Egor

[Tinker]

Great lookin forward to it

[Smokeone]

Looking good, Gizmo. Let's see some smoke!

[jafo28]

Looks great! Nice shop, BTW.

[dwwantasmoker]

Nice job its looking good. Have you ever thought about making the tongue of the trailer a fold a side ?

[SmokinFF]

as usual. Your work and ideas are the best Gizmo.

[Tinker]

Did you get to run it yet

[Gizmo]

Thanks guys!

dwwantasmoker I did think about that but any folding mechanism ends up right where you stand to cook which I would bust my shins on so I just made the whole thing removable.

I finished welding it to the trailer so it's permanent now. The stack is a new idea but I think it came out pretty good - it'll look better painted.

It's too tall for the garage door so it unplugs just above the damper about 8 inches above the CC roof. In this pic I've used the floor jack under the drawbar so I could perfectly level the whole rig and "eyeball" the stack to plumb before I welded it. I've found that works better than a square, level, etc. so it looks right.




It was overcast here today but you can sort of see the smoke around the top of the stack if you squint. Dumped in about a half chimney of briquettes I had left in one bag - then a lit chimney - then a little over 1 unlit chimney to cover it all up in the fire basket. I closed the FB door and opened the draft and flu to max for about 15 minutes to let it establish a draft then closed the draft down to recommended opening (16 sq. in.).




Passed 250 at 32 minutes so I put on a split of hickory and a couple pounds of bacon - because you can never have enough bacon in the fridge.




Hit 361 at 1:02 - NOW it's a cooker.

It was too dark for decent pics of the cook. The bacon was an applewood smoked version and a little too salty so I'm going with a different brand next time.

Next step - storage compartments.

[Rodcrafter]

Very nice Gizmo,

Looks like you put a gauge to check exhaust temp too good idea.

Can hardly wait to see what is next.

[Gizmo]

Thanks RC - that top gauge on the back of the CC is supposed to just be a step-saver for whoever is running the fire so they have an idea where they are on the CC temp. Turns out it's close to the stack outlet….

[Blutick]

Gizmo - I really like the ingenuity that you put in your smokers - Man I could sit and chat with you for hours over your ideas - Awesome Awesome Awesome!

[Blutick]

Oh Yeah - Wish you were a wee bit closer - Then I could loan you the forklift

[Tinker]

looks really nice

[Gizmo]

Thanks guys!

I'd like to think everything I've learned building smokers the past few years is always in the next smoker - in Egor's case it just sort of came out goofy looking…. I'm hoping the storage compartments change that some.

And if they don't - then he'll just have a face only a mother could love….

[jaybird302]

Ok Gizmo, got another question for you. As it sits in your driveway, the draw bar is holding it level. Are you planning some drop/swing down legs for the front and back to keep it stable when the drawbar is removed? I saw one once that had two static legs on the front and two swing down tongue jacks on the back for adjustability. That's what I'll probably do with mine when I get to build it. Anyway, as always good work!

Jay

[Gizmo]

Thanks jay!

As it turns out, this rig balanced well enough that I set jack stands while sawsalot ran the drawbar and we set it on 4 jack stands just by pushing or lifting on the drawbar - no problem.

Speaking from experience, all the places I've had to set up a cooker in the past years fell into 2 categories:
1) Level
2) you've got to be kidding me … you want it here?

The storage under this unit on the trailer will easily hold the stands and a few leveling blocks - that way I've got full flexibility regardless where I go. I hope.

[jaybird302]

That sounds like a solid plan to me!

[Blutick]

Gizmo - I'm going to make the wheels on mine pinned on so that they are removable, so like yours it will have adjustable stands with worm gears for minute adjustments - so its jack the tongue up (off the hitch) jack it down to set the back stands, then jack it up to raise the wheels off the ground and set the front stands, then pull the wheels out of the way - should be simple enough - oh yeah I think I'll have an electric jack also just for kicks

[jafo28]

Looks great, Gizmo! So what are you doing for paint?

[maccas66]

me likes it!

[Big T]

It's looking good Gizmo. Are you planning on keeping this one or does it already have a new home ?

[Tinker]

If it doesn't have a home I will take real good care of Egor for you

[Gizmo]

Thanks a lot guys!

And maccas you need to hang around more often… just sayin'

Blutick you're right - I've done that same thing on my lowboy trailer and it works great - but I have no idea how to pin a road wheel for quick removal. Why would they have to come off at all?

jafo he will be mostly Valspar high heat black. Then I'm going to paint a few of the parts with NAPA engine enamel red just to break it up a little. Since Egor's going to be stored outside I want an easy way to touch him up over time if necessary.

BigT he does not have a new home already so he'll prolly be here all season. If I like him as much as I think I will he might never leave.

Tinker I'll remember that if I run out of storage space….

[Blutick]

Gizmo - We might not, but will keep the option available - I guess I have borrowed enough smokers that I don't particularly like working around the tire / wheel combination. Just thinking if I have a viable option of removing it that I would like it much better (we shall see)

[Rodcrafter]

You could put the axle on a short piece of square tube and disconnect like a trailer hitch/receiver.

Here is an example:



I did this on this log splitter so I could make it narrow then for the road stretch it out for stability. But you could do the same if you wanted to take the wheel off.

[Gizmo]

That's a GREAT idea RC!

You get one of those a year? …. cause there's a lot of 2014 left to go …. just sayin'