Craigslist find - Trash or Treasure?

[haeffb]

Saw this on CL today and decided it was a beautiful day for a road trip.

It's a B-code with a lid in pretty good condition, but the bowl is not - two of the leg sockets have rusted off and the third is barely holding on.

Any suggestions for what should be done with it?

[Darko]

If the rest of the bowl is good, I would consider using fender washers and bolts to attatch the legs back on. It would make a grate cooker.

[Titus]

Even if the legs are beyond repair and you don't do what Darko said, you can always put it in an old steel wheel, or rig something up.

[Darko]

Or, another option is, Restore the lid & use it as a display piece That orange peel looks great.

[Harbormaster]

Great orange peel on that lid for sure!

I would salvage the bowl vents, legs, wheels, triangle, etc... for spare parts. Maybe see if anyone needs the lid for a UDS.

[Darko]

Nah, that lid is too nice to use on a UDS. It needs to be restored.

[haeffb]

More to the story:

There's never much in the way of Weber on CL in my area, so my radius has expanded. This one was in Kansas City, about 2.5 hours away.

My other Webers include a purchased-new AH, an EZ that I partially restored and turned into a OTG, and an M that is just sitting for parts. After spotting the metal bowl handles in the ad pic, I messaged the seller and she agreed to hold it while my lovely wife and I departed for a road trip.

About three hours later (stopped for lunch at Popeyes) we arrived in her driveway. I was a little disappointed to see the leg sockets were rusted, but experience should have told me that from looking at the ad.

The seller (I'll call her that even though the price was free) told us that the grill had belonged to her Grandfather, and he'd passed it on to her. She used it as long as she could but figured that now it was beyond hope.

I'd like to restore it to at least turn it into a cooker again. Where can I find tips on how to use the fender washers to reattach the leg sockets? I think that's the most serious issue to deal with. Two of the bowl vent wheels are stuck, but should probably free up with a little work. The other moves well.

The slightly misshapen twist-on ash catcher was included as well.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[haeffb]

Also, I was surprised by how heavy the lid seems compared to my newer kettles...

[Bob BQ]

Where can I find tips on how to use the fender washers to reattach the leg sockets?

@haeffb , here you go...

[swamprb]

Fire pit!

[OoPEZoO]

+1 on the fire pit

[mike.stavlund]

If I drove all that way, I'd probably try to get her back on her legs.  Especially with that gorgeous orange peel. 

[Travis]

Ok. I've been wondering the orange peel meant. Looking at the lid, ya'll mean all the paint texture, for lack of correct words. Is that something that happens with time? From the factory? Type of paint being used at the time?


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[haeffb]

Ok, so I am thinking through a couple of options for reattaching the leg sockets. Two have broken completely free from the bowl, the third is hanging on by one tab/weld.

Here's a closeup of one of the socket locations:



You can see the largest hole is nearly the diameter of one of the legs.

Option 1: Rotate the sockets by 60deg and drill holes for SS bolts/nuts.

Option 1b: See if I can find someone to re-weld the sockets after rotating 60 deg (More expensive).

Option 2: Use double SS washers to "sandwich" the bowl and bolt back in the original orientation.

Option 1 means that I still need to find a way to seal the holes rusted through the bowl at the original orientation. I've seen JBWeld and Quicksteel both mentioned in other threads. Some of the socket tabs still have a piece of bowl/weld attached that would have to be sawed or ground off.

Option 2 should eliminate the need for sealing the holes, but may not be as strong a fix depending on how weak the bowl is already.

Am I missing other options? Which would you use?

[dazzo]

May not show too well, but look at the  shadow of the green MBH '78 lid on the left, and a similar aged Happy Cooker lid on the right, and you can see the finish.

Much more character than later smooth ones.

These tend to be heavier as well...