Hi all, new to the forum and getting back into fishing after about 25 years. I live on the gulf coast and have been fishing 4 or more times a week in the last 3 months. Ive come to like Lews baitcast reels. I have a custom inshore, mach crush, mach ii and super duty 300. Lately ive noticed my custom inshore isnt near as smooth during retrieval as it used to be. I oil the bearings and lightly grease the gears. I didnt realize how bad it was until i pulled out my mach ii and crush. For supposedly being inferior to the custom inshore, they sure are much smoother. Ive disassembled it a few times hoping to find the issue, but its still the same. It of course gets rougher as the spool tensioner knob is tightened. Basically all i feel are the teeth on the gears engaging each other. It doesnt hang up or catch, its just annoying knowing it should be smoother. Is there anything you guys can think of that i should check?

Maybe some salt buildup...maybe on the spool or on the spool bearings

When i have broken the reel down to try and diagnose the issue myself, i have cleaned it really well. No salt build up at all. It still works, just an annoyance more than anything. Thanks for your reply.

More than likely then going to be a bearing issue