Shimano Rarenium CI4 1000S

Got this reel from our friends at Plat,when the aussie dollar peaked recently at 94c-$1 USD !!
Have wanted to try a shimano spin reel for some time,and also have never owned a 1000 size reel before.
Perfect to have in the car on a UL 2 piece rod for if the Ika dont want to play.

Did not want to spend alot of money(who does!)and the Rarenium suited perfectly.

It is basically a JDM stradic,CI4 material-lightweight at 170grams,6+1 bearing count,3kg of drag.

Loaded it up with 4lb.unitika night game P.E..After using unitika eging P.E on the steez,I was curious to try this brand in a lighter weight.Extremely impressed with the knot strength and general qualities of both lines.

Once I got around to using the reel,I noticed it felt a little heavy on the retrieve.Not like an internal problem or fault with the reel,but just like it had too much of-or too heavy a grade grease.
Time for a tear down...

The standard grease was extremely heavy and bloody everywhere!!
The side of the body that was removed for the above picture was literally full of grease.

I use Quantum hot sauce on all of my reels,so it was time for a cleandown and relube.


Applying grease where it should be,not just packing it in!!!


One area that had no lubrication whatsoever was the line guide bearing and associated parts.
I found this a little strange seeing as it is a fairly critical and water immersed area.Parts were cleaned,lubed and refitted.

On the other hand,the handle knob bearings were packed solid with grease!
Again cleaned down,relubed and fitted.


The difference in feel from when it came out of the box to now is totally different.The reel feels so much smoother now,it really is noticeable.
One word of warning though.The CI4 material is very soft when screwing into.Go easy tightening srews as I could see that it would be very easy to strip the threads quite easily.

If you guys are interested,I will continue to document different reels that I service.

Nice breakdown mate. The amount of slosh in that reel is amazing! Does it have a maintenance port? It looks like someone cooked up some chops on the barbie then collected up the run off and poured it in the port

Maybe exaggerating a little but still pretty sloppy by Shimano standards.

Couple of quick questions.... Did you oil or grease the line guide bearing? The one on my Certate needs replacing (even though I have kept it oiled regularly) it has just had too much heavy duty salt water use and I wonder if I had greased it instead whether it would have lasted longer.

Also what do you think of hot sauce as far as providing heavy duty salt water protection? It seems to be a bit thin to me.

Thanks mate.
I too was surprised with how much grease there was when it was pulled down.Like you said,it was if the grease truck was backed up and emptied into the maintenance port

I should have clarified in the breakdown,but yeah I use grease in the line guide bearing.The shields come off and I apply the smallest dob of grease to either side of the bearing before re-assembling.Have tried and used a myriad of different oils,but as per your certate,they just dont last.
By adding a small amount of grease,I have found it lasts and does not slow down or hinder the operation of the line guide.
I am toying with the idea of changing the line guide bearing on the steez with a full ceramic bearing(that is ceramic races and balls) which require no lubrication whatsoever-watch this space....

As for the hotsauce,I am impressed with it.I have tried Cals,ZPI,Wurth,Daiwa and Shimano grease in both fresh and salt water reels and keep coming back to the good old sauce!

I heard all the hype about the hotsauce and had to try it for myself,and after testing it on the steez I am more than happy.I first aplied it and used it for 6 months in this reel before pulling it down for a look see.Only did very basic cleandowns on it after trips,thorough rinsedown with gentle freshwater and dry and wipe.
The reel still had all the grease in great condition inside after this time,slightly discolored but still covering all the places where it was applied.It had'nt "thrown"off of components and still had good viscoscity.It is a funny compound,light for smoothness and heavy enough to have good adhesion.

The closest other brand of grease I have found to be good was the ZPI F-0 grease,although it is a little bit heavier in consistency(and pricey)

Again,I don't proclaim to be an expert.But those are my opinions.

Good questions mate

Thanks for the info, very interesting.

awesome breakdown mick

yea mate nice break down, i did a daiwa version before maybe i should post that up too. (or i already did? haha)

"Applying grease where it should be,not just packing it in!!!" spot on mate a lot of people make the same mistake too, see this exist before i serviced...scary and gross enough

OOOhhhhhhh Noooooo

Jeryl wrote:yea mate nice break down, i did a daiwa version before maybe i should post that up too. (or i already did? haha)

"Applying grease where it should be,not just packing it in!!!" spot on mate a lot of people make the same mistake too, see this exist before i serviced...scary and gross enough

geez....thats an extra 50gm of grease there!! So much for lightweight reel...

Interesting pic Jeryl

There really is'nt any need for a reel to be that full of grease..

Like hon-su said,so much for a lightweight reel !