The flat top ranch

[bladz]

Wow, wow,wow!!!!


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[Pezdogs]

Looks great with that amount of work already

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[Mr.CPHo]

Damn!! Amazing restoration, crowderjd!   I cannot wait to see the final product.  Congrats again!

[WNC]

You're doing great with it so far, love the patina on the lid!
Is that a base you're planning on keeping it on or just for moving around the shop?


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[AZ2FL]

Wow, Great progress!
I can't wait to see your first cook.

[Jeff]

Love watching the progress on this one.   

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[Lowbrass]

This might be the restoration of the year!  Looks great!  Love seeing the progression!


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[bamakettles]

Looking great!


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[Foster Dahlet]

I thought that ranch was incapable of being restored.  Glad to see I was wrong.  Well done.  Looking forward to seeing the final product.

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[1spacemanspiff]

That's badass Jason and it's not even finished yet.  Where's the popcorn?  I look forward to seeing it finished.

[Bertl]

I start to get jealous Jason. Man you do a very well restojob

Here's an update...I'll give a more robust recap tomorrow!

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[crowderjd]

Well, it was a busy weekend with the ranch!  On Friday, I went to a local steel supplier, Highland Steel, and they recommended I go back to the remnants pile and find what I was looking for.  I found three pieces of 1 1/4 inch steel tubing (12 guage), and they let me buy it by the pound as they were remnants, so it came to $4.  On Saturday, I took an angle grinder and cut each leg to 17.5 inches (as recommended by @harris92.  Attaching them was problematic at first, but once I carefully sanded the ends of each leg, then applied some liquid wrench to get them to ease in, which they did.

After that it looked great, but man it is LOW.  At first I was going to build an entire platform for it to sit on made by a 48x48 piece of plywood, but that would have been heavy and taken up a lot of room in my space limited yard.  After thinking about it, I decided to make a smaller frame from two 2x4s.  Throw in a quick trip to Harbor Freight to get some locking 3 inch casters, and it was looking great, BUT not very stable.  That's when my lovely wife recommended some washing machine non slip pads/risers we had for a new washer/dryer we got last year but never used.  Now each leg sits snugly inside a rubber base, and doesn't slip or slide off the cart.  Finally, the whole contraption adds 7.5 inches of height to the grill. 

Finally, after work today, I got home and washed the exterior for the first time, then let it dry in the sun and cleaned it with Armor All glass cleaner (my go to for shining up my grills) and a microfiber towel. 

There's still a bit more to do, but I needed to get it out of the garage after being in there for almost a month.  I need to get a GBS grill insert for the center of the grill grate.  I think they are the same size as the hole in the center of the original grate.  I'm also planning on getting another slide aside and expanding it to sit on the side of the bowl so I have a place to put the lid.  I think I've seen a couple of people do that on here @SixZeroFour I believe I remember a post about how you did this in the past...

Lastly, I still have my old rancher that needs to find a new home.  If you remember this grill, it is still going strong in my backyard.  I may have a friend who wants it, but I'll keep you all informed.  My wife has made it CLEAR we won't have two ranches...this year has sucked as there have been no parties to give it much purpose. 

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/ranch-kettle-restore/

And so with that, here's the pics of where we stand today.  Vegas has been beautiful lately, and I got some nice sunset pics. 

[jcnaz]

That is a beautiful lineup!

[Kain]

I love the the UFO with the rest. So awesome !


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[bamakettles]

Great restore and what a nice looking group of Webers!  That ranch is so cool.   I'll bet you can't wait to cook on it.


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