Hang in there baby!

[HankB]

Here's a detail picture of the mount.



It's alarmingly simple and surprisingly sturdy. This is 3/8" rebar on an 18.5 WSM. I used an angle grinder equipped with a cutoff wheel to cut a slot in the end of the rebar that would fit the tabs that normally support the upper grate. The slot from the cutoff wheel was not wide enough for the tab so I carefully enlarged it to get a snug fit. I also angled it slightly as it looked to me like the tabs are slightly angled up. I also bent the support to be about 2" wider than the tabs so as to put some tension on the connection when it is set in place.

My original plan was to make two supports that would cross in the middle and notch them where they overlap to provide some additional support. I will probably still do that.

I'd consider doing this on my 22.5 WSM as well except I'm not sure that 3/8" rebar would be stiff enough and I would need better tools to bend 1/2" rebar.

[HankB]

I finally got around to making the second brace. As an aside, it is a lot easier to bend 3/8" rebar using a 14" piece of EMT (stick the rebar through the EMT and pull against that instead of the rebar itself.)



I'm sure I could fit 6 racks of back loin ribs on that without any difficulty. Maybe even that many racks of spares.

I notched the parts where they cross and bent such that there is a little tension on the joint for additional stability. It feels really solid!



To recap the keys to stability:

• light tension where the slots on the bars fit on the tabs that support the upper rack. Rebar is not spring steel so you won't get a lot of tension anyway, but too much makes it harder to install the pieces on the smoker.
• carefully ground slots for the tabs. These need to fig snugly.
• light tension where the pieces cross.

Now that I have a better strategy for bending rebar, I think I could make one using 1/2" rebar for the 22.5 WSM.