Should I go grab this?

[Walchit]

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/wsm-weber-smokey-mountain/age-of-wsm/msg380298/#msg380298

So mine has:

* steel legs, which look to be chrome plated

* aluminum door, stamped diamond pattern and some ribs at the edges of the the top and sides

* no stamp that I can find so far

* missing top handle, so not sure if it was a one and only or not(better get a zavod for this one!

Thanks for any input in advance

[Mr.CPHo]

Coincidentally, I now own the WSM you referenced in your prior post.  Here are some pics.  Same legs, door, vents, etc.  Based on the handle that came with it, I'm going to guess late 80's - early 90's; however, I'm not very good at aging WSMs.  Maybe someone with more expertise will chime in. 


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[Walchit]

It has steel legs?

[Walchit]

In that post I guess chiku says it has aluminum legs. If mine is an early one, id day the door had been replaced. Or maybe they had some leftover steel legs laying around when they used up the un-stamped vents. The only reason I am worried is because if this thing is something special then I would want to take better care of it, definitely not be drilling a hole for a temp probe or anything like that until I find out for sure.

I didn't get far on cleanup yesterday, and have a pretty busy weekend, does anyone have a technique for the really stuck on ash at the bottom of the bowl? I've cleaned some really nasty kettles, but they didnt have this stuff in them, it is at least as strong as concrete lol. Using a razor scraper will take me all day

[Walchit]

If I try to attach more than 4 pics an error occurs, so here are a few more.
Edit: now these 2 pics won't work either

I guess I saw an older wsm with the coal ring only having one row of holes, so there is that for age identification, as mine has 2 rows.
Its a little rough looking, with some deterioration around the one side, but I think it will last a while longer.

[Mr.CPHo]

It has steel legs?

I don't believe mine has steel legs, or at least a magnet didn't stick. 


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[Walchit]

Magnet stuck on mine. But the aluminum door is throwing me off.

Its pretty bent up, I'd like a cajun bandit door but they cost as much as I paid for the whole smoker lol

[HoosierKettle]

The Cajun bandit door and latch is worth it IMO. I paid 25 for my wsm. I think 75 for door and latch and 60 for the gateway hanger with shipping. I think 15 for the temp gauge. So pimp it out. Your in good company. I plan on adding the hunsaker vortex plate too.

So I've got $185 total in my 25 dollar find.


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[Walchit]

I have a piece of stainless thats already kind of bent to about the right curve, just don't know about getting that little crimp on the bottom right.

[Walchit]

At some point the Model 2880 cooker was renamed Model 2890 (Photo 15) and was known by this model number as recently as 1999. We suspect the renaming coincided with the switch from nickel-chromium plated steel legs and access door that tended to rust to aluminum parts that did not rust and occurred around 1983-84. Some of these grills had a diamond pattern stamped into the access door (Photo 16), while later versions had a pebbled finish.

I just read this about steel parts

[Walchit]

I'm getting there! The mid section was actually pretty easy to clean, but the bowl and lid were super caked on. I ended up just using a razor on it.

[Walchit]

Put some foil around the door, it seems to hold temps pretty good. I figured it would rain Saturday for wsm day, so I tossed this rack of ribs on today. They are pretty much done, just put a little sauce on them.