Kotulas Garden Hose Reel Cart — Holds 300ft. x 5/8in. Hose

this Kotulas hose cart is like all products made in China. Assembly involves waaaaaay to many pieces, almost illiterate directions and, after working on getting the cart together for 90 minutes, the push handle is not going to tighten enough to make the product feel sturdy.I put as much pressure on tightening the push handle nuts and bolts as I felt made sense. Any more and I am sure the brass nut/bot would break.I will state the hose connections seem great. Once assembled and the hose was wound onto the cart I tightened the hose connections, turned on the water and "no leaks". That is rare for whatever brand of hose cart you buy.NOTE: The nuts provided to assemble this cart are "metric". I have metric sockets but if you do not, it will be a headache getting the nuts tight. I would not want to do it without sockets. Also, the bolts are soft brass and will strip out easily. I used a power drill/driver but had the chuck set on very light to avoid that stripping problem.I am good with tools but short on patience when the assembly directions are so bad, as with this hose cart. Honestly, I am fairly sure the product could be delivered needing just the push handle and tires needing to be installed with maybe another dollar invested in a bigger box.Overall, the cart seems to be okay but, for my part, I will pay more next time to buy one of these already together at a hardware store.

Original review: 27 May 2019It is Chinesium with cheap hardware (nuts/bolts/washers). Hopefully they won't rust over time. The seller/manufacturer makes no attempt to hide that it is from China, but just be aware going into this purchase/assembly.And as others have noted, the instructions are not very good. But easy enough to figure out. One tip: the washers go on the side with the nuts and not the side with the bolt head, as shown in the instructions. Some of the bolt heads have square notches that seat flush to the frame of the hose reel cart, and if you put the washer under the bolt head (as the instructions suggest) then the bolts do not seat properly. After re-assembling with all the washers under the nuts, it went together much better.Biggest problem is the axles are 1-2 inches too long, so after final assembly the wheels were very wobbly which made the whole hose cart less than sturdy. Either the axles should be a couple inches shorter, or there should be spacers between the wheels and where they attach to the axle/cart assembly. But no spacers were included.A solution is to create your own spacers by stacking washers between wheels and the axle/cart assembly. The 9/16" washers from local hardware store fit perfectly, and each axle needs about 5-6 total washers stacked to eliminate the wobble. I used 3 on one side and 2 on the other side for each axle, and then reversed for the other axle, and works fine. I stopped there, but it might have taken 1 more washer per axle for 3 washers at each wheel. The perfect size washers are the Hillman 5304555 (also uses item # 270069), which are zinc coated and hopefully won't rust. The hole in the washer fits just perfect over the axle, while the total diameter of the washer lines up perfectly to the wheel. Anyway, that was an extra $4-6 and a trip to the local hardware store that should have been unnecessary had the hose reel cart had the correct sized axles or included spacers at the wheel bearings.The hose reel cart was just a little finicky with leaking at the hose connections. I used a hose that had no leaks plugged directly into the spigot, but leaked just a little bit when plugged into the hose reel cart. After replacing the gaskets on the hose, and a couple times connecting/disconnecting and reconnecting the hose, the leaks went away. So far so good and no leaks. We'll see how long that lasts.I will update this review re: durability, rust, leaks, etc. if anything changes.

I got the unit unassembled, as expected. I DID expect instructions that could be READ! I, also expected the proper nuts and bolts needed to put it together. The #6 packet had ONE correct bolt of the 4 needed. I had to find the other 3 at a local hardware. If I had not been mechanically inclined, I would have sent the entire mess back. Advice to company..... Make BIGGER, LEGIBLE instructions formulated by someone who SPEAKS ENGLISH!!

This hose reel is very well made and should last a long time. Assembly was reasonable except that 2 major assembly steps were not in the directions. Anyone with common sense for assembly can easily figure out what to do but those who rely on accurate directions may be frustrated. Overall pleased and would highly recommend to others

Do not buy this if you are not mechanically minded. The instructions are as clear as mud and the pictures are postage stamp sized. Not good for these old eyes, even with glasses. I finally got it together and it worked as advertised.The wheels really need spacers on the axles to take out the wooble and free travel. I’ll have to go to the hardware store and get some washers or something to fit over the larger part of the axel.It pretty sturdy and will do a good job. It’s by far better than those plastic jobs sold at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Even with directions this is very difficult to put together! I'm no novice but the directions are limited!It seems to be well made but after assembling I noticed that the handle moves back and forth and there is no way to tighten it so it doesn't do that! I will most likely have to come up with something on my own because it's very annoying feels like it's going to fall off even though it is tight. I will "update" this review in a few months!

Not even with a month of use (purchased 5/3/19), the cart is showing signs of rust at the water coupling junction and will leak soon. I called Kotulas and customer service and they ordered a new part, rather than shipping the cart back to them. I recommend other buyers with a similar problem contact them. With the new coupling, I'll spray paint it before reassembling. Maybe then I'll get longer use.

We have had for only a month and as u can see from the photo it is rusting very bad. Not sure how long it will last at this point. Like everything else about it but not the fact that it is rusting already !