More on bearings

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I'm in the process of replacing bearings on one of my reels. So i went into the suppliers and was given this site.

http://www.minibearings.com.au/hobbies_index.html



Fishing Reel Bearings

For general purpose fishing reel applications MBA recommends AISI440C Stainless Steel bearings with either grease or oil lubrication.

For competition casting where every centimeter counts, MBA recommends AISI440C Stainless Steel bearings with light oil lubrication. Increased bearing clearance and even higher precision may also assist.

Recently the fishing reel industry has embarked on a similar path to that taken by the skating industry, with various recommendations for using high precision bearings. There is a minor case here, because fishing reel bearings are not bumping up and down on the road, and reels are required to spin freely with very little load. However, we must stress that higher precision will not greatly increase your casting distance. Like skate bearings, the main influences on free running reel bearings are lubrication and internal clearance.

Unless you are into competition casting, forget high precision. If you are into competition casting and decide to use lightly oiled high precision bearings, don't expect much better performance than if you use lightly oiled standard precision bearings, and certainly don't expect any increase in performance to last for long.

Many of the principals in our Skate Bearing FAQ Sheet also apply to fishing reel bearings.

See our index of Fishing Reel Bearings and Accessories.

For those that have an interest in these things there's a fair bit of info on bearings.

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