18" Avacado Resto. Pics / Questions

[fedex]

This is it.  Wish the rest of it was as nice as the Lid.



Lid Damper.  Thanks for the Age Guide.  Makes it easy to atleast get an idea on when these older ones were made.



As I said, Lid is great but the bowl needs lots of help.



All three Leg Sockets have Weber Rot around the welds.  Anybody care to chip in ideas on fixxing the Leg Sockets?  I seems difficult since there is very little metal around them.



According to @harris92 these are the original wheels.  The are in amazing condition also.  Just dirty.  They should clean up nice.



Legs are straight with no dents in them just years of corrosion.



Triangle is very rusty.  There is a Collar on each end of the axles.  I was able to get one of them off.  The other one has been getting a steady dose of WD-40.  I'll try again today to get it off. 







Ash Pan is also in pretty good condition considering it's over 40 years old.



I have 2 of the 3 Daisy Wheels from the bottom bowl.  Both of them are bad.  Forgot to take pics of those.  Can I replace them with 18" WSM Daisy Wheels?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or advice.  I know it is what it is and in the end it might just be a Sweet old Steak and Burger Griller but I sure would like to try to make it somewhat air tight for Smoking and stable when the legs are re attached.

[swamprb]

you are a braver soul than me! I stick to red's because the paints easy to match!

[Jeff]

The only time I've seen a collar like the one you had on the axle, is on the 8" wheels for the old 26" grills.  That collar is to fit the extra large opening on those older 8" wheels because the axle diameter is smaller than the wheel hole.  Are those 6 or 8" wheels from your grill?  They should be 6" for the 18.5" grill. 

In this photo, you can see the collar inside the axle hole on this wheel from my flat top 26.

[harris92]

Interesting, the tread pattern on the wheels of the avocado matches that of a 6" wheel.

[Idahawk]

  Sorry to see that little thing in such bad shape, I'm not sure there's a clean fix for this. I've seen guys try and patch them , I'm sure there's threads on here about that process . If you weld the patches in your going to have to remove an area of porcelain  larger then the hole and depending how close to the Bottom vents, it may not even be possible , again I'm just guessing , I have not done this . The other option that I would consider if it were mine  would be to remove the cancer as best as possible , get a rust killer in there and call it good or use to some type of liquid metal on it.  Either way it's not going to pretty and likely a looker for the rest of its life.

  I don't know what to tell you , hopefully one of the experts in that area can help you.

Good luck with it

[harris92]

I believe Agent... I mean Brian has experience with leg sockets.  @zavod44

[fedex]

Interesting, the tread pattern on the wheels of the avocado matches that of a 6" wheel.

They are 6"

[zavod44]

Here is an old thread showing how I solved the leg issue.  Yours might not be this bad....but if they are this is one way you can solve it.  This grill is very solid to this day....


http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/like-a-phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes/msg119567/#msg119567

[fedex]

Here is an old thread showing how I solved the leg issue.  Yours might not be this bad....but if they are this is one way you can solve it.  This grill is very solid to this day....


http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/like-a-phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes/msg119567/#msg119567

Thanks @zavod44 , I remember that thread now.  Mine is not that bad compared to yours.  I think washers are definitly the way to go.  Now you got me all giddy about working on this. I'm still wondering if the bottom vent wheels from a 18" WSM will work?  I only have 2 of 3 but they are in real bad shape. I will also be putting in an order for a new Handle.  Thanks so much.

[zavod44]

Not sure about the WSM vents, maybe someone here has some old donor vents from an 18 that's been put out to pasture.  Let me know what you need and feel free to ask any other questions.  I think this will be back together with no trouble....

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

[Hogsy]

Yes the 18 WSM vents work
I used them here-
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/started-my-yellow-18-resto/msg50804/#msg50804

[SixZeroFour]

Sorry for the radio silence - I've got a bitch of a flu atm...

Another possibility to consider is what tattooedant used on his Yellow... might help to stiffen up the bottom bowl a bit. Once the dampers are bolted into place you could also drill and rivet the weakest parts of the leg sockets back through the pan and that might provide a bit of support if the bowl metal is totally shot.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/yellow-painted-green-restore-part-2/

And if your still having trouble getting that collar off the triangle, swap to something other than WD-40. A true rust penetrating oil will work better and more than likely release that for you. Have you tried taking a flathead driver and hammering it off from the side now that it's soaked a bit? That could also work.

GL and great find!

Matt

[fedex]

"Have you tried taking a flathead driver and hammering it off from the side now that it's soaked a bit? That could also work".


It gave up today.  Slid right off

[Craig]

As Hogsy said, the 18 WSM vents fit like a glove. You can do the snip job on the turn tabs to get them period correct. The beauty of the newer 18 daisy vents is that they don't have the raised lines on them anymore (unlike the 22 replacement vents) that once snipped and filed down, the smooth surface makes them look authentic.