Refurbishing an old bbq grill/smoker. Need some input please

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I'm in the process of fixing up an old bbq/smoker before it gets to the point of no return.Luckily its a heavy duty model my buddy bought from one of those specialty bbq grill places about 10 yrs ago, rather than a cheap paper-thin big box store variety. Its a HEAVY SOB and as I'm taking it apart I finally see why. The sheet metal looks to be 1/8" thru out and on the inside bottom of both the grill and the smoke box seems to have an additional sheet of 1/8" to beef it up. This additional sheet of metal has rusted away in pieces in the grill section. The additional sheet in the bottom of the smoke box I was able to pretty much lift out intact, rusted thru, but intact. Thankfully this has left me with a still sturdy bottom in both sections. As you can see in the pictures below the smoke box is in better shape than the grill box. The grill Inside bottom of smoke box.Inside bottom of grill boxLegs I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions while I go thru this rebuild, but I'll take it one step at a time. First off, I have removed all the legs off the grill. Each leg left 3 holes in the bottom of the grill for a total of 12 holes. After I'm done with the grill and smoke box, I'll be building a completely new frame/cart to mount it on. So I would like to close up these holes left by the old legs. I've looked online and have seen various ways of welding/filling holes. What do you guys suggest?My machine is a HF 110v 90 amp fluxcore mig.
Reply:you need to get the rust out before you can determine how much metal is left and what kind of shape it's in. It might not be just surface rust.as for filling the holes, Grind the metal around the hole down to clean shiney metal, inside and out. Run a drill a couple sizes larger than the original whole through the hole to remove any rust left in there. Then plug weld it. Start slow, build up the edge of the whole and work your way to the middle. Grind flat when done.There are no problems. There are only solutions. It's your duty to determine the right one.Hobart Handler 210Airco 225 Amp MSM Stinger
Reply:I took those pictures before I hit it with my sander. It appears to be in pretty good shape now. In the picture of inside bottom of grill box if you look close you can see where I drilled a few holes to drain the water out after I hosed all the junk out. It surprised me how much I had to lean into the drill to get thru it.I plan on adding another sheet of 1/8 " metal to the bottom on the inside to beef it back up. I'll have some questions about that too when I get to it.I'll try the plug weld technique you mentioned. I've read about using copper on the backside to help plug it. I have some bronze, will that work? Or dont bother?
Reply:If your heat is set right you shouldn't need a backing plate ....but bronze will work if its thick enough in other words don't use shim stock bronze lol
Reply:I have a 1" bronze pipe cap. I imagine that should do?
Reply:Ok got the holes filled in. That was interesting to say the least. Some filled right up, others wanted to grow bigger. With this crappy harbor freight mig I dont have any adjustments other than wire speed and a min/max switch. I tried it with the bronze backer and without it and didnt seem to make much a difference to me. If anything it seemed worse because when the bronze burned some it would leave slag or some other contaminants in the center of the hole and that was tough to get out. Then no matter what I tried it wanted to leave little pin holes. So after a bunch of grinding, welding, and grinding more, I got em all sealed up. More or less.
Reply:On to my next step. From my experience with grills in the past, the worst rusting seems to be where the heat is hottest. Then the rust eventually eats thru and blows the whole bottom out. So in the worst looking areas I ran a few test holes with a drill bit to see how much meat was left. (then weld filled the holes back in - yippy!!!) It all seems fairly solid still but if I'm putting all this work into it, I'd like to beef it back up and hopefully get a bunch more years out of it.I have a bunch of 1/8' sheet laying around, so what I was thinking of doing is adding an extra layer on the bottom of both the grill box and smoke box from the inside. The way the barrel wraps towards the bottom, if I cut it to the right size, the new sheet will sit an inch or two off the current bottom. This will get me higher up the sides where the metal is less corroded and also to a more solid attachment area. My theory is this new sheet will take both the majority of the heat and weight of the wood, coals, etc off the current half corroded bottom and hopefully extend the life. So on to my questions. Do yall think id be better off welding tabs for the new sheet metal to sit on, or weld the sheet directly to the sides of the grill? Like maybe a few 1-inch long welds on each side and corners? I imagine without center support the new sheet will eventually bow down and somewhat contour to the shape of the current bottom. Sorry for the long writing, but if you've made it down this far, do you think i'm on the right track? Any other ideas or suggestions?
Reply:Originally Posted by thebuckOn to my next step. From my experience with grills in the past, the worst rusting seems to be where the heat is hottest. Then the rust eventually eats thru and blows the whole bottom out. So in the worst looking areas I ran a few test holes with a drill bit to see how much meat was left. (then weld filled the holes back in - yippy!!!) It all seems fairly solid still but if I'm putting all this work into it, I'd like to beef it back up and hopefully get a bunch more years out of it.I have a bunch of 1/8' sheet laying around, so what I was thinking of doing is adding an extra layer on the bottom of both the grill box and smoke box from the inside. The way the barrel wraps towards the bottom, if I cut it to the right size, the new sheet will sit an inch or two off the current bottom. This will get me higher up the sides where the metal is less corroded and also to a more solid attachment area. My theory is this new sheet will take both the majority of the heat and weight of the wood, coals, etc off the current half corroded bottom and hopefully extend the life. So on to my questions. Do yall think id be better off welding tabs for the new sheet metal to sit on, or weld the sheet directly to the sides of the grill? Like maybe a few 1-inch long welds on each side and corners? I imagine without center support the new sheet will eventually bow down and somewhat contour to the shape of the current bottom. Sorry for the long writing, but if you've made it down this far, do you think i'm on the right track? Any other ideas or suggestions?
Reply:Wow Anvil, thanks a bunch for taking the time to write all that! At least now I feel like I am on the right track. I've spent as much time sitting in the shop drinking beer and staring at the damn thing trying to figure out the best route to go as I have working on it! I'll try to get some more pictures up later tonight or tomorrow and will update this thread as I go.Where can i find fire brick at? Home Depot or something?
Reply:Alright need some more help guys.I'm trying to figure out how to make brackets to set a new piece of sheet metal on the floor of the smoke box.  I have some 1/4"x 3" flat bar. I was planning on cutting 1" wide strips of that and then bending them in my vice. Obviously because of the radius of the metal on the inside, they wont be 90 degree. I guess i'll just bend them by eye and make small adjustments with a hammer till I get it right? The other issue is I'm trying to keep the new sheet metal at or below the rim of the door which is towards the front in the pic below. I meant to measure it last night, but i'd guestimate its about an inch tall. So I dont know if that is possible. It wouldnt be the end of the world if the new bottom had to stick up above this lip some.Any ideas?
Reply:Got the brackets in. Used the vise and BFH to beat these into shape. I ended up using an inch long piece of 1/8" angle for the bracket. Aint the prettiest looking things but they are in place and the new sheet metal "floor" fits well. It's just about flush with the door opening like I wanted and I have 3/4"-1" gap between the new piece and old floor.Since I'm winging it, and learning as I go, I started with the smoke box because its the smaller of the two. On to the bigger one next...
Reply:Nice! I have the exact same smoker.  New Brunfells IIRC?  I'm going to move/fab some wheels at the opposite end of yours(and mine). It's a heavy bitch to move like that.  There are some good mods for these as well such lowering the inside of the exhaust pipe down to the cooking grate and putting a downward smoke deflector where the hot box attaches to the smoke chamber.  It's supposed to help control the heat and keep the carcass in the smoke better.  It's been on my list of thing to do for 5 years. Last edited by kald; 03-27-2013 at 03:25 PM.
Reply:I'm not sure the name brand of this one, but its probably the same if yours looks just like mine. It's slowly coming along. Here's the frame/cart/buggy I built to mount it on.1/8x1-1/2x1-1/2 angle. Should make moving this heavy mofo quite a bit easier! I was gonna put swivel caster wheels on one end but $20 ea vs $3 ea at HF was a no brainer. I dont mind having to lift one end a little here and there to steer it. Especially considering how hard it was to move before.I just picked up the expanded metal today to put on the bottom shelf. Once I get it on I'm  going to prime and then paint everything.
Reply:thats a nice rack... as long as you're only going straight.  turning/manouvering/posisioning is going to be a bitch.There are no problems. There are only solutions. It's your duty to determine the right one.Hobart Handler 210Airco 225 Amp MSM Stinger
Reply:Looks good! I think it will be ok to turn if the hot box is hanging of the end.  You could just push down on box and swivel it on two castor's. Those HF inter tubes alway get hole pretty quick for me though.I have to get on mine. It's pretty much bbq season.
Reply:Yeah its gonna be much easier to move than it was before, that's for sure! I don't really move it around too much anyway. It mostly sits in the yard under a cover. Couple times a year it gets loaded in the toy hauler. Got the expanded metal on the bottom last night and next need to prime it. Also need to make a new cooking grate. Then paint the outside of everything, bolt it all back together, and she'll be ready for some smokin! Btw Kald, I was looking at mine closer last night. I guess mine already has the mods you mentioned. The smoke stack (not pictured above, I have it hanging on a string getting primed and painted) on mine does go all the way down to the cooking grate, and has the downward deflector where the hot box attaches to the smoke box too.
Reply:Thats cool about the mods. I like that angle iron on top of the hot box. Is that you bean/kraut cooker? Now that I look at yours it's a little different from mine.  Mine is round not oval/rectangular like yours.  I was wondering how you were gonna make that flat topped cart work. Thinking about these I can almost taste the yard bird, brats burgers and and steak now.Here is the site where I saw the mods:  http://www.bbqinstitute.com/smokermods.htmI have the "Hondo" , that name makes me laugh.Last edited by kald; 03-28-2013 at 12:44 PM.
Reply:No that angle on the hot box surprisingly doesnt get too hot. Slightly warm at most. Makes a good place to set the beer on for a few seconds while checking the meat though. I think I'm gonna go with smoked brisket or maybe smoked ribs for the first test! Cool website link btw!
Reply:Finally got it finished.  The top of the base base where the smoker sits ended up being 1-1/2" too wide and 1-1/2" too long overall. 1-1/2" was the size angle I used so somewhere along the way I skewed some measurements. Oh well, it still fits ok and its much better than it was before! Also with the firebox on one side, I'm able to push down on it, to lift up the opposite tires to steer it when needed. Which was a big relief cause I was second guessing myself for cheaping out and not putting on the more expensive swivel casters on one end. before:after: in action:Smoked a brisket and it came out great. Meant to take pictures of it too but after smoking it for 9 hrs I was ready to eat! Besides its almost lunch time and it woulda just made yall hungry anyway! Thanks to everyone who gave me tips and contributed to my project! On to the next...