So...picked up one of the Ardent Reel Cleaning Kits. I had heard some good things about them, and since it's time to get all my salmon/albacore reels in shape for summer time I thought I'd give one a try.

I usually just go with my old standbys...WD-40, some Shimano Rocket Lube, and some reel grease of some sort or another, a few rags and QTips. The kit comes with all that kind of stuff, and a brush, cleaning cloth, cleaning swabs...even a little reversible standard/phillips screwdriver.





So good so far...that's all stuff I can use.

Here's the oil:



Swab and a spray bottle of the cleaner...the cleaner appears to be some sort of citrusy smelling cleaner, just sprayed it on and let it sit for a few minutes, per the instructions.

Getting one of my Toros apart. As is often the case while I'm taking my reels down and cleaning them I get pretty focused...too focused to remember to take pics of it all apart. Even while being focused I can still manage to put the occasional part in backwards



Spread the reel out all over a clean towel, and went at it...hosed it all down with the Cleaner, and about the time I was done spraying the last parts it was about time to start on the first parts.

Used my favorite cleaning too...old toothbrush. As my toothbrushes get too worn to use on my teeth any more they travel from the bathroom to my work table where they live until the next one comes along.

The kit came with its own but I used mine anyway.



Once all the parts were clean I started putting the reel back together, greasing or oiling the parts as they went back where they belong...oil on all the bearings and rotating shafts on the gears, grease on all the gears wherever they touched another gear, and grease on the worm drive.

Repeated this with the second Toro, and they were back in business.



A note on the Toros:

One of the two Toro 50s had the dreaded "anti-reverse stick"...push the thumb bar down and it won't come back up.

It only happened about once a day, but it was really annoying when it did.

When I had the things all apart I noticed that the sides of the thumb bar and the sides of the reel frame were not sliding smoothly...when I got in there I was surprised at how dirty it was in there.

Cleaned those spots out, easily, and the problem is gone...they snap right back up like they did when they were new.

Next I did my Avet.



Cleaning the inside of the frame after letting the cleaner soak in for a bit...



Applying new grease after cleaning the old out...



Again...greased the gears, oiled the bearings, and put it all back together...



One thing that I didn't get a picture of is the spray bottle of "Corrosion Inhibitor"...never really had any corrosion issues with the Toros, and definitely never have with the Avet, but sprayed some Corrosion Inhibitor on there, anyway, and wiped it away.

I think this will be some good stuff to use on my big Penn halibut reels as they do accumulate a little rust if I'm not OCD about rinsing them off, which I am not

So there they are...all good and good to go...my Avet looks all shiny and good on my new salmon trolling rod, ready to in a couple of weeks!

My Toros are waiting for their new Shimano casting rods to show up, and when they do they will be doing mean things to albacore with swimbaits here very soon!



My final review...pretty good stuff. Without having fished them yet, of course, I can't say anything but good about the kit. The reels are shiny clean, work perfectly well, and feel much nicer and smoother than they did before I started.

If you are looking to get all the parts you need in one box at a reasonable price (I think it was in the $24 range), then it's a pretty good product....recommended!

Fish on...

Todd