A Leg Socket Fix, or How I Came To Love My Faded Red Again

[WNC]

So, here is a little bit of my Weber story...
After getting the WSM and an 18'' black OTS, I found this site and was bitten by the weberitis bug bad. I kept my eye out for any reds I could find, which is pretty hard to find in my area. In fact in all my years of looking I've never seen any reds pop up on my local craig's list. So, I expanded my search base to all areas between where I live and the wife's parents (about 3 1/2 hours).

So about two years ago an ad pops up with two red kettles half between our houses. I was able to convince the guy to hold on to them for me until our next trip. He let me know that one was in "rougher" shape than the other. When I get there the guy is really cool. He went all around the country judging BBQ competitions. I looked the kettles over and told him I was really only interested in the nicer one (thinking at the time I couldn't fix a rusted out leg socket). He could see how excited I was, and I told him how I was going to gift my old 18 OTS to a friend and make the red my everyday kettle.   

I pay him the agreed upon price, and while I was packing up the car, he told me to take the other kettle and even threw in a new grate! Needless to say I as very thankful. However, the faded red just sat on the porch while the more pristine kettle got all the love. I cleaned it, but didn't want to use it and make the rust worse.

Fast forward a year or so, checking out this site daily, many R-R-R posts, a trade for some grey handles, and that faded red keeps calling to me. Well, this last weekend it was time to do a little restore project of my own.

(Finally some pictures, thanks for staying with me so far)
Here is my Weber family.


Here is what the socket looked like when I got it. You can see some previous owner had already reattached


That was the inside, sorry for the blurry pic


This was after I removed the old bolts


And the fix! used stainless steel washers and bolts. Pretty easy because the holes were already drilled.


And outside


Added the one touch cleaning system. I did have to slightly bend fin #2 to clear the screw heads, but it works


All fixed up and in the sun again


I took the wood handles off my other kettle, stained them dark, and put them on this one
Stained another set of Brian's handles dark to go on my other "nicer" red. I tried them on this one, but with all the scratches and chips these more worn handles just seemed a better fit.

Here it is, imperfections and all, getting dark while cooking up some chicken. 


And the chicken on the new gourmet grate


And just a nice lid shot, a little darker still. I love the way they change color!


Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading it you made it this far.
This might just be my new everyday kettle.

[1buckie]

That's a great story....well worth the read & it ends with a Redhead getting dark.....because it can..............

[aguyindallas]

Nice resto!


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[jcnaz]

Sweet save. That kettle is ready for many more years of cookin'!

[Qreps]

I love your story. The fixes you made where great I'll have to remember this resto when I see a kettle that needs a little love. Thank you for sharing.

[argentflame]

Great story and nice job on the resto.

[JayCee]

Nice work, thanks for sharing. I've found the further I get into restoring the Chief the more I love it.

[5280Jeff]

Great job!

[Beef]

Nice job.   Pretty inspirational to  boot. 

[order66]

Great story. (heads over to CL looking for a resto candidate)

[Fishawn]

Nicely done! Great story 👍

[WNC]

Thanks guys! I'm really loving this "new" grill.
This site help so much with info and inspiration!

[Qreps]

Great fix. I love your idea.

[jkolantern]

Nice work!  Love the heated up color change! I've got an old performer that the lid bale popped out of, pulling a hole right through the side (it was bought on CL and an absolute disaster, but I couldn't turn down a $20 SS) and you've got me inspired to try to patch her up.

[Craig]

That's a sweet G code! I've also had luck with riveting the sockets into place and used JB weld high heat for rust holes if applicable. I always get excited to see a classic back in service again! Nice work!