TackleTour

Hi Bantam and TT,
I sent 3 brand new Stella FE's in for platinum service a few months back. They came back without a scratch, which was my biggest fear, and they are smooth but they feel stiff if that makes sense.

If you spin the handle you maybe get 4 or 5 revolutions vs the 8-10 they used to have.

Did some grease get where it shouldn't or maybe something I can look at myself?

I have reeled them in the house for hours and they are not getting any easier to spin.

Thanks.

I'm definitely not as qualified as Bantam, but I can tell you that after adding grease/re lubing or cleaning my reels always seems to "tighten" them up. After some use it goes back to how it was originally, but just new grease on the gears and levelwind can slow the handle rotations. Seems like some temperature variation and moderate uses frees them up back to normal.

Any grease beyond a thin coating accomplishes nothing, the excess is squeezed out of the gear teeth and other contact areas after the first full revolution. It's not a wheel bearing.

Please send me a PM with your name, address and email. I need to look up the repairs and I will email you a return shipping label to get the reels back to the tech.

Bantam1 wrote:Please send me a PM with your name, address and email. I need to look up the repairs and I will email you a return shipping label to get the reels back to the tech.

Thanks Dan. I just pulled the maintenance port plug and saw a pile of grease on the tightest one. I used some of my foam tipped swabs reeled it a couple times and got a lot of grease off. Put 3 drops of bantam oil in and it is MUCH smoother now. I think the grease was on the gears a bit thick. Should of looked at it sooner; but was a busy Summer.

I'm good to go! Thanks for the offer to look at them.

Rick

That's good to hear. I apologize for the excess grease. I will speak to the tech and let him know he got a little crazy with the grease.