Power Cord Reel Toes Up

[Gunfighter]

Originally Posted by T-CURR503&425

Agree with SlowPoke's assessment. After a couple usages, where I was causing stress on the reel by trying to power wind through the bottom cut out, I determined that those things are not going to last with a) too much torque, or b) tight torque angles. Now I always religiously pull it out 100%, feed it through the pass-thru manually, and then set up camp. Reverse order for tear down. Just guide it in like silk...slow and easy!

My 2cents.

Tim
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2021 Seneca 37K
2021 Jeep Wrangler, Sahara, 4XE

X2 When first purchased listened to the reel struggle to retract the power cord. I do the same as Tim. When retracting I manually pull the cord up through the access hole and then hand guide it onto the reel. No problems for past 3 years.

[RedHorse1]

I expect the factory installed reels are tucked away in a fashion to make the space not usable for a hand-crank reel so converting from power to hand would require installing in an accessible stow bin location and giving up a bit of storage space. Our older 5th came with a storage hook. As I said in my earlier post trying to coil it up in cold weather pushed me to get a reel.
My first search was for a power reel but $$, running electric and an additional failure point pretty quickly directed me to the crank reel. It’s installed a couple of inches away from the forward wall in the basement, driver’s side. In the 2” space I store my 2 cable TV cables (one long, one short), used to keep the folding step stool there until I added a spray can rack above it which blocked access. On top of the reel I have a magnetic-mount rubber glove dispenser (thanks HF).
My primary power cable is 35’ (50A) and I don’t think I’ve had to use my extension in 7-ish years.
I feel the reel is the best mod I’ve made especially when the temp is 50deg or lower. Hand coiling in cold weather is like trying to brush an anaconda’s teeth who decides I’m his lunch.

[kliney1016]

I just got done replacing mine a couple weeks ago. I have a 2017 Pinnacle 36FBTS and it is located in the back corner on the driver side. It was covered under extended warranty but I had a hard time getting a dealer to do the work so they just gave it to me and I replaced it myself. I had to take a piece of the skirting off to get to it. Not bad at all as long as the holes on the new one line up with the holes in the frame and took maybe 2 hours. There is a known issue of the steel pins falling out of the clutch plate. I have attached pics of repairing the old one. It works great now but I put in the new one. The new one only has 33' of powercord and the old one has 36' but it was a struggle to stuff the connector in the flap when all rolled up. I am OK with 3' less. Totally agree you need to feed the reel as it winds up. When it was broken I just wound the cord over the ladder a couple times.

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by kliney1016

I just got done replacing mine a couple weeks ago. I have a 2017 Pinnacle 36FBTS and it is located in the back corner on the driver side. It was covered under extended warranty but I had a hard time getting a dealer to do the work so they just gave it to me and I replaced it myself. I had to take a piece of the skirting off to get to it. Not bad at all as long as the holes on the new one line up with the holes in the frame and took maybe 2 hours. There is a known issue of the steel pins falling out of the clutch plate. I have attached pics of repairing the old one. It works great now but I put in the new one. The new one only has 33' of powercord and the old one has 36' but it was a struggle to stuff the connector in the flap when all rolled up. I am OK with 3' less. Totally agree you need to feed the reel as it winds up. When it was broken I just wound the cord over the ladder a couple times.

We have a 2021 36FBTS on the way, sure hope they have fixed this issue. I read about it on a You tube video as well. This fellow found the fallen pins and replaced them, but they fell off again. His picture showed the cable wrapped around the ladder.

[tpastorini]

Mine is dead too. Before i give it a proper burial, can any one verify where the fuse for it is?

[jetlag]

This is an update to my June 2021 post. Ours worked well until I managed to get the cable jammed last fall. In the process of trying to reel it out, I must have dropped those pins in there, so the motor works but the reel won't spin. Between the dealer and the power cord company, they sent me a new improved mechanism to our home. Upon looking at it, I decided it was way past my pay grade, and it sits in the basement storage until I take it to the dealer for warranty work this fall. We have been wrapping it around the ladder, not pretty, but it works.