# Noisy Bearings After Cleaning and Oiling



## adpostel (Jan 14, 2006)

Seems like everytime I clean and flush and re-oil my spool bearings they seem to be a lot louder than stock.... I am not sure exactly what is going on, but I follow this exact procedure each time....

I flush the bearings in either lighter fluid or acetone. (Sometimes in the USC)

I let them dry, blow out with compressed air.

I then apply ONE DROP of Rem Oil, and spin bearing to disperse.

Bearings usually spin fine, and for a good while. But they seem a little noisier, almost like loose compared to when they are stock.

Once installed and I free spool, it spins for a long time, but it is really loud....

Has anyone else ever experienced this. This seems to be very common when I clean a reel. When I first get the reel, it seems like maybe the bearings are quieter because the lube is thicker maybe? Once I clean them out and lube with Rem Oil, they spin fine, but are really loud in comparison.

Any advice is appreciated.....


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## Dipsay (Apr 28, 2006)

Are you using ceramics? If so, thats the case. Ceramics tend to be noisier than stock steel bearings. If you are talking about stock bearings being noisier after cleaning, thats possible too. Grease and oil can set up after a while making the bearing quieter but the trade off is less performance. Lightly lubing the bearing usually takes care of the issue to an extent. Sometimes ya have to take the good with the bad and try to find that middle ground..Dip


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## Bantam1 (Jun 26, 2007)

A bearing just lubricated with oil will tend to make more noise than a stock bearing that uses light grease. Do the bearings feel smooth? A bad bearing can make noise no matter what you lubricate it with.


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## adpostel (Jan 14, 2006)

Yes, the bearings feel very smooth when I put them on a punch and spin them. No roughness whatsoever... 

Is Rem Oil as good as any? Or would a different lube be quieter? i.e. Hot Sauce, Lightning Lube, etc.....


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## Dipsay (Apr 28, 2006)

Rem oil is mineral oil based. not much in anticorrosive IMO. Lighteneing lube okie dokie, Reel Butter bout the same. No Hot Sauce! Me no likey. It bonds to the metal. When in liquid form its fine. But once the "solvents" or whatever is in that stuff leave it is a Pain to get completely out of that bearing..Dip


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## Smackdaddy53 (Nov 4, 2011)

Ceramics hiss, it is the nature of the beast. Lightning lube but one drop is too much, after cleaning bearings, put a drop between your thumb and index finger and butter the bearing. Less is more! Dip taught me that.

http://www.fishingscout.com/scouts/SmackDaddy


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## Runnin-on-E (Feb 10, 2013)

I know exactly what you are talking about. I just got finished complete tear down and reassemble of 4 reels and all but 1 are doing the same thing. I'm putting the bearings in a shot glass with lighter fluid then in the us cleaner for 1 cycle at 180 sec. dump, pat dry, blow out and back in for another 180 sec. After blowing them out I'm putting 1 drop of shimano oil and they are still loud. No ceramics in any of these reels. Shimano Chronarch, Shimano G7, H2O Mettle and a Shimano Calisto. HELP!


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## adpostel (Jan 14, 2006)

Another familiar sound I get after cleaning and reassembly is sort of a geary noise? It isn't grinding, it is really smooth, but you can hear the gears turning. I always apply Shimano Grease on the gears, but for some reason I can never get it to sound the way it sounds in stock form. So noisy bearings AND gearing sound after thorough cleaning.... I wan't to get better, LOL.....


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## cfulbright (Jun 24, 2009)

Dipsay said:


> Rem oil is mineral oil based. not much in anticorrosive IMO. Lighteneing lube okie dokie, Reel Butter bout the same. No Hot Sauce! Me no likey. It bonds to the metal. When in liquid form its fine. But once the "solvents" or whatever is in that stuff leave it is a Pain to get completely out of that bearing..Dip


What would you recommend or use? IIRC you use a royle purple and something mix? or RP that was made for u, or u just wont let the cat out of the bag... lol


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## cfulbright (Jun 24, 2009)

And yes Adpostel I have ran into your problem with noise, I just thought there was not enough lube to get on every ball, so I added a drop and the noise went away.


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