Bow Lubrication

[IL Trophy Hunter]

During the off season I will take my bow to the pro shop and have them give my bow the once over and make sure everything is up to par. Last year they greased the axle's on the wheels. For some reason a week or so later I had a squeak develop. What type of lube should I be using on my bow. Was sort of worried about WD-40 or gun oil because of the petroleum smell. Should I lube any other parts besides the wheel axle's?

[Deleted User]

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[IL Trophy Hunter]

What exactly is mineral oil? Is it something you get at the bow shop or does a place like Wal-Mart have it? The needle oiler you speak of where can you get them? I believe I've seen the needle oilers before but not sure where to get one. Thanks for your help!

[Arthur P]

Stay away from oil, especially WD40. Oil will cause dust and dirt to stick to the bearings and cause them to wear out just as fast, or faster, than running them dry. If your bow uses bronze bushings instead of bearings, WD40 will totally ruin them. WD40 is good for freeing rusted bolts and nuts, and removing adhesive residue, but it's worse than worthless as a lubricant.

I tear down my bow every two years and check the axles and bearings for wear, then lube the axles with white grease when I put the bow back together. If needed, I use Tetra Lube or TriFlon between overhauls.

[Deleted User]

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[Lrac]

During the winter I take everything apart and polish string groves in the wheels to make sure I didn't damage something dragging the bow thru the bushes during hunting season. It gives me a good chance to really inspect the strings, axels, and bushings. After cleaning I assemble the wheels using graphite powder as a lube. No smell and not much that can beat graphite for high load lube.