Thanks Sami, yeah I found a youtube video and another short cut from Alan Hawke which made it as easy as pie, I didn't even have to open the reel right up, in the end either.
Now works like a treat (it takes less than 5 minutes per reel), has solved the problem entirely, I'll never go back to an automatic closer on the bigger reels again. It worked fine on 2 x 8000 twinpowers and a 10000 Stella!
Happy as now!