275 oil tank on a trailer build

[Rufus T. Doofus]

Don't forget to post some pics of the Q when you get done.

The first effort wasn't picture-worthy. The goat shanks came out great. Really delicious. Cooked completely in about 4.5 hours with 2 of those hours exposed to smoke. I left the skin on the pork shanks and it was a bad idea. I won't do that again.

I'm going to try to pick up a couple racks of pork ribs and some country ribs for the next effort.

Still waiting on the new springs and axle. Really looking forward to installing the axle and getting this thing painted before the snow.

[RouletteRun]

Great work on your build, eventually mine will be on a trailer too but I'm building the smoker on the ground then I'll build the trailer in the late winter/early spring to mount the smoker onto. I live in Indiana and I'm trying to get my 275-gallon smoker done before the snow flies too. At least that's the goal.

[Rufus T. Doofus]

Doing my first big cook this Sunday for a small shindig we're having. Going to smoke a 10 lb turkey, a 6 lb capon, a 3 lb brisket, 6 lbs of pork belly, 2 farm raised rabbits and some squash. Will snap a bunch of photos of the 'que.

[Rufus T. Doofus]

Oh, and I put the new 3500 lb axle under it. Was able to move the axle back about 8". Not enough to balance the tongue. I'll need to add somwhere around 5 lbs of weight to the tongue end to keep it on the ground. oops.

[RouletteRun]

Oh, and I put the new 3500 lb axle under it. Was able to move the axle back about 8". Not enough to balance the tongue. I'll need to add somwhere around 5 lbs of weight to the tongue end to keep it on the ground. oops.

I've been trying to figure out how to figure axle placement for my trailer when I know I'll probably have as much weight forward of the smoker as the smoker itself but not in the beginning. That's going to be a challenge.

[Rodcrafter]

It really isn't that hard. If you don't weld the axle parts to the frame too early. If you build the frame and smoker separately then set the smoker into place. The use a 4x4 block of wood on each side of the trailer like you are trying to balance the whole thing on those 2 blocks it will help you find the balance point then you can put the axle on either side of that mark as you wish.

jm2cw


Making memories!

[Rufus T. Doofus]

That method of balancing certainly would work well. In my case I chose not to do it that way and now have to deal with it. I wanted to build the trailer frame and the FB together in this build so I could easily do the hot air ducting trick using the 4"x2" frame rails.

I set 5 pieces of 12" x 12" 3/8" thick steel on the tongue today and not the front end stays down nicely. I'm going to set it on a bathroom scale tomorrow to see how much tongue weight there really is before I weld the plates in place.

[Rufus T. Doofus]

Figured I should post some photos of the final product. (almost final, close to it.) It works well. I've done a few cooks in it. This is the first big cook I did and had a small meat fest. Did a turkey, a capon, two rabbits, pork belly, two slabs of brisket, nuts, pumpkin and squash. Everything was good but the rabbits were beyond good. Heavenly would be a better adjective.

You can see the metal plates I had to add to the tongue for weight. There's 68 pounds of added weight. The trailer follows down the road very nicely at 50 MPH. Haven't tried to go faster on my dirt road. I'm a bit pleasantly surprised really since this is the first trailer I've ever built.

Thinking I might want to add a rotisserie someday.

[Smurf]

Looking good Rufus.

[Rodcrafter]

Heck yeah!
You put a cooler and some firewood in the front that will balance very nice.


Making memories!

[Big T]

Looks great

[Pete Mazz]

Very nice!

[Squiggle]

Awwwwwe yeeeeeaaaaaaahhh!!! That looks so tasty & the unit looks so sweet too, well done!!

[Rufus T. Doofus]

Thanks everyone. This forum is an amazing resource. Without it I would have wasted a lot of time in trial and error building something that might have worked in a half-assed fashion. With the knowledge and experience people share here it's easy for a newbie like me to build something that works the first time and cook some amazing food.

[Rodcrafter]

I'm glad you got the help you needed. You know it is your turn now to share your experience with the guys that followed your lead. "Pay it forward"!


Making memories!

[Big T]

congrats

[Rufus T. Doofus]

Just an update a year later. I've done 10 cooks in this smoker in the past year. One of them was 125 lbs of meat (75 pork & 50 brisket) for a friend's wedding. Temps stay fairly consistent. Fuel usage doesn't seem excessive to me, but I have nothing to compare it to since this is the only large smoker I've ever used.

I'm happy with the air source design but it can be a pain in the butt. I have to clean the vents with a shop vac and/or blow them out with compressed air. The ash from a long cook can start to build up a little bit in them. Combustion seems fairly efficient though with the air coming in under the basket so ash production is low.

The firebox needs some attention. I need to weld up the outside sheet metal better. I just stitch welded the 1/8" sheet to skin the outside. This allows water to get into the 2" insulated area. I used mineral wool for insulation and thought that stuff didn't absorb water. It might not absorb water but it certainly acts as a reservoir of sorts. A lot of steam boils off from the insulated wall cavity If I haven't used the smoker in a while or if it's rained recently. It will steam for 2 hours sometimes. It takes a lot of BTUs to boil this water off and can really slow down the process of getting everything up to temp.

I hope to get around to designing a cold smoke system for it and racks to hang fish.

[Rodcrafter]

Thanks for the update, I wonder if silicon will seal that so you don’t have to mess up your paint


Making memories!

[Squiggle]