Smoker Modifications

A few months ago I had to buy a new smoker. After 30+ years the fire box on the old one gave out.
I didn't notice the firebox had failed until a couple of days before we were hosting a get together with brisket,
turkey and ribs as the menu. With the timing as it was I didn't have time to do a repair.
So... I bought a new one. (A larger, upgraded model of course.)

Here is a picture of the smoker as purchased.

Clicking the thumbnail image will bring up a full screen image file.

You will notice that the wheels appear to be pretty small.
The designer apparently thought that plastic wheels about 2 inches wide and 8 inches in diameter
would be just right for moving around a hunk of metal that tips the scales at about 700 pounds.

The wheels were barely adequate to allow movement on flat level concrete. But,
I wanted to be able to take it back to the shop to store it out of the weather. And even with the yard
being dry there was absolutely, positively no way that I was going to happen without some sort of diaster occurring along the way.

After visiting the local golf cart shop, a steel supply and the hardware store it was time for some shop time.
I made some hubs with bronze bushings with the appropriate bolt pattern to fit the wheels.


Next step was to mount the wheels and rig up a temporary hitch to get it back to the shop.

With a little more shop time there is now a removable hitch and adjustable front legs.

Here is the completed project.