Oklahoma Joe's Reverse Flow Tuning Plates

[kafer 53]

Just had a curious thought. I have an Oklahoma Joe's Highland non-reverse flow smoker. I've had it for a couple years now and use it about a dozen or so times a year. I see that a reverse flow version of the same smoker is available from OJ/CharBroil. I noticed on the Char Broil website in the replacement parts section for the reverse flow, you can buy the tuning plates for about $14 a piece, there are 4 plates all together. Has anyone bought and/or tried these plates on a non-reverse flow Highland? I'm wondering if it is a direct drop in, I believe the cooking chamber (aside from the smoke stack placement) is exactly the same. The total for the 4 plates plus shipping is about on par for other aftermarket tuning plates for the Oklahoma Joes.
I'm interested in hearing feedback on this.
Thanks!

 

[Rings Я Us]

The RF highland has 2 stubs you can choose from when you want to place the stack on either end right? So you cap the end you not using. Sounds doable.

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

I was wondering the same thing for my new OKJ Highland. My thought being that if the baffles were designed specifically for this model by Char Broil. To me it appears that those baffles ride under the cooking grates using the same side brackets as the cooking grates. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't work. Before doing that though, I decided to just try to use the smoker as designed with no modifications except for the Nomex gasket around the CC door. So far, mine is working very well and with a water pan placed right above the firebox the side to side temp is about 20 degrees different. Not too bad really when you think about it. I've been using the higher temps near the firebox to my advantage to cook chicken and sausage. The higher temps work well on those kinds of meat. If you do decide to go with those baffles I would be very curious to know what kind of results you get from side to side by just dropping them in. Good luck with your adventure.

George

 

[sauced]

To change to a reverse flow on the OKJ, you will have to relocate the chimney and seal up the original opening.