Cleaning the ARB

[beast96z]

I've become pretty proficient at cleaning my reels, but the anti reverse bearing always gives me trouble. I will soak it in lighter fluid just like the rest of the bearings, then after its dry, add a extremely small amount of oil with a q-tip. The majority of the time, the ARB will not catch after reassembly. It will catch some times, then it will free spin. I've got a reel on the counter now that is free spinning backwards and needs fixing. I'd like to get some info on how to correctly clean the ARB to keep this from happening again.

[Mike Cork]

You many have a bad bearing?

I use a light film of grease on mine. Once I've cleaned the bearing I'll take my normal reel grease and put a light coat around the inside of the bearing. Then I take the sleeve and rotate it in the bearing several times to spread that light film around the bearing. As far as I know I've not had a failure. To much grease can cause the bearing to fail as well, which is probably why your using oil?

Pro Reel will be by when he gets a chance to help with this one as well.

[Pro Reel]

I'm going to have to guess that yours got damaged somehow. If the reels are older, then it's normal for them to fail. The next thing I would need to know is what type of reel you are talking about.  Some reels have round, pressed in, ARB bearings that do exactly what yours is doing, but it's not the clutch slipping, it's the outside of the cage spinning in the housing. If you have one of those, you can use a socket to press it out, scuff the outsides a bit, and then glue it back in to it's housing, or you can just order the new bearing in a new housing. If your clutch actually is slipping, then the prongs that grab the rollers must be worn or damaged, order a new arb clutch. Now, I don't clean mine with solvent. I hold them under running cleaning fluid thats plastic safe while turning a test tube brush inside them the direction of rotation. I don't know if lighter fluid is to strong for the plastics used in that clutch or not, thats just not how I clean them. Mike may know about that, he might use lighter fluid on those, I don't.

[Mike Cork]

Forgot to say it in my original post but I use simple green on mine. It's a slow process because you have to work it quite a bit but it will get it clean. Because of the plastic in them I never thought to try lighter fluid.

[Pro Reel]

Forgot to say it in my original post but I use simple green on mine. It's a slow process because you have to work it quite a bit but it will get it clean. Because of the plastic in them I never thought to try lighter fluid.

That makes two of us that don't use lighter fluid there. I'm not saying that I think thats the problem, I really think lighter fluid should be fine for that, but if you rule everything else out, then maybe it was to harsh for that plastic.

[beast96z]

I didn't know that there was plastic inside the bearing, otherwise I may have tried a less invasive method. It may be the cause because everytime I've used it I've had some sort of trouble, rather it be slipping, or full on failure. I had just always heard of people using lighter fluid to clean bearings, and figured the ARB was just another bearing. At first (a long time ago) I greased the bearing and had full on failure. After that, I cleaned the same bearing again and used a very light film of grease. It still had some reverse flex, but eventually got back to normal. This time I tried just using a light coating of oil (2 drops on a q-tip) on the sleeve and it has been nothing but trouble. It started with just reverse slipping, but is now full on forward and backward. Come to think of it, I think this reel was the one that gave me trouble last time, but one of my Lew's isn't perfect after cleaning either. The reel giving me the most trouble is a Shimano Scorpion 1000mg. It's the Japanese version of the 50mg.

[Pro Reel]

Sounds like you need to order several anti reverse bearings. They go by several names, Anti Reverse Bearing, One Way Bearing, One Way Clutch, Anti Reverse Clutch. What they are called depends on the company that sells them. For the most part, they are all very similar in that they use an outer metal wrap, an inner nylon cage, and steel rollers. The nylon cage has fingers that bend out when the rollers turn one way, but flip in and grab the roller when they try to turn the other way. If those fingers get damaged, they will slip. To much grease will also make them slip. One way bearings can be used in lots of applications where you want a rod or sleeve to only be bale to turn one direction. In the case of it's use as a one way clutch in reels, we have a steel sleeve that slides over the crankshaft. The sleeve turns the rollers in the one way clutch. When they are new, they will come with a light coat of grease. Some companies recomend a light coat of oil after they have been cleaned the first time. I have used both but found that oil just doesn't last long enough to protect the sleeve and rollers from corrosion. I switched back to a light coat of grease. I use a brush to swirl a little on the rollers and then wipe a fingerprint amount on the sleeve.

What you have to do to replace a damaged one way bearing depends on the brand. Shimano and most Daiwas use one ways that just push in to the shaped side cover. Some will be snug, others will slide right out. Quantum and most Pure fishing brands use pressed in one ways and you have to buy a new side cover to replace them, or you have get the exact size needed and order it from a bearing supplier that sells one ways. If you have a pressed in, round, caged, one way, make sure that it's the rollers that are slipping and not the cage slipping in it's housing. To check that, use a scribe to put a mark on the top edge of the outer metal cage or wrap, then put the sleeve in it with a crankshaft and turn it backwards. If your marks turns, then it's the sleeve slipping and not the one way. In that case, press it out, rough it up, and glue it back in.

[LgMouthGambler]

I never use lighter fluid, only acetone. Once I have gotten all the old grease flushed out, I then pack the bearing with new grease only, not oil. Treat them the way you would pack a roller bearing like on a car.

[Pro Reel]

I never use lighter fluid, only acetone. Once I have gotten all the old grease flushed out, I then pack the bearing with new grease only, not oil. Treat them the way you would pack a roller bearing like on a car.

If acetone doesn't hurt them, then lighter fluid definatly won't hurt them. Acetone will ruin the polymer caged bearings that Quantum uses now. I found that out the hard way. LOL.  Lighter fluid is what I use on those bearings now.

[LgMouthGambler]

If acetone doesn't hurt them, then lighter fluid definatly won't hurt them. Acetone will ruin the polymer caged bearings that Quantum uses now. I found that out the hard way. LOL.  Lighter fluid is what I use on those bearings now.

I haven't had any problems with my Shimanos using the acetone, have you ever had a problem?

[Pro Reel]

I haven't had any problems with my Shimanos using the acetone, have you ever had a problem?

If you are talking about anti reverse bearings. Both Mike and myself use gentle solvents to clean those. I honestly don't know if they will be hurt by harsh solvents.
If you are talking about other bearings, then acetone is fine on any all steel bearing. Quantum doesn't use all steel bearings anymore. They switched to a bearing that uses a polymer plastic cage inside the steel shielded bearing. I screwed the pooch and used acetone to clean a set of bearings in a customers Quantum tour and the bearings wouldn't spin after that. I had to replace the bearings and thats when i started using lighter fluid and now coleman stove fuel to clean those bearings. Shimano also has some bearings that use plastics for cages. Those are mostly seen as the pinion bearing in some shimano spinning reels. Those also will be melted by acetone. I also learned that the hard way a long time ago.

[LgMouthGambler]

If you are talking about anti reverse bearings. Both Mike and myself use gentle solvents to clean those. I honestly don't know if they will be hurt by harsh solvents.
If you are talking about other bearings, then acetone is fine on any all steel bearing. Quantum doesn't use all steel bearings anymore. They switched to a bearing that uses a polymer plastic cage inside the steel shielded bearing. I screwed the pooch and used acetone to clean a set of bearings in a customers Quantum tour and the bearings wouldn't spin after that. I had to replace the bearings and thats when i started using lighter fluid and now coleman stove fuel to clean those bearings. Shimano also has some bearings that use plastics for cages. Those are mostly seen as the pinion bearing in some shimano spinning reels. Those also will be melted by acetone. I also learned that the hard way a long time ago.

Yeah I was talking about the AR bearing. Shimano does have the plastic in the bearing, but I haven't noticed a problem with it after cleaning. I know the other bearings are no problem, but those don't get packed with grease, just oil.

[beast96z]

This reel just uses the pushed in bearing that is real easy to remove. I inspected it yesterday and didn't see any damage to the fingers. I then cleaned it with a tooth brush and some dawn liquid dish soap. Put it back in dry and the reel seemed to work fine for some front yard casting, but it wasn't long before it started slipping again. Started off as spotty slipping, then after a few tries went to full reverse again. I personally think the bearing is shot, but I will check the scribe method and see what happens. Pro Reel, do you recommend someone to purchase these parts through? I also need some spare hex clips and springs for those fly away parts! Didn't know if a vendor sold reel parts or if you have to go straight to the factory.

[Pro Reel]

The customer service dept. of the reel brand you have is always the first place to check. If they have it, they will be the cheapest. If they don't caryy your part anymore or if it's just out of stock, then start with satelite service centers. many of them sell parts at the same list price as the customer service center, but you will find drasticaly different shipping costs from some.

[Mike Cork]

Pro Reel you stock some parts yourself, correct?

I do but don't stock enough to sell just parts I need mine to fix things 

[Pro Reel]

Pro Reel you stock some parts yourself, correct?

I do but don't stock enough to sell just parts I need mine to fix things 

Kind of the same with me. I will sell parts if I have extras, but the only parts I keep a  supply of for sale are bearings, drags, and rocket fuel oil. I have a lot of odds and ends parts and can often help someone find a hard to find part. Anti reverse bearings are not something that I keep a large stock of. There are to many sizes and not enough demand to warrant stocking up.