hanging a hose reel

[LCHIEN]

I picked up a hose reel from HF at the sidewalk sale a couple of weekends ago.
http://www.harborfreight.com/50-ft-r...l#.UyvOfvlnRcY
Weighs about 30-some pounds comes with a 50-ft rubber hose reeled up on it and pre-spring loaded for retrieval.

I wondered about it for several days on how to hang it up on my garage overhead joists... I pretty much have to do it myself as my wife can't lift much of anything and working on projects usually leads to me yelling and then we all get upset.

I could see myself getting it to the top of a six foot ladder. But I couldn't see how I could hold it up with one hand (shakey at 30 pounds weight) while lining it up with perhaps predrilled holes and driving in the required 1/2 bolts with the other hand...

The idea I came up with:
take a board that would span the joists (16" centers.) Drill a series of three holes (six total) over each joist location. Put a keyhole slot at the center two locations at each end large enough to pass the 3/8" lag bolt head (see picture).
The I drilled the four holes for the 1/2" bolts that would mount the reel to mounting board.

Put a couple of temporary nails into the board in line with the rows of holes.
Climbed up the ladder with the board. nailed one end to one joist, used a square to square it up and nailed the other end. Used a transfer punch in each of the six holes to mark the joists for pilot holes for the lag bolts. In the keyholes I put the punch in the end of the small slot.

Took down the board, tossed the temporary nails. Drilled six pilot holes in the marked locations. Put two lag screws into the center holes on each joist and screwed to a little more than a boards width away from seating the head.
Put air fittings on the reel. Mounted the hose reel to the board.
climbed the ladder with the board and reel using both hands, I positioned the first keyhole over one bolt head, then swung the other end so that the second lag screw fell into the second keyhole. Then I pushed the board and reel forwards so that the board was resting with the lag bolts in the narrow end of the keyhole slot resting the weight on the lag screw heads and all the holes in the board lining up with the predrilled pilot holes.

Now I put the other four lag screws in with full flat washers. and took out the original two lag screws. - that's what you see in the pictures. hooked up the air supply and checked the reel again. But the lag bolts are now held by the non slotted holes so it won't slide off. For the picture I still have to place washers and lag bolts into the ends of the slotted holes so I have six 3/8" lag bolts holding the weight as well as four 1/2" bolts.

So I was able to lift the assembly into place, position it and have it held in place without assistance while I placed the permanent lag bolts into place. I was quite pleased with myself.

And by the way, the hose reel works very nicely. pull down the hose. It has ratcheting stops so it can be stopped every few feet with no back force trying to pull it back. I can brad nail or clean up with compressed air much more quickly now rather than wrestling a coiled hose into position. After I'm done give it a little tug and the hose retracts smoothly and neatly back onto the reel.

[capncarl]

It does look like a quality hose reel. Good design for the 1 man mounting system. Working alone in the shop the craftsman has to be creative with a lot of his handling heavy and cumbersome items.

My shop has fully enclosed reels where you can not see how much hose is remaining and will allow you to pull hose until it stops and jams the ratched dogs. (it looks like I would mark the hose so this would not happen) That gives you the opportunity to practice your ladder standing skills while you take the covers off the reel and try to trick it into releasing. I now like the open reel design like yours much better!

I have found that there is enough air pressure/volume restriction in the swivel and air chuck quick disconnect on my hose reels that my 1/2 impact wrench does not have enough umph to break some bolts loose. To work around this I have put a "t" and valve in the air line after the compressor tank just for a dedicated hose for the impacts and other high pressure/volume applications.
capncarl

[atgcpaul]

I've got the same hose and essentially had to do the same thing. My ceilings are 10', though, and my joists are covered with sheetrock

It's been in service for 5 years and I'd add it to the list of HF gems.

[bigstick509]

Same solution here, mine has been up for about 10 years with no problem.

[tfischer]

Nice job. I've been wanting to get one of those (and the power cord reel too) but I'm too cheap

[LCHIEN]

the manual and box said it had 1/4 NPT ports but on inspection the center connection had a 3/8NPT port - maybe a design change from the original to accomodate the restriction mentioned? Nah they never change designs...

I looked for a 3/8" NPT male to 1/4" stud and could not find one at the local stores so I used a 3/8 to 1/4" NPT bushing and a 1/4" stud to 1/4" NPT fitting.
I haven't tried to run any high flow tools from it - yet. The 50 ft hose on the reel and the 50 ft hose from the compressor to the reel might also be factors.
I guess I can compare air blower with and without the reel/hose and see how much head I'm losing. Have to think about a quantitative test.

[Clock Maker]

This months Popular Mechanics has a coupon good until July for the about $65.

[jdon]

Just a thought for future installations: a lot of those 30 lbs are the air hose. Why not pull out (unreel) as much hose as you can, and let it sit on the garage floor, or better yet, on a ladder shelf. That way, the only weight you're lifting is the reel, plus the length of hose between the ceiling and floor (or ladder).

[dbhost]

I have that reel on my short list. I hate dragging the hose out...

[JSUPreston]

I'd love to do that in my shop. Problem is, I'm 5' 8", and the highest point of my joists is about 6' 6".

[dbhost]

I was planning on wall mounting mine between the garage doors so I can have full coverage of the shop and the driveway...

[dbhost]

Loring. Is that Rapidair? I am thinking about tube and fittings from them to connect the reel.

[LCHIEN]

Loring. Is that Rapidair? I am thinking about tube and fittings from them to connect the reel.

Nah, its just a PVC hose I had that I retired three hoses ago... it was the first hose i bought, then I bought a rubber hose, then I bought two PU hoses, ha. But its perfect for laying above the joists.

[LCHIEN]

Just a thought for future installations: a lot of those 30 lbs are the air hose. Why not pull out (unreel) as much hose as you can, and let it sit on the garage floor, or better yet, on a ladder shelf. That way, the only weight you're lifting is the reel, plus the length of hose between the ceiling and floor (or ladder).

that might have helped. One problem would be that unless the reel is mounted, its resting on the reel itself and its not that easy to unreel it.

[LCHIEN]

This months Popular Mechanics has a coupon good until July for the about $65.

yeah that's a good price, its the same as I paid but it was only a weekend sidewalk sale at HF. They (the POS computer) wouldn't let me apply the 25% off coupon to that. I think it took 25% off the cheapest non-sale item I had which was about a buck-fifty so my 25% off coupon saved me 37 cents.

And I spent another $12 bucks on nuts and bolts and fittings at Lowes to put it up. Half-inch bolts washers and nuts are not peanuts. Not counting an $5.40 1/4" ell I didn't use and need to return. There's a ceiling fan another few inches to the left and I was afraid the blue hose might be hit by the blades but there was plenty of clearance.