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Reel outside van?

adamangler

Wakefield Window Warrior
Messages
4,263
Location
Wakefield
Ive always used reel in van but thinking it might be better to lift it in and out? it's on left side door so depending how you can get parked it can be difficult to pull hose out as it wraps round van. Plus it's scratching paint off my van doors where it's rubbing. Had it on back in my last van and it was a bit better but that means had to leave door open as it won't shut.

What do you lot prefer in or out?

 
Ive always used reel in van but thinking it might be better to lift it in and out? it's on left side door so depending how you can get parked it can be difficult to pull hose out as it wraps round van. Plus it's scratching paint off my van doors where it's rubbing. Had it on back in my last van and it was a bit better but that means had to leave door open as it won't shut.
What do you lot prefer in or out?
I sometimes have it out, depends on parking and the angle the hose needs to go to get to where I want it, in a ideal world it would stay in the van as it is a pain lifting in and out allday. My ports on the outside of the van, so if it stays in the van I just reach in and plug the short hose length to the port on the bumper.

 
I lift mine out for the handy nest of pointing it whatever way you want, half the time I'd never be able to park the ideal way so lifting he reel out and pointing it is much easier. I'm looking to buy van ports for even more handyness

 
Lifting in and out is ok, I do it quite a bit as have external ports, but it does get on my wick on busy days, if at all possible on nice estates I put the van in a position where i can leave in the van.

With the aid of under floor rollers/guides, internal reels are best IMO, and even better still would be power reels, something I plan to do this year, keeps the van locked and no need to lug in and out a hose reel with 100m of water filled hose on.

 
I might look into putting guides under van, was thinking to put 1 roller at each side under sills with reel central in van and a hole in the floor but how would you feed it to each guide? maybe 2 reels?

might invest in a power up and a remote control but need to work out how to feed it under van

 
Been thinking about it myself @adamangler I had the idea of fitting 2 reels one either side of the van, set back near my tank then with roller guides one in the van and then in the van floor at the back, then on the reel hose using them foam protector balls to stop the hose coming back in the van between jobs, so just get to a job, reach under the bumper grab hose and away you go. But need some way of then getting the reel hose back in the van at end of the day, perhaps putting a push fit connector a few inches behind the main hose connection, so simply unclick that and the small bit of hose with foam ball on goes in the van till the next day. If you get me lol!

 
What did you order ?

As I think the link I gave you is the bit under van that's why I said not 100% sure

Think you still need the roller for inside van

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The chrome part under that van is a guide used in the off road and recovery world and is a winch cable guide @adamangler.

I am just happy I can work with doors open, new van at the end of this year and I will be ordering it with twin sliding doors, inquired at the dealership last week and only £250 extra for sliding doors on both sides, seems like a no brainer.

As for reels I have just last weekend installed a Water Works HD Power up reel and I have to be honest, it is absolutely divine, so much smoother than my old reel which had an after market bolt on motor, it takes up half the space of the old reel and the hose does not 'spill over' on recovery. Not cheap at £370 but IMO worth every penny.



 
I ordered the winch guide. I will probably need 2 though. I have a scudo with twin side doors buto working that way you need to leave doors open. I'm not too bothered snout leaving them open as that's what I've always done but under the van looks neater to me. Another reason is i don't want to chip paint of the doors and with reel on a side door if you were pulling at an angle it rubs on van door. I'll try it underneath and see how it goes.

 
I ordered the winch guide. I will probably need 2 though. I have a scudo with twin side doors buto working that way you need to leave doors open. I'm not too bothered snout leaving them open as that's what I've always done but under the van looks neater to me. Another reason is i don't want to chip paint of the doors and with reel on a side door if you were pulling at an angle it rubs on van door. I'll try it underneath and see how it goes.
You don't need to leave the doors open and you don't chip off paint.

Simply reel out the amount of hose you need, throw it over the door, shut it and lock it. (this is using microbore)

As for paint chipping, I have two hozlelock hose guiders screwed directly in front of the reels, hose doesn't touch the paintwork. Been working this way very successfully for 8 years :thumbsup:

 
cheers @HALTON ive ordered one
not sure what the chrome roller is under bumper tho, doesnt look like a roller more like an old towel rail

This was the one used in the video.

Winch Heavy Duty roller fairlead 255mm hole centres NEW

Its no longer available but I'm sure you can find something similar.

View attachment 6573

Tim, who did this 'modification' took the rollers off and greased them up before assembling them back together.

The one he used inside the van is much smaller and won't work under the bumper as the rollers are too small in diamt.

The link I had to the internal fairleads doesn't work but this looks similar.

Cable Winch Fairlead Roller Pulley Lifting Host Trailer ATV Recovery Steel 4x4

He used a Reelworks 460, purchased from Gardiners. (Redashe for all your hose and cable reel, lubrication equipment, automotive, bodyshop and industrial equipment requirements ) It has a locking pin to lock the hose reel to stop the hose from unraveling as he drives down the road.

One of the issues on some vehicles is the spare wheel. If you center it like Tim did then you will have to bring the spare wheel into the van. He chose to remove it on his first van and use a emergency puncture repair can, but once the repair kit is used, the tyre has to be removed and replaced with a new one.

Tim used to post on CIU but we haven't seen him for a long time.

 
using it this way means you have to connect and disconnect your pole hose from reel. im more to the roller idea secured in van for reel hose to manouver out. i can close my rear van door when reel is out, not securelly but it clicks shut if reel is on the side of door when shutting. if reel is on van floor when shutting door it can dig into reel.

 
Steve are your rollers screwed or bolted in van to secure them. im thinking of bolting one to the floor plywood to secure it. make it more stable.

any pics

 
Steve are your rollers screwed or bolted in van to secure them. im thinking of bolting one to the floor plywood to secure it. make it more stable.any pics
Go in the search option and type in 'a thought for the newbies', there is a couple of pictures there

 
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