Smoker Door counter weights

Kinda hard to do without seeing your smoker.

 

Wow that is a big smoker. 



Are those turkeys loaded on the rack in your other pics?  Anyway, counter weights for what?  Keeping the doors open?  Closed?  Or do you need to counter weight them becase they are heavy?

 

I think the pic that dutch posted is the most common method for weighting the doors. At one point I thought maybe a guy could use the spring assist springs off of a set of ramps from an equipment trailer. Not sure how long it would work out for since on the smoker they would be compressed all the time, unlike on a trailer where they are relaxed when the ramps are up.

I can't remember who posted it but there was a build on here where the guy used gas assist springs from something like a hatchback car.

BTW... Nice smokers.

 

Like Dutch said, weigh your door to get the right amount of weight at the right place.

Weigh yourself too. Then you can get it to catapult any lightweight "Q" thief over your smoker & into the next county, when he opens your smoker to steal your "Q" !

Bear

 

I feel silly - I was trying to be "helpful" by posting a pic of irvvfsmokn's smoker and didn't realize he had more than one.  I think this is the unit to which he's referring:

 

figuring this out brings me back to college days and statics class....sum the moments when it is shut and again after you open it a little bit....when shut the moment has to be down towards the front on the grill and after it is open a little, say 6" it needs to reverse directions and be up towards the rear of the smoker.

 

If you built the smoker then you can make the weights and then just tack them in lace to see how the door works. Too easy move it up and too hard move it back. Now I have to go and preform some brain surgery on our grandson.