Smoker Build

[mccutter]

I see the potential for a 4x4 or train "theme" with a little added metal...

[toprecycler]

Initial thoughts- any plan to put heat shields to protect the tires from heat? Or will thus not be an issue? I’m not much of a smoker person, so I’m not sure how warm the fire box will get in use.


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[Scratch]

Originally Posted by dubby

I notice you've added little "door bumpers" on there, I'm guessing they'll just be temporary until you get it all fitted up and then replaced with a permanent gasket strip on the doors?

Also, seems like a lot of wasted space below the door-level racks. Any plans to put stuff in there too? I'm not much of a smoker-dude, mainly because I lack patience, persistence, and fondness of all-day beer drinking . LadyD and the kids bought me a rig from HD back in '17 and I've never used the smoker section to it's potential.

Yes, those are little 1" cut pieces of gasket strip to help align the doors and will get replaced with full strips of gasket strips.
And yes lots of empty space below those bottom racks. Exactly half of the tank. I guess that's how its supposed to be though... they're all like that.
I did see another smoker build where they had another set of racks down there and he could put charcoal below them to act as a normal grill also. We won't be doing that thoigh.

[Scratch]

Originally Posted by toprecycler

Initial thoughts- any plan to put heat shields to protect the tires from heat? Or will thus not be an issue? I’m not much of a smoker person, so I’m not sure how warm the fire box will get in use.


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Supposedly, it doesn't get hot enough there to cause any problems. But that was a concern of ours also. We plan to test it right away and add an "inner fender" if need it.

[dubby]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Yes, those are little 1" cut pieces of gasket strip to help align the doors and will get replaced with full strips of gasket strips.
And yes lots of empty space below those bottom racks. Exactly half of the tank. I guess that's how its supposed to be though... they're all like that.
I did see another smoker build where they had another set of racks down there and he could put charcoal below them to act as a normal grill also. We won't be doing that thoigh.

My store-bought thing has the lower rack as well, but I've never used it. The way the firebox is built with it's own lid serves as it's own charcoal grill.

But, many of the recipes I've looked at over the years have recommended putting a water (or beer/liquid) pan under the item being smoked. I found a cake pan that almost filled the entire rack to use. Again, I never understood it and certainly have never experimented doing it as a with/without to see if it made a difference.

I'm sure the folks that will be using your big old rigs know what they're doing so they don't need the cheating methods

[Scratch]

Now it's time to install the stack. The top of the stack will be almost 8' high. My buddy has a 12' door in his pole barn but if he ever sells it to someone that stores it in a regular garage, they make a hinge mechanism for it so we installed that.

[Scratch]

We also installed a shelf down below for tongs, plates, gloves, etc...

[Scratch]

Getting down to the wire here with some minor details like a grease dam to keep the grease out of the firebox, door stops, and a drain valve.

[Scratch]

Then some finishing touches like tie downs, more gussets with more speed holes, a touch of flames, and gauges.

[Scratch]

Then we took the tires and wheels off, gave it a good cleaning, sprayed it with some high temp clearcoat, then put it back together and brought it outside for some final pictures.

Now to start on the second one!