I never really noticed until today! My reels are…to quote the Favorite Wife…”Gross! and don’t bring them into the house!”
So I’m thinking I might want to clean then in the garage a little.
You guys suggest Dawn, warm water and a tooth brush?
(If I get them cleaned up during the day, the FW won’t miss her brush)
Is a 3in1 oil the choice for lube or do they makes something I have to make a trip to Sportsmans Warehouse for?
Thanks for the help 
PS what takes shad scales off of rods easily?
Almost forgot!
I have a 7000 that the level wind doesn’t seem to be working right on…know anyone close by that works on them. ‘Spose I could send it in…but I better clean it and see if it’s really not working or just really dirty.
All I ever use is the Quantum Hot Sauce Reel Grease. 
It’s great lube for your reels.
I second the Quantam Hot Sauce! Action Fishing in Anoka does decent reel repair at a fair price.
Thanks guys…Deafboy, this is the cat forum…we use bass for bait! 
(kidding of course…I thought it was funny though! 
)
Briank a bass member…..that’s a good one!
When I was 10 I could overhaul my Zebco 202 blindfolded. Today I can’t figure out how a Zebco 33 comes apart. I open the reel and remove the plastic sheild over an x shaped nut. I cant figger out how the nut comes off. Any one help?
Best thing I have found is the spray foaming glass cleaner, don’t know why but it works great with a toothbrush. I still use the x’s toothbrush, something about using it to clean my “beloved fishing gear” is soothing. 
Another neat tip for cleaning the cork on rods is a little bit of Oxy clean and warm water mixed in a bowl. Scrub them down with a rag and rinse them off with clean water, they come out looking like new with a little elbow grease.
Dried on Shad is a real pain to get off Rods and Reels…….. 
I like to use Simple Green and if dilluted is good straight out of the spray bottle is better, right. Its great on grease, scum, & stink bait. Its bio-degradable too.
I have all these product…and I’ll give them a shot.
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Another neat tip for cleaning the cork on rods
That means I have to take the plastic of…huh? 
Brian,
Abus are really easy to take apart, clean, and put back together. I like the Hot Sauce grease on the gears and some light oil (I use Rem Oil) on the bearings.
As for the levelwind, I’d bet you just have a worn pawl. You can check it by unscrewing the cap on the bottom of the line guide. The pawl should fall out (you might have to tap it). To check it, I’d just throw the pawl from one of your reels that works in it to see if that fixes the problem. You should be able to get a replacement from Abu for cheap. Careful, though, they are tiny.
I belive there is a spare pawl under one of the screw caps,any way they used to come with a spare.
RW is correct on the pawl. Make sure when you put another one in to clean the track and do not over oil it after its clean or grime will cling to it and it will be going out again next year.
And Pier couldnt be more correct on getting those shad scales off. They are tough!! A couple of my reels I dont know if I am going to clean them on the outside, or wait until another month of fishing and I think I would be to a layered scale texture!
I would be careful if you are using dish soap or anythin like that on your reels. If you get any of that inside your reel, its going to break down the lube.
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I belive there is a spare pawl under one of the screw caps,any way they used to come with a spare.
Under what screw caps? I’ve never found a spare and I’ve completely torn down my reels piece by piece.
Who cleans the cork on their rods? When I buy a rod, the first thing I do is peel off the plastic and I can’t wait until I wear in the cork with a little dirt. It feels more comfortable to me that way.
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Who cleans the cork on their rods? When I buy a rod, the first thing I do is peel off the plastic and I can’t wait until I wear in the cork with a little dirt. It feels more comfortable to me that way.
Yeah, but you don’t catch any fish, either 
But it looks like I have at least tussled with some when I dirty the cork up. I also like to scuff it up a little too.
By the way, take a look at my avatar pal. You should have seen the size of the 10 year old I had to steal that fish from to take that picture.
Getting the shad scales off the cork is kind of a pain. Once you get the scales off the cork and cleaned up as best as you can… you can get very fine sandpaper and sand it lightly and then seal it with cork sealer. There are fillers out there that can fill chips in the cork also before sealing.
Ralph,I’m still fishing with reels made in the mid 50’s.they happen to be Penns.Just thought they might still do it with other reels.Should have known better,no one gives anything for free now.My phlugger knobbies also have spares,made in the 40’s.
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Ralph,I’m still fishing with reels made in the mid 50’s.they happen to be Penns.Just thought they might still do it with other reels.Should have known better,no one gives anything for free now.My phlugger knobbies also have spares,made in the 40’s.
LOL, yeah mine are a bit newer. It’d be nice of them, though!
Tooth brush and tooth paste for cleaning cork handles works great.
I’ve heard Simple Green works good also……
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