I have a hozelock reel model 2415, could do with swapping over the inlet and winding handle between sides to suit using the wallhanger in a different position.
The assembly instructions helpfully say that it's a one-of choice and cannot be altered
It looks like four alignment "prongs" and four plastic hooks hold the handle in place and other than being awkward to get at, should come apart with suitable persuasion, any one tried and succeeded (or failed)?
My dad, who started his career as an aircraft mechanic called that "Brute force and foul language." I've seen similar fastenings, and they generally were not meant to be taken apart. If you can get at the ends of the prongs and lift one at a time with something like a flat-blade screwdriver, you might get them to release*, but I'll bed they'll break easily, leaving you to, perhaps pin the works together with a drilled hole and screw.
My experience with those hose reels is that they're more bother than they're worth, but I'm in the country where it's perfectly OK to just coil the hose in a figure-eight near the sillcock if it's in the way for the occasional mowing.
You suburbanites with critical neighbors, well...
I forgot:
*Think lock picking.
Hozelock do sell spare winding handles, though you'd have to check they are available for your model.
Theo
Andy Burns pretended :
Some thin tube of a suitable diameter, pushed onto the prongs should free them.
I did it, though unhelpfully I can't remember exactly how. I think I depressed the catch hooks by using long thin screw drivers and some wiggling.
G.Harman
They do sell a kit of spares for about £17 delivered.
OK I soon realised it wasn't going to be able to get at it without removing the shell, of course a couple of the screwheads had rusted after years of being covered in mud and leaf mulch.
Tried piggling some disposable bits of metal (aka jewellers screwdrivers) under the hooks, but could only depress two or three at a time.
tried squishing the hooks with some water pump pliers, but the hooks flattened and released in the centre but not at the edges.
It was "kill or cure" by this point, so took two pairs of mole grips and got them locked-on to close the hooks together and managed to lever the handle off which promptly flew half way across the garden.
The hooks are a bit mangled, but should have enough purchase when I put it back together. I'm sure the designer was really proud of saving the company 2p worth of screws per reel ... if it breaks I won't be buying another hozelock one.
replying to Andy Burns, Steve brown wrote: Just did mine can be quite awkward but I found undoing the 8 torx screws with a tx20 long reach screwdriver needs to be just over 100mm long because of 1 hard to reach screw and splitting the case then I used a jubilee clip over the
4 prongs tightened it up a bit to close the prongs and the handle prised out quite easy the whole process took me about 30 minutes but I wasn't rushing and jobs a good un Hope this helpsreplying to Steve brown, PandzaMan wrote: You are a god and a genius. Worked for me and saved me no end of pain. So just to elaborate on what Steve said. Mine has nine cross head screws (2007 model) on the outer casing and yes one requires quite a long cross head screwdriver! Undid these and then got the jubilee clip but was struggling as the clip keep popping off before the desired tightness was achieved to push the winding arm out. So I placed a small block of wood into the jubilee clip as I was tightening, making sure to push down on the jubilee clip. Once I?d got the clip as tight as it would go I had a very wide long flat head screwdriver and wedged it between the handle base and the reel frame and wiggled twisted the flat head to prise off the handle. After a few twists voila the handle popped off with zero damage to the clips... I?m still in awe of the jubilee clip idea ... absolute genius.
Brilliant worked a treat 👍
Amazingly informative post, thanks for such erudite quoting of old crap. Brian
Before looking stupid again, read this:
Post to HomeOwnersHub as much as you like - just don't post it on UK.D-I-Y.
Brilliant! Steve brown is indeed a god and a genius. Thanks PandzaMan for the additional tips. One more tip: 2 of my cross head screws were badly corroded. I replaced all of them with stainless steel screws (8 x 3/4" [19mm], pan head, coarse self-tapping thread) from Screwfix:
Guys bear with me here cause my way is weird but it worked too well to not post. Mine is a new purchase, so no screws (all plastic clips etc). The yellow handle locks in because of the four quadrants that have a lip. I put a metal shirt collar stiffener (I told you this is weird. Tyrwitt shirts have them), between the handle and the hole, in each quadrant. I had to pull the handle in opposite directions from where I was putting the metal bit to make some space. But it was easy enough, no tools used. Each went in by about half centimeter. Once the 4 stiffeners were in, I pulled out the handle which popped out with no big effort. I stayed still looking at the handle in disbelief for about 2 minutes. I then posted this. Not sure if my explanation is clear enough but I hope it is cause this was really annoying me ..
Easy to do get hot water and soak the clips to make a bit softer and squeeze the two big clips that hold the handle in place
Just to reconfirm, the handle can be removed very easily. As others mentioned, use a jubilee clip around the prongs and tighten up until you can pull the handle out. Use something to press against the clip so that it doesn’t slip out while tighten it up. Also, unskrewing the shell wasn’t necessary if you are able to introduce your hand on the smaller oval-shaped opening in order to press against the object that sits on the jubilee clip. Took me 2 mins.
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