Pit Boss 820 auger motor...flopping all over the place, not mounted to anything

[kilohertz]

Hi all,

I have had the PB820 since Christmas (bought used) and found that the auger motor isn't fastened to anything, it is just sitting on the air tube box. I can feel it flopping around and sometimes it gets stuck and I have to wiggle the motor to free up the auger, not sure what is binding. Is this normal or was mine not assembled correctly. I have't pulled it apart yet and the manual isn't very detailed in the assembly of this unit.

Thanks

 

[DougE]

A quick look at how they are set up, the auger design is "floating" and will seem loose ......... could your pellets be getting damp somehow be causing the binding you are experiencing?

 

[kilohertz]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the help. The pellets are not damp but I was getting to the bottom of one bag and there were some "fluffy" ones in there. They became dust when I mixed them in the hopper. That is probably causing the binding, I just wasn't sure if the motor should be "mounted" on the frame.

I have since run thru about 5lbs of pellets, no binding but I can still hear the motor flopping.

Been following your dry brine recipe for bacon since winter, awesome results and gained 10 lbs. More than Christmas chocolate. I haven't posted any pics as I figure I'd save the bandwidth for the newbies. I should login more often though, there's so much to learn here.

Cheers

 

[DougE]

Been following your dry brine recipe for bacon since winter, awesome results and gained 10 lbs. More than Christmas chocolate.

Glad the bacon is going well!!, Gaining 10lbs, well not so much, but the bacon is good!

 

[kilohertz]

Glad the bacon is going well!!, Gaining 10lbs, well not so much, but the bacon is good!

Well, I actually have worked off the 10 lbs again now that summer work has started, but I know it's still there in the frying pan ready to attack at a moments notice. :-)

cheers

 

[kilohertz]

Okay 2 pics from the weekend. 2 pieces single smoked belly, 3 double smoked BBB.

 

[mr_whipple]

Nice... Bacon makes life better. As to the auger motor, the first time I had an issue with my camp chef and took it apart I saw the same thing. Flopping around and mounted to nothing. I tried zip ties to hold it in place, but I learned it's that way by design. It certainly doesn't look right to my eye, but hey.. it works. My problem had nothing to do with the auger as I recall, but I took everything apart just to see it all for myself.

 

[Hijack73]

Your bacon looks freaking fantastic!

 

[DougE]

Fantastic looking bacon!

 

[kilohertz]

Thanks guys,

I suppose I'm am getting the hang of it, although the above got to 155* as it was a warm day and I had the probe in the largest piece, next time I'll probe the smallest. I think my fav is the BBB, I have found the CDN BB is too lean for my taste, good for pizza but not breakfast. Belly of course is classic, still fine tuning the method/recipe but that's all the fun.

Cheers