Picking-up where I left off...

Scenerio: You have waded the slough and been fishing the outside bar all day...your reel has been doused and misted while reeling-in and casting-out. Like it or not...SALT WATER IS INSIDE YOUR PURDY REEL!! You get home and lovingly rinse your reels off under a gentle shower of water and set them aside to dry.

Guess what? Yep, salt water mist is still inside your reel in a very small amount. I admit, the 'best' thing to do is to service your reel after each time you go fishing. To be honest, that would be a real pain-in-the-rump. You won't catch me doing that either.

This is where the grease comes in. Physics 101 states that, "Oil and water do not mix". Excellent.

If you have the working parts of your surf-reel coated with a thin layer of grease the salt can't penetrate and cause damage.

When salt water gets inside your reel, it will evaporate eventually. However this leaves a thin layer of salt. When the temp drops or the humidity stays up there, the salt will accumulate moisture from the air and your reel is wet again inside. If they are in the garage, they dry out during the day and when the dew-point drops, the salt in the reel draws moisture back inside.

Don't believe me? Just set a salt-shaker outside during the day. Then go back outside later on that night...The salt is wet. Just like your reel.

Getting back to the Abu...You have disassembled the reel. The key thing to do is clean everything. I prefer the ether method myself if really grungy. IF not too bad, then just wipe-off with a paper towel.

Before re-assembly on the Abu, here is what I do to get the most protection without gunking-up the reel.

On the plate that gears fit on, I use a small stiff brush and coat the whole plate with a light coat of grease. Coat the shaft that the gears fit on. Coat the short brass posts that hold your spring assembly also. These get corroded easily. What you want is an even, thin coat. I coat the brass posts a little heavily.

When finished, I coat the linkage with a thin coat. Coat the underside of the main gear. Coat the whole brass shaft that the main gear fits on AFTER you have put the main gear back on the shaft and installed the drag. Coat the stainless sleeve that fits on top of the main gear. Don't forget to brush your gear teeth with grease . However, don't get grease in the drag washers!!! Generously grease the inside of the IAR bearing. I also coat the inside of the side plate.

Reassemble the right side gear section. Grease the opposing washers lightly and pack the IAR bearing again from the outside and squish the opposing washers in place. Grease the brass threads before you put the handle back on.

I lightly coat around the outside of the centrifugal brake housing. Don't coat the inside or else you will mess-up the centrifugal brakes. One more thing, I dip the screw threads in grease before I reassemble them. Why? Usually they are stainless and fit into a threaded brass fixture. (Remember dissimiliar metals?) The threaded areas are weak points. Grease your screws.

The frame is usually sprayed with "Corrosion Block" to loosen the gunk and cleaned well. Then it is re-sprayed again and lightly wiped. I lightly grease the sides of the frame that go inside the plates when re-assembled. No need to grease the outside.

I lightly spray the inside of the left side plate with "Corrosion Block" or grease it. Re-assemble everything.

Note; The spool is never sprayed. I lightly rub some grease on my fingers and put a very, very thin layer sometimes on the spool sides before I spool line on it. When respooling line, grease the spool sides again. Never grease the hub of the spool.

Go fishing.

A few more notes:

The Abu is a 'loose' reel meaning is it not as tight as the Penn. However, that has it's advantages also. The Abu will dry quicker. It's easier to service.

When servicing your reel the next time you will probably notice grit inside the reel around the outside of the brake housing and on the frame on the inside also. This is grit that would have found it's way into the gears.

In between major servicing, I take the right side off the reel, remove the spool and bearings. I re-oil the bearings, blot dry and re-install back into the spool. I then lightly wipe the rest of the reel off and lightly re-grease. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes and you are back in business. When the reel is getting dirty, it't time to break it down, clean it and re-grease it.