom provide the basis for their choice, why they selected it, and details on their specific fishing situation – which can be a problem for someone in an entirely different situation, and who doesn’t know it. Just remember that “one size fit’s all” doesn’t necessarily apply to our reels, and even manufacturers don’t always know what exact conditions a reel will be used in. (So, maybe many manufacturers assume worse case, when they grease their frame bearings at the factory?)

Just Wondering Out Loud: It costs more to use greased bearings in a factory.  But with reel manufacturers trying to “eek” out every penny they can, you’d think they’d switch to oiled frame bearings.  Maybe they felt there would be fewer problems with greased bearings during the warranty period? What about later?

Some factors you may want to think about when it comes to grease vs. oil for your frame bearings include:

• The type of water your fish,
• The conditions you encounter while fishing,
• How often the reel is used,
• How the reel is stored when not in use,
• How and how often the reel is serviced, whether you do the service yourself or have someone else do it, and value you place on your reel.
• Characteristics of the lubricant that you use,
• Warranty requirements (if that is of concern),
• Personal preference and expectations, and
• Concern about bearing wear or effect of a bearing failure.

“The Greaser” ready for use.

The Reel Bearings 201 article provides more information about using grease vs. oil in bearings.  It also discusses potential problems like mixing lubricants or adding oil to a greased bearing, and how to clean your bearings. (By the way, the instant you add oil to a frame bearing, you’ve essentially made a commitment to service it much more often.) Maybe it won’t be as often as the oiled bearings on the spool, but it will be more often.

“The Greaser”

Precision RC Products manufactures “The Greaser” and it is sold on their website. You may also find it in a local RC hobby shop, or can use Google to search for it on the net.

“The Greaser” is actually made from 3 separate components:

1. The main body: The main body is made from 6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy and is ~2-1/4” dia. x 2-1/2” tall. It serves as a reservoir for new grease and the base for “The Greaser” when in use.
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   The body is finely finished and easy to wipe clean if required. It comfortably holds two 1 oz. tubes of Hot Sauce or Reel Butter grease – which is about right for greasing frame bearings in 35 to 45 reels. However, you don’t need to completely fill the reservoir to grease only a handful of bearings, but you will need to have at least .1 to .2 oz to initially fill the hole that runs through the plunger.
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   Trivia: 6061-T6 is the same alloy used in many automobile, aircraft and boat components. It is has good corrosion resistance, wear characteristics and weight-strength ratio. Many camera lens mounts, fishing reel gears and shafts, hydraulic fittings and boat engine components are made from that alloy.
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   The picture shows a reservoir partly filled with Reel Butter grease.
2. The plunger: The plunger is made from Delrin and is ~2″ dia. x 2″ tall.  It fits inside the body, and is used to compress the grease and hold the bearing while adding grease. A hole through the center of the plunger allows compressed grease to flow from the reservoir into the bearing.
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   The plunger has a funnel machined in its top to accommodate bearings with an outside diameter of ~5 mm to over 25 mm.  A groove is also machined near the top, so the plunger can be removed from the body when new grease needs to be added to the reservoir.  (The reservoir will be empty when the bottom of the groove gets at the top of the body, so you can track reservoir level as you grease your bearings.) Another groove near the bottom of the plunger accommodates a ~1/8” o-ring, which tightly seals the plunger to the body.
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   More Trivia: Delrin is made from acetal resin; it resists breakdown from most solvents and lubricants, and is non-porous and easy to clean with a dry rag.  It is also fairly durable, can be easily machined and has a low coefficient of friction. (It is often used as a bearing-replacement in corrosive environments where a metal roller or ball bearing would be impractical.)  Delrin or similar material is often used for bushings, spacers, level wind gears and yokes in bait cast reels.
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   The picture shows a plunger that has previously been used with Hot Sauce, Reel Butter and Cal’s Grease. If you want to switch to different grease, just remove the old grease from the reservoir (save it for later).  Then wipe the reservoir and plunger with a clean rag before filling it with the new grease, and clear the hole in the plunger with a q-tip.
3. The probe-cap: The probe is used to seal the inner race of the bearing, so grease forced from the hole in the plunger, flows into the small opening between the bearing shield and outside of the inner race. Grease fills the bearing and eventually expels through the other opening on the opposite side of the bearing. [Grease would bypass the bearing and flow out the center race instead of into the bearing, without the probe.]
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   The probe itself is made from 6061-T6 and the tapered tip is also made from Delrin.  The tip can seal bearings up to 15 mm inside diameter.
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   The cap fits snugly on the base; which protects the grease in the reservoir and plunger from picking up dirt and debris when not being used. A Note: I’ve had some Super Lube grease in one of my “Greasers” for a couple years now; and haven’t had any problems with cleanliness, breakdown or moisture. I periodically use it to grease the small bearings in my wife’s sewing machines, some power tools and other equipment in my workshop!

Using “The Greaser”

I’ve received a number or questions about “The Greaser”, ever since I wrote about it in my article.  In general, most wanted to know how grease actually gets into a shielded bearing and how to use it. You can refer to the diagram below, as I walk you through the steps:

1. Place the bearing on the bottom of the funnel in the plunger.
2. Put the tip of the probe in the center race of the bearing.
3. Press the plunger with one hand to get grease to flow from the reservoir, while also pressing the tip with the other hand to prevent grease from flowing out of the center race. A Note: Both should be pressed at the same time and with the same force – i.e. all in one motion.
4. Grease flows through the hole in the plunger to the bottom side of the bearing.
5. Grease enters the small opening on the bottom side of the bearing; between the shield and outside of the center race. (There is a picture showing the side of a bearing below.)
6. Grease fills the bearing.
7. When the bearing gets full, grease exits from the small opening on the top of the bearing; between the shield and outside of the center race.
8. The bearing is removed from the funnel and any excess grease on the outside of the bearing gets removed.
9. The process is repeated for the next bearing.

Diagram showing how the greaser fills a miniature bearing.

It really doesn’t take much time or effort to fill a bearing once you get proficient with “The Greaser”. I usually grease the frame bearings for a reel in a batch, after cleaning and checking them all for damage and wear. (It saves a little time doing it this way, since the bearings are ready to support reassembling the reel and you don’t have to continually switch back and forth between the reel frame and using “The Greaser”.)

I’ve never checked any of my reel bearings to determine exactly how full they were after being greased. I just haven’t felt the need to. Primarily because I can use my reels the entire 9 or 10 months of a fishing season without having to do anything to frame bearings, and there is still plenty of grease in them when I complete the winter clean/inspect!  Test In Progress: I’ve got one reel that sees moderate use during a season (~185 total reel hours in a season), and I haven’t done anything to the frame bearings for 3 seasons now.  I do touch-up the gears and other friction points at the end of a season; and visually check the bearings to see if they are still filled with grease, what condition the grease is in, cleanliness, etc. I won’t know if the reel can go for another season or not, until I check in December. However, it still performs like it always has over the past 3 years. [FYI: The TD-X frame bearings were greased with Hot Sauce in 2006 and the reel is only used in freshwater with large spinner baits. I keep it stored with a reel cover in a boat locker during the season and in my workshop closet during the winter. It's been dunked a few times; I just shake out the excess water and make sure it has had the opportunity to dry out on the boat deck, before putting it away. (I'd probably open the reel, dry it out and re-lube the frame bearings if they were oiled and the reel got dunked)]

The previous picture shows a bearing that had been filled with Hot Sauce Grease using “The Greaser”. If you look closely, you can see the grease in the small opening between the shield and center race, with a little extra on the shield. [Most of the excess grease had been scraped from the shield area on both sides of the bearing, inside the center race, and outside of the outer race.]  My Experience: After a season of use, I would expect to see a bit more grease at the opening between the center race and outside of the shield; it will get pushed out of the bearing during initial rotation — and any debris will stay outside the bearing (instead of getting inside), throughout the season!

Top of plunger (left) and bottom of plunger (right).

A Note: The Precision RC Products FAQ page discusses the possibility of using “The Greaser” to “push-out” old grease and debris, with new grease – without cleaning the bearings.  I’ve never tried it, since I always clean my bearings with a solvent to remove old grease/oil. I clean my bearings so I can check them for wear, proper rotation, damage, etc. and to ensure the new lubricant has the best opportunity to adhere.  The Bearings 301 Article found in the Tackle Tour Review Archive tells you how to check your bearings for wear, rotation and damage. By the way, I’d be interested in hearing if you use your “Greaser” to do this.

The amount of force you need to apply on the plunger (and center race of the bearing to seal it with the probe), is related to a few different factors:

• The apparent viscosity of the grease that you are using. Higher viscosity grease will require more force, when compared to lower viscosity grease.

• The temperature of the grease. Since viscosity is related to temperature, the colder the grease the more force that will be required. A Note: I typically keep my greasers in my workshop, which is kept at a fairly constant 75 to 80°F, and I’ve never had a problem. However, this might be a concern for someone who stores theirs in an unheated environment during the winter, and you may want to allow the grease to warm before using it.
• The size of the small opening between the outside of the shields and the center races of the bearing. I’ve never had a problem greasing stock or after-market shielded frame bearings. However, it might be a problem with some sealed bearings; especially in light of the previous two factors, seal design, and how they are held in place.  A Tip: Since most seals are relatively easy to remove and reinstall, it may be faster to just remove the seals before greasing, and to reinstall them afterward. I grease a lot of bearings using “The Greaser” that don’t have shields, and it works great.

I’ve used my greasers with Hot Sauce, Reel Butter, Moly-Lube TS-726, Cal’s, Abu Silicon-PTFE and Penn Precision reel greases.  [I’ve also used Super Lube Synthetic and REESE Teflon general purpose greases – for applications other than my reels.]  All the reel greases worked well in the greaser, although Reel Butter, Cals and TS-726 required more force be put on the plunger to get the grease to flow. Super Lube and Teflon general purpose greases required a lot more force to be placed on the plunger — and I wondered if the shield on the top of the bearings might “pop out”, but they didn’t.

Some “Greaser” Tips

Here are a few tips that may help when using “The Greaser” on your frame bearings:

• Stop filling the bearing the instant you see grease on the side of the probe or coming out of the bearing. It will limit the amount of grease that you’ll need to remove from the outside of the bearing before you install it in your reel. By the way, colored greases like Hot Sauce, Cal’s or TD-726 are a lot easier to see, when compared to clear or cloudy greases. In addition, it will be more difficult to see when grease exits the bearing on smaller bearings, when compared to larger ones — so you’ll need to look closely!
  A Note: I’ll bet the first time you use “The Greaser”, you’ll swear the grease isn’t going into the bearing, and the probe is allowing grease to escape through the center race. But trust me; it’s going in and back out the small space between the center races and shields. [The instruction sheet you get with “The Greaser” talks about this, but many have asked me about it the first time they used theirs.]
• As you fill the bearing slowly rotate the center race to the left and then to the right ~90 degrees with the probe. This will help distribute the grease within the bearing and it will fill quicker.
• When you use “The Greaser”, press down on both the plunger and probe at the same time (and same rate). Try not to put extra axial force on the center race of the bearing if you don’t need to.
• Use the excess grease that ends up in the plunger or on the side of your bearings to fill your tooth brush (for lubricating gears), for dabs of grease on friction points, to coat parts, etc. You won’t end up with a lot of grease in the plunger unless you do very large bearings. However, you can scrape off what’s there (and on the outside of freshly greased bearings), and put it on the side in the funnel so you can use it.
• Remove excess grease from the sides and center race of the bearing with the Delrin stick that comes with the greaser. You can scrap the stick off on the side of the funnel as previously described. [I’ve also used a Popsicle stick, tongue depressor, small wooden dowel, piece of an old credit card, and tooth picks to remove excess grease.  My favorite is a strip from an old credit card; one end can be cut with a tab that will fit inside the center race of a bearing!]
• I’ve gotten in the habit of greasing smallest bearings first, then go up to the next larger size, and so on – and finish with the largest sizes. That way, you don’t end up with nearly as much excess grease from the reservoir in the bottom of the plunger funnel.
• The greaser works great for handle knob bearings, should you want a smooth-buttery feel while cranking.  These bearings are very small and will fill quickly, so I suggest you grease them before any of the frame bearings. It will be much faster if you don’t have to remove excess grease from them, as previously described.
• If you happen to use your greaser with higher viscosity greases, do yourself a favor and make sure you fill the reservoir before it gets completely empty.  There will be a  moderate hydraulic-lock between the reservoir, plunger and the grease running though the plunger; and grasping-pulling the plunger will be more difficult when empty.
• Always store the greaser with the cap installed on the base. The grease that is in the funnel won’t pick up any debris, lint, etc. and you can still use it as previously described.
• I’ve always stored my greasers vertically and out of the way. That way they won’t accidentally get tipped-over, and there’s no chance for them to roll off my bench onto the concrete floor.
• If you are using a tube of grease like Hot Sauce or Reel Butter, you can extract almost the entire contents into the reservoir.  Just grasp the sealed end of the tube with a pair of very long needle pliers, and twist it on itself all the way up to the tip of the tube. Then push sideways on the tip to extract the last little bit of grease from the end. [It's a lot harder explaining it, than it really is; but you are going to roll the tube on itself like a tube of tooth paste.]
• A plastic prescription pill bottle works well for saving old grease, if you are going to switch to different grease in your reservoir.  (You know, one of those orange semi-clear ones, with the white snap or child-proof cap.) The plastic resists the affects of most oils found in common greases, and the lid provides a decent air-tight seal on the bottle.  Just wash it with warm-soapy water to remove any trace residue and make sure it is completely dry before filling with grease. CAUTION: Don’t try to use them for holding solvent! By The Way: Many pharmacies will sell you new plastic pill bottles with lids, and they come in various sizes.  I also use them for holding hooks, sinkers, jig heads, small screws/nuts/bolts, split rings, swivels, and snaps. My wife said she paid $2 for 2 dozen the last time she got me some at the local Walmart pharmacy.  [I have also kept reel grease in 35 mm film containers (the gray or black ones with the snap lid).]
• You can get individual replacement parts from the RC Precision Products parts page should you need them. However I’ve used the heck out of a couple of my greasers and they don’t show any sign of wear!
• An Important Point: The key to using grease is to make sure the first time you apply it, that the component is “metal clean”. It really won’t matter what grease you use in your reels, if the component isn’t “metal clean”, then the grease, protectants and other additives might not adhere properly. I’ve gotten a few PM’s from Tackle Tour forum members who felt a new grease they switched to didn’t want to adhere on gears, bearings, etc.; but when I asked them about cleaning beforehand, they said they just wiped the old grease off and didn’t do any real cleaning. I’m afraid that just won’t cut it with most reel greases! (The easiest way to achieve metal clean on a metal non-painted component, especially bearings and gears, is to use a solvent.) My previous Tool Time blog goes into using the various types of solvents, safety precautions, containers, etc.
• Lastly, The Greaser can’t be used to lubricate an anti-reverse bearing.  Use the information provided in the Reel Bearings 301 Article for anti-reverse bearings. You might even want to use oil, depending on your reel — some reel designs and bearings are very prone to anti-reverse bearing problems and the way they are lubricated!

I’m not associated with RC Precision Products, any reel manufacturer, or a hobby retailer. I’m just a very satisfied greaser….

A Note: I need to spend some time getting ready for winter. So I’ll be backing off the blogging a bit, as I winterize the place at the lake, eventually the boats, etc.  The snow will be flying pretty soon, and that’s when I service most of my reels….

-dModder

Tags: bait casters, cleaning, Maintenance, Reels

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 5:26 am and is filed under Bass Fishing, Fishing, Maintenance, Reels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.