Have not been fishing in a while but am preparing to go.  A couple of times in the past the drag on two different Shimano reels has been jerky or has been stuck until they were loosened, the line pulled out a few times, and then tightened. Afterwards they were not as smooth as I would like. I have never greased the drags on my reels, but was wondering if I should. I read and read on the internet to find the answer. The answer was I probably should but with a special drag grease. Regular gear grease was said to be a no no. Since I had no drag grease in inventory, a good cleaning would have to do. One reel’s drag was full of grease that came from the gear itself. The other had no grease on it at all. On both gears where the drag washer applies pressure had more black residue than I wanted and it was hard to get off. A light steel wooling still left more than I wanted. The internet research said this residue could be removed with brake or carburetor cleaned. Again, none in inventory, so more than I wanted was what it ended up with. One good thing that was in inventory was a syringe that I got a while back from the drugstore. It made putting oil on the level wind a snap. To lubricate most level winds you have to hold the reel upside down and try to drop the oil in without getting it on your line. The needle makes that exercise easy. Everything is ready. Now I just have to go.