Smoker Door Sprung

[Tfrank778]

Hey y'all!

I'm finally building my offset smoker but ran into an issue with the door. When cutting out the main door the metal on the tank sprung. See pics

• Hard to get a fantastic pic of it, but the top bows in the middle. The bottom is bowed out the entire length of the door. The left side springs out a bit in the corner

I didn't cut all of the door out at one time. Cut the top section, welded the hinges on, cut the rest of the door, leaving a small amount of material in the corners, and then came back 1-2 hours later and cut all the material.

Is there anything that can be done to fix this?

Obviously, the smoker isn't completed, as I will be welding a firebox next and then the smoke stack, but would love to get this fixed.

 

[smokerjim]

I'm no help here but I'm sure someone will jump in.

 

[chopsaw]

Maybe the hinges pulled it out of whack ? I'm not a pit builder , but maybe you need to cut one or both of the hinges loose ?

 

[JckDanls 07]

About the only thing ya can do would be to put some trim around the outside of the door and stop it best you can... Myself I find it no big deal if the CC door leaks a little bit ... It doesn't affect the control with the intake vents ...

 

[SmokinEdge]

Hey y'all!

I'm finally building my offset smoker but ran into an issue with the door. When cutting out the main door the metal on the tank sprung. See pics

• Hard to get a fantastic pic of it, but the top bows in the middle. The bottom is bowed out the entire length of the door. The left side springs out a bit in the corner

View attachment 633008 View attachment 633009 View attachment 633010View attachment 633011






I didn't cut all of the door out at one time. Cut the top section, welded the hinges on, cut the rest of the door, leaving a small amount of material in the corners, and then came back 1-2 hours later and cut all the material.

Is there anything that can be done to fix this?

Obviously, the smoker isn't completed, as I will be welding a firebox next and then the smoke stack, but would love to get this fixed.

This is just fab work. Fabricate. The cook chamber can be pushed gently with a jack to fit the door. The door needs to be bent a bit to fit. Try using a 1x1 wood slat placed half way up the door opening Inserted as a stop, close the lid on that then hit the lower corner of the lid with a hammer hard enough to move or bend it. Pull the wood slat check clearance and go again if necessary until things line up.
If the cook chamber has sagged because of heat, simply jack or press it out until it lines up. Tweak the lid until it fits the cook chamber. Basic body work.

 

[Tfrank778]

Well I tried using a bottle jack and a board on the inside of the door and it helped a little, but still have maybe 1/8" of a gap.

I put a piece of wood and used my BFH to try to beat the door back in, but no luck...

Any other advice?

 

[JckDanls 07]

Over the years here there have been some contraptions put together .... I remember something about a come along (chain jack) wrapped around the door with blocks of wood wedged in somewhere... Don't know if the search function will help much ...