Assembling/Modding a new Oklahoma Joe

[dockman]

Picked up a new Oklahoma Joe from Lowe's today. They had 2 20# bags of Kingsford on sale for $12.?? So I grabbed 2 of them also. Started the assembly this afternoon and plan to do the mods tomorrow. Got the legs and wheels on then mounted the top half of the FB. Directions say to assemble FB first but I am working alone so I figured it would be easier on me if I done that after mounted to CC. I used high temp red rtv on FB to CC joint and top and bottom half's of FB. I added 2 more bolts to the front side of the CC top and bottom. Going to add some welds to the back joint.

 

[2010ultra]

lookin good Dock. congrats on your new smoker, im sure youll love it.

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• 2010ultra
• Mar 29, 2014

 

[curse]

Nice

 

[dockman]

The basic smoker is assembled! Will take it to my shop tomorrow and do the mods. What do you think about the size of the vent? Looks pretty dang small to me.

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• dockman
• Apr 4, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 4, 2014

 

[beerwagon]

I have to tell you after my first smoke on the ok highland which is slightly smaller than this one by about 6-8" that vent is plenty big even with it closed / choked it still pulls air in , I've been debating about welding a flatware around the door.

 

[dockman]

Spent 6 hours doing mods today first thing was lowering the hole from FB to CC. After lowering hole if was to small so I widened the hole and also cut the bottom out about 1/2". I then added a drill on the FB end of the CC and built the deflector plate. I sealed FB door and encreased vent by trimming vent door. I tossed the oridginal exhaust and built a new pipe with dampier (3.5" x 28"). Last thing was the charcaol basket with dividers and added tuning plates (this was all the plate I had), I will have more plate next week. Painted it up after I got it home just need to season it now.

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

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• dockman
• Apr 6, 2014

 

[dockman]

I fired it up late yesterday afternoon to season it. The temp guages at the top of the door have got to go they read way off the FB end reads way cooler and the exhaust end reads way hotter. It did not seem to draw very well (just by watching the smoke come out) but had no problem getting up to 350 degrees. My dividers are a joke as the charcoal jumped through the expanded metal. I thought I had seen photo's of others that done the same thing with the dividers I plan to wrap them with aluminum foil and see how the works out. I was pretty surprised the door did not warp and the CC door did not leak bad at all. I would still like to add better door stops and shelves.