The difficulty of cleaning and lubing depends on how mechanically inclined you are and how far you want to break it down. I take a couple of blue shop towels, put them on a table, and lay the parts out in the order they came off Pretty much like a parts explosion you would find in the manufactures parts manual. I then clean them one by one setting them back down right where I first placed them. Some reels have pretty tricky insides and you may just want to stop at taking off the cover wiping the old lube and muck off on the parts you can see and easily get to then relubing and reassembling. Pipe cleaners and a toothbrush along with a shop towel work pretty well.