Solar Cover Reel Rolling in Lopsided

[PoolEric]

This might be a dumb question, but there are lots of not-dumb people here, so...

I've got a simple rectangular solar cover and reel. Most of the time when I reel it in, the cover rolls up kind of evenly. But lately, it seems it's always creeping to one side of the reel or the other. It gets so bad the cover presses up against the panel where the crank is and makes it hard to, well, crank.

I make sure the cover is lined up nicely with the sides of the pool, and the reel is parallel to the edge of the pool. When I start rolling the cover in, everything is nice and even, until it's not. If I shift the reel to one side or the other, it doesn't seem to help (usually makes it worse). Ditto for changing the angle of the reel relative to the edge of the pool.

So... I'm guessing there's something obvious I'm missing. Can someone help me with this creepy-crawly-cover-caper?

Thanks!

 

[kimkats]

Eric, I am sorry there has been no help with this yet. Lets give them some thing to work with. Take and share a pic of the roller. Lets look at all parts of it so see if anyone can see what is going on.

 

[PoolEric]

So, I love this site for all the help everyone provides, but now I get help on how to get help! Very meta...

I haven't taken any pics, because I think I'm going to replace the cover (and maybe reel). Both are pretty old at this point.

Thanks!