Trailer Mounted Reverse Flow with added Goodies - Page 7

3/8 or 1/2" would work great, I would use 1/4"plate cut down into shims to set the new door on to weld the hinges in place. In fact I would use 1/4" spacing on all door edges. (top, bottom and both sides)

If your hinges have any looseness in them, be sure to preload the hinges before welding them in place, otherwise when you remove the bottom shims the door will sag. If you can't preload them enough, then you will need to leave more space at the bottom to allow room for door sag. Remember the solid door will have a good bit more weight to it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hogie 

How would I preload the hinge?  I just want to try to get this right since redoing hinges SUCKS

What I mean by preloading the hinge is to weld one side of each hinge in place and then put enough down pressure on the other half of each hinge (with the shims in place on all 4 sides of the door) to equal at least the weight of the door, and then weld it in place. That will prevent the door from sagging after you take the shims out.

I'll be honest and say that you should just replace the door with a 1/2" plate door and no insulation.   You will lose very little since the heat is going forward towards the smoker.    Also I would recommend adding 3/4" strap to the bottom of the inside of your doors.  Angle them down and 45° so that fat and oil drips off the strap and into the smoker instead of dripping down the outside of your smoker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourthwind 

I'll be honest and say that you should just replace the door with a 1/2" plate door and no insulation.   You will lose very little since the heat is going forward towards the smoker.    Also I would recommend adding 3/4" strap to the bottom of the inside of your doors.  Angle them down and 45° so that fat and oil drips off the strap and into the smoker instead of dripping down the outside of your smoker.

That is what we are discussing is a solid door either 3/8" or 1/2". Either one will work, just depending on what is available.

Yes, the drip strip is necessary to save from a mess while cooking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourthwind 

I'll be honest and say that you should just replace the door with a 1/2" plate door and no insulation.   You will lose very little since the heat is going forward towards the smoker.    Also I would recommend adding 3/4" strap to the bottom of the inside of your doors.  Angle them down and 45° so that fat and oil drips off the strap and into the smoker instead of dripping down the outside of your smoker.

This is true. Mine is 1/2" and it gets pretty warm but doesn't really radiate that much heat. That diversion strap is something I intend to add to mine also. It just looks a mess down the front of the smoker under the door. It only does it while it's warming up, but that's enough to make a mess. 
 

looks great cant wait to see your qview.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hogie 

The drip strip... does that go on the door itself, or on the smoker?

On the inside of the door. Once you've got a nice build up of flavor on the inside of your smoker it turns to liquid as your smoker heats up. It runs down the inside of the door and without something to direct it to stay in the smoker, it ends up running out and down the outside. Run it the width of each of your doors near the bottom edge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubbonehead 

On the inside of the door. Once you've got a nice build up of flavor on the inside of your smoker it turns to liquid as your smoker heats up. It runs down the inside of the door and without something to direct it to stay in the smoker, it ends up running out and down the outside. Run it the width of each of your doors near the bottom edge.

 

Just make sure to position it as close to the bottom of the door as possible, but be sure to check that it wont interfear with the grates or anything else when it closes.  Do a piece with just a couple tack welds first, and if it's all good, then you can just do a few 3 inch sections along it's length so that you dont induce a warp into your doors.

The drip strip is a great idea!

It will all be worth it in the end man..  Trust me I understand schedules.  I have 5 weeks to get our competition smoker done for this season, and we have not even started it yet..  Going to be an ugly few weeks.

You'll like the pecan.  I've been buying pecans from a man for several years.  He has one of those cracking machines.  Makes all of the pecans shell really easy and 99.9% come out whole.  Last Fall when I went to get my pecans, I took my chainsaw and cut up a truck load from BIG limbs that had broken off his trees.  They were free.  He had them in a pile to burn!

If anyone knows of some local pecan growers in your area, you might stop by and ask if you can have the fallen limbs.  I got limbs that were over 8-10 inches in diameter.  I had to split some of them.  If this guy was closer, I'd just go over everytime a big limb falls and pick it up.  He's about an hour drive from me.  Need to find someone closer.

I like your smoker, especially the hatchet handles.  I may try to find a couple of those with the pick on the end that looks like fire axes and use them on my firebox and warming chamber.  I already have handles for my main cooking chamber.  I got some free grab rails with chrome mounts when we went to the factory to look at our new fire truck.

Glad I caught the discussion about the drip rails inside the doors.  I haven't read anywhere on here about doing that before, but great idea!

We use an oak base for heat then add pecan for flavor.  Your smoker should be large enough to handle full splits.  Just make sure that it's burning and not smoldering on you.  If you find that the logs are not burning right, then split them again into smaller 3 to 4 inch diameter pieces.  We do this anyhow to avoid getting the white smoke.  It takes far less time for new pieces to come to temp this way.

Good luck man!    Keep an eye on them Briskets with a remote therm.   Reverse flows tend to cook faster than what you may be used to because of the radiant temp from the plate.  Our briskets average 10 - 12 hours at 225°, but your smoker is twice the size and may have less radiant heat from the plate.  My comp trailer was only 24 inches in diameter and 8 feet long.