With the Ranch finding a new home in the garage, I couldnt help but tinkering with it a little bit this weekend. I hosed out the inside and gave it a quick steel wool scrub to remove caked on grease/ash. Afterwards, I followed HeyJude's suggestion and tried warm soapy water with a green scrub pad with no luck. I moved up to lacquer thinner and 0000 steel wool. With some elbow grease, the dull grey paint gave way to expose a dull brick red paint, then the underlying porcelain. I was able to clear a small area and to my surprise, this grill was originally red (see lip of lid). The porcelain, which has a light pink color, is in fair condition near the sides of the lid but appears to be almost completey gone at the top. The darker circles in the photos are areas of bare metal.
I also removed and polished the legs...
and straightened and polished part of the triangle (I ran out of time before finishing)
The wheels are in pretty rough shape.
This is going to take some time to strip both the lid and bowl. In the meantime, a few questions for the pros...
1) Can the wheel tread be repaired?
2) The thumbscrews on two of the legs are rusted tight. What is the best way to remove them and preserve the threading for future use?
3) Looking ahead, will some sort of finish be needed to prevent rust in areas of bare metal?
4) Will the current Ranch grates sold by Weber fit this grill? The width of the bowl is just over 37". Id prefer not to spend the money on a new set so Im open for other ideas.
Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.