How to Disassemble and Clean a Baitcaster for Beginners (Part 1) 

I've gotten so many comments about how bad my reels sound that today (thanks to your video) I'm going to give it the full send. Thanks for the in depth tutorial dude.

This is by far the best video on disassembling a baitcaster on RU-vid, not least because of the clear, close up photography. I wish you would make another video explaining what each and every piece's function is, and how they relate to the parts they interface with. For example, what does pressing the thumb bar do; what turns when the handle is cranked; how does the anti-reverse work, what happens when you adjust the drag; what happens when you adjust magnetic brakes and centrifugal brakes; how does the thumb bar get reset, etc.

It's not often that I make a RU-vid search and find exactly the information I'm looking for. Very well done with this tutorial! Thanks, Debo!!

Been pulling down and cleaning my own reels for 35+ years. You have achieved, in my opinion, the best instructional video on how to do this. The tips provided are spot on. Well done from down under. Now, on to part 2. :)

I spooled it with 8 LB test mono for lighter lures, gave it some practice casts and found that it did cast well ru-vid.comUgkxSlytCJqozTF7EbdP4LWP-HUXf9WRDJ0e , except that the anti-backlash setting had to be turned up almost all of the way to keep the "overcasts' ' down. I disassembled it, and found that if I potted some "shim washers" behind that anti-backlash magnet assembly, it got the magnets closer to the spool without rubbing, and I could get better control with about a 6 to 7 out out 10-Max setting. I also noticed that the handle shaft had some internal end play, maybe only 2 or 3 thousands of an inch, but it's still noticeable. If the anti-backlash and shaft tolerances were "tightened up" this would be a fantastic value. I've only used it for 4 days of fishing in a month's time, but I plan on keeping it.

I watch most of your videos for learning and to pass time and this reel video was awesome! But on a serious note this video saved my sons finger from serious injury. After cleaning my reel my son (3 years old) was helping me like he always does. He got his finger stuck in the line guide while reeling like any curious 3 year old just investigating. Long story short it was the longest 10 minutes of my life while the ambulance was on their way but I knew how to take apart the pawl and everything else that connects the line guide because of you Debo. I was shaking like a leaf while taking everything apart at the same time hearing my son scream as his finger was smashed. You honestly saved my sons finger and I could never ever repay you but just thank you so much!

Killer video, brother...very detailed. Looking forward to part 2. Appreciate the shout out! 👊💪

Dude I cannot express my gratitude... I took mine apart to clean and got in way over my head. This video definitely saved me!! Thank You!!!

I met and talked to Scott from Spool Speed. I told him I found out about them through one of your videos. He had nothing but good things to say about you ✊🏻

Never in a million years did I ever think I could clean my own reels. Well, after watching your video, I did. I got two of them done today and they seem to working great. Thanks for the video!!

Just took apart and cleaned my buddies grandpa's late 80s Abu Garcia thing was gunk city lol

Thanks to you I’m able to confidently disassemble my reels, clean them, and put them back together. I’ve already done two of my reels and my recent one the Lews Pro TI that I’ve never cleaned after 4 years of having it. They run like brand spanking new!! Thanks Debo for creating amazing content!!!

Boss man, dismantling, cleaning and or repairing, then reassembling fishing reels has been my livelihood for 23 years. Your approach, explanations and execution in this video is boss. Hope the DIY guys follow your instructions. Well done.

Today was my very first time disassembling and cleaning my Abu Garcia Black Max. Your video guide was a big help because I am not great with this type of stuff. I decided to give it a shot because it started squeaking internally. It was nightmarishly gross! I'm talking jet black sludge buildup after about 5 months of nearly every day use. The roller bearings were I think the culprit, because rusty red filth covered at least 15 q-tips. Anyway big thanks to you for putting this guide up and shout out to the reel experts who chipped in to help! My reel works excellente now 👌

My first two questions are, how many reels will survive cleaning and how many will never work again? You make disassembly look like a piece of cake. Moreover, it is for you however, many anglers are far less mechanically inclined. It is so easy to lose or misplace one tiny spring, clip or screw. At best, it will take hours to order and replace and that is if you can find some place to get the missing piece you lost. I know because things happen to the best-laid plans. I enjoy cleaning my toys but painfully learned the importance of careful disassembly. By the time you get another missing part, you could have bought a new reel. I really enjoy watching you building a race ready fishing reel. It is like the guy who needs a truck with a thousand horsepower to get to work on time. You may not need it, but you might someday and being prepared is always a good thing. Fishing reels are amazing mechanical devices made with such precision and cost so little for how well they are designed. I think you made a great instructional Video on cleaning a casting reel. I think it is more for the advanced angler types. The truth is a modern fishing reel will last a couple of lifetimes given proper care. I clean my reels after every use religiously this saves having to do a major teardowns. A great item for cleaning your reels is canned air. The proper name is Compress Gas Dust Remover. I use it for a number of things besides dusting my computer fan and keyboard. I use it for a make shift airbrush to paint Bass Poppers. I blow paint from the tip of paint markers on to the popper to make Bullfrog patterns. You can also do crankbaits. I use clear urethane spray to seal the paint jobs. They hold up pretty good. I look forward to the reassembly video.

I found this video looking through for troubleshooting videos... You have both answered my troubleshooting and made me admit to myself that I don't take care of my fishing equipment! Thank you, keep you the videos.

Both part 1 and 2 are excellent videos, I want to thank you. Very comprehensive and well made. They will be my guide for my winter cleanings.

2 thumbs up brother ! What an in-depth break down of a baitcaster , Iv been maintening and normal repairs on old Abu Garcia's round baitcaster's 5000,5500,6000 etc but I got some vintage reels and some not to old but missing screws and parts and shit like that and your video has helped me tremendously ,a couple of pfluegers trion and cetina and boy I was so glad to see that there almost identical to that Lew's speed reel ,I also jumped off the ledge and decided to replace drag washer, and a bearing upgrade on a Shimano calcuta 200 B and whoo ! Thank God for you tube . Thanks

So happy you made this video! I think you are in the top 3 when it comes to fishing tutorial videos. I'm striving to get my videos to the same quality as yours. Keep it up!

Thank you for a detailed and beginner friendly tutorial

Man. . . I just bought a Daiwa Alphas Air Custom for soooooo much money. Put 4lb mono on it and got line inside the reel. This video SAVED me!!! 3:47 was the icing on the cake!!!!

Thanks to this video I just serviced my EPIXOR baitcaster and turned out amazing. It felt easier than doing maintenance on a spinning reel.

You literally saved me from buying another reel because I had gunk on my clutch bearing love this!

Awesome video, Debo. Your how-to vids are top notch!

It might help to remove parts in a stepped-repeat type disassembly, where you take off one part, put it back, then take off two parts, put them back, then take off 3 parts, put them back, and so on until you become familiar with each part, and what step and direction they go together.

Great video Debo!!!! Can't wait for part 2....

Great video, thanks for putting this cleaning series together.

Yeah, thankfully my baitcasters are only 2 months old so I ave 10 months to watch this twice a day till im confident enough to do this! Joking aside, I reckon I could do this if I did it in front of laptop while playing and pausing this video. Cheer Debo :-)

GREAT VIDEO!!!! My son was struggling with his baitcaster and this was EXACTLY what he needed to learn how to fix it!!!

I wish I had this vid a few months ago when I tried cleaning my black Max and messed everything up😂 great video man

Thanks Debo! Followed along using an old reel and it wasn't too bad. Now, it being an old reel, not in use, I could have taken more photos to help the process, which I will do with my nicer stuff. Overall, it was manageable even with out photos. I challenged myself to not watch your part two and sure enough the reel was put together and casting great. Plan on breaking down this same reel and a couple others a few times to get more comfortable with all the inner workings before working on the nicer reels this in depth.

This is a great video. Never realized that baitcasters had so many parts. This is definitely going to take a while

Congratulations on 10K Debo’s!!!

Great pre-season video Debo. Keep them coming we appreciate it. Take Care Bro D

Very detailed. Awesome job.

I don’t trust myself enough lol I take mine to get cleaned. Great video Debo 👊🏻

Yo, thanks for the video. My Quantum Icon was having issues with the thumb bar, pinion gear, and off course gunk stuck everywhere. Took her apart and is working great again! Thanks!

It might be helpful to mention the great ideas on how to keep you reel parts organized so that you remember how to put everything back together earlier in the video, such as taking pictures as you go. Thanks for the great video 😀

I was wondering why debo don't make a video about cleaning the bait caster 😂😂 and here u go. U read my mind buddy 👌😁 waiting part 2 😉

Damn nice video Debo.

Showed up in my feed and this is great. Saved as a fave. Thanks!

thanks for the video, i now know that i will happily take my reel to a professional to be cleaned.

Man I’ve always broken down my spinning reels, cleaned them, re-oiled and greased them and put it back together with no issue. But the first time I broke down a baitcaster I almost had a stroke. 😂 I was so overwhelmed with the parts I had to take it to someone to reassemble it. Haha this was very helpful. I might do mine tomorrow.

Oh boy, I've had three baitcasters for 10+ years now and I've never even done ANY cleaning or maintenance. Granted I didn't and don't fish as much as your average bass fisherman. And they've all been sitting in my garage through Minnesota hot summers and cold winters. But yeah, it's gonna be fun taking them apart and seeing what's in there. The good thing is only one of them is higher end (old Quantum KVD Smoke I think) that was given to me, so the other two are cheap setups and can just be replaced.

Good info if I wasn't so lazy I would do it myself I have 2 baitcasters I have never cleaned and they are about 12 years old still work fine but I know I need to clean them I think I will get th Ardent total system I watched a guy use it and that bearing butter looks like a great lubricate.

Extremely helpful for new users like myself.

Great video, very well done and awesome detail. But……. Enough to make me pay 20 bucks for my local tackle shop to clean my reels haha not worth the amount of time it would take me. Keep it up though! Great production.

Keep up the videos man, if you ever want to get out in a bassboat, let me know. I'm in the QC and fish 2-4 days/nights weekly all summer.

Thanks for doing this man got my reel smooth as the day I got it

Awesome video. Great camera angle. I'm definitely feeling confident enough to clean my reels now!

#Debonator, Great video buddy! This is excellent content for everyone who fishes with an LP Baitcaster! Speaking for myself personally, I love the tips and instructions for removing those E-rings. The first time I attempted to disassemble a baitcasting reel for cleaning I shot one of those rings off into the vortex that eats socks and the other stuff that disappears in my house, never to be seen again! Thanks so much! #DeboNation

One thing that I've learn the hard way is that, always make sure you put your finger on clutch spring if you planning to remove all the part completely. Mine fly out of my baitcaster and it takes me 2 days to find it again.

When using brake cleaner, make sure to use non-chlorinated brake cleaner if it’s going to get onto plastics. The chlorinated ones are much more harmful to plastics and rubbers.

I have 2 reels that are completely non-functional from me taking them apart 🤣🤣🤣 I work too hard for the money I spend on reels for me to ruin them by trying to clean them so now I send mine off to be cleaned lol

Good vid , I’ve used the same exact stuff , and sometimes kerosene just whatever mood I’m in , one I’ll say is i need to do this in a hermetically sealed room cause I always always drop something or something comes flying off then I call for some extra eyes to look for the part

As usual, great content Bro!

I just got a baitcaster thanks for the great info

Great video man, very accurate. Greatings from Italy.

Taking a baitcast reel apart can be real intimidating been there you ask me to let ya know how the new Lews LFS did it works great i put it on a 7'4" duckett triad rod fot texas rigs

Great content! Use your ol' ladies toothbrush.....😂😂😂

Debo I have found a strong baitcaster Lew's super duty I'll be buying it

It's not the money involved in having your reel professionally cleaned; it's finding someone who will do a good job who doesn't have a months-long backlog.

What does the spring at the top of the reel do? One end appears to be attached to the body and the other end to the clutch plate (AFAICT). What action compresses it and what action releases it? My other reels don't have this spring.

EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!!!

Great video!

I really wish that I had a video for an older model. I just bought an old Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Ultra and it feels a lot more intricate than this.

Hey fishbro,,the question I have doesn't have anything about cleaning my reels,I'm pretty mechanical handy but my Q is do you recommend using braided line for jerkbaits?? Or stay with fluorocarbon or mono.,

I want to clean 3 baitcasters for the first time before spring. I have some reeelsnot that I thought I would use for line only but would it work to clean everything with?

hi how did you remove the side plate? to get the spool out. I can't get the side plate off for some reason...My line is all tangled lol

Love the "how to" videos

Do you have a video on your channel for the best early spring baits. Going on a fishing tour on March 10th

Learned a few new things watching this. Including the red can of brake cleaner and using Channel Locks for spool bearing pin removal. One question.... ARE YOU SURE the bearings have GREASE in them from factory? I feel like that is incorrect. I've always been shown that one drop of OIL is to be used and that they come either dry or with oil from factory. I actually just purchased Lews reels so I'm very curious on this. Thanks

Really good video did have a look at it again 👍

Yes I do I'm 6'5" 260 pounds what baitcaster do you recommend

One of my shimano chronarch ci4+ reels is frustrating me. The brake cover plate will not come off. Its like its glued shut, my other two open just fine. I have put more force than I probably should to get it off with no luck. Any tips to get it off?

i cleaned mine, but it still sounds like dirt when i reel in... i have 2 different baitcasters that both sound like that now, i took it apart and cleaned it, idk whats going on. if i take the spool out and reel... it sounds fine, but when the spool is in, (even with the side plate OFF) it sounds like something is rubbing together, i used grease on spots i thought would be the issue, nothing is stopping that sound, is it just normal wear? or should it be sounding smooth like brand new??

I think I'd go crazy doing all that stuff because of all the different parts and stuff i think I might have a professional do mine when it's Time

Thanks for posting.I have become somewhat proficient at cleaning my family's and my own reels.I just found this video looking for info on the main gear and drag washer. I found the same issue with the drag washer getting stuck and leaving a mess like you had on this reel, could please elaborate on what you did to clean the main gear where the drag washer sits? I am wondering if i should polish it or would that cut down on the friction of the drag washer?

So I bought I have this old reel that I would like to fix. The problem is that sometimes when I cast i cannot lock the reel. So i cast and then i spin the handle to lock it and it wont lock and the handle just spins. Any tips?

Great helpful video, but missed how you removed the side of your reel , I see a little switch on the side of my Quatam Acurist PT , that I think removes the side 🤷🏻‍♂️ Thanks

Have you ever had the problem the coding on the six little round magnets come off the magnets to my Reels did that and he suggestions on why

When I push my thumb bar down, I can't reel it to click back up, to reel in my Lure!? I have to push my thumb bar down, and to reel, I have to push my thumb bar back up!! Any help is appreciated. Thanks

What oil do you use an thanks for this one bro I have always wanted to learn how to do this tight lines

Can u do a skipping video? That would be sweet

Great video debo. Can you do one on a spinning reel too.

Good afternoon, I question about the grease. I am using Krytox GPL 205, What do you think about it? Tx

Thks dude it really helped me

Lol... e rings We call em Jesus clips. Every time you take em off and they fly across the room you yell "Jesus!".

Debo, besides the disassembly part can the same clean guide be applied to a spinning set up? Thanks Debo

My lews mach mcs reel i hate it never worked right and i cleaned it twice but it still dosent work

Sir help in tightening star drag, it does not pull the weight makes kar kar sound

Debo would you recommend doing this for expensive reels I have a pro ti from lews and just want to know if the parts and assembly are pretty much the same. One more question I have is using baitcaster in brackish water does that kill the reel overtime I mainly use it in fresh tho I just don’t know how bad any salt will mess it up I only did that a couple times.

i did this and after reassembly my gears sound like they are having trouble meshing, and when reeling fast i can hear a mechanical whine that wasnt present pre-dissassembly. Somebody please give some pointers.

Debo I am heavy handed I need a reel that is tough that won't brake any suggestions please

I have a curado k and I feel a slight wobble in the drive shaft how can I fix this?

I have a lews hack attack that I found and I lost the cam spring do you have a link to that ???

I might have missed it but what was used to remove oil and grease?

Could you tell me more about what is broken when my reel randomly free spools?

Circlip, is a c clamp in the land down under, gidday

I have basically a brand new speed spool and the magnetic dial only turns half way and then gets stuck. Do u have a recommended fix? Anyone?