My J Project

[toebee97]

So I just joined the other day hoping to get some input on my restoration of this J kettle I just picked up for $20. Not sure how far I'll be able to get with it, but my main goal is to get it functional again. Anything else is just a bonus lol.



I chucked the charcoal grate, going to see if I can clean up the grill grate to a usable state as it's much more heavily constructed than the grate on my OTS.



The ash pan is pretty beat up, probably going to replace it with an OTG catcher.



Inside the kettle is pretty crusty obviously.



The old sweeper is gone except this rusted up nut, which I removed.



A couple of the leg sockets are rusted out. Going to hopefully get a buddy over here this weekend with a welder to seal it back up at least.



Inside the lid is surprisingly intact.



Probably going to need new wheels, legs are pitted pretty bad from the old pan clips, and the triangle is rusted up pretty good.





The lid and bowl cleaned up pretty easily with a razor scraper, but I'm going to get some degreaser cleaner and see if I can get it all the way cleaned out. Quite a bit of surface rust in the bowl still.




Outside cleaned up pretty good with 0000 steel wool, put a spare OT handle I had laying around on the lid till I can get new wooden handles.



I'll post more pics as the project moves forward!

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[Geezer]

Looks good.  You have that thing shining like Rudolph's nose.

[Travis]

@uncle al has inserts for your wheels if you choose not to replace and you can hit that triangle with spray paint if it's pitted to bad.
That's gonna be a great cooker man. Looking good so far.


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[toebee97]

@Uncle Al has inserts for your wheels if you choose not to replace and you can hit that triangle with spray paint if it's pitted to bad.
That's gonna be a great cooker man. Looking good so far.

I did see that there were laser cut white walls available here for all the different wheels. Haven't decided what to do about them yet. The black on the wheels is pretty faded out to a gray chalky texture. I tried to clean them up a little with a scotch-brite pad, but it just seemed to make them worse. As for the triangle, I'll probably clean it up the best I can and hit it with some red enamel, probably do the same with the bottom half of the OT catcher when I get it, I've seen others do that and I really like that look.

[RottiGuy]

Looks great!!

[toebee97]

Looks good.  You have that thing shining like Rudolph's nose.

Looks great!!

Thanks guys! I thought it was going to take a lot longer to get this far honestly. I did almost all of this in the garage in 4 or 5 hours today 

[Travis]

@toebee97
Some fellas hit those up with Spray paint as well. Just an option, ya know. Any which way you choose will be just fine. Lots of ways to slice a pie.


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[toebee97]

@toebee97
Some fellas hit those up with Spray paint as well. Just an option, ya know. Any which way you choose will be just fine. Lots of ways to slice a pie.

I've honestly been thinking about maybe getting it professionally powder coated if I can get all the rust spots cleaned up and filled in somehow, but not sure if it would hold up to the heat... Anybody ever try doing that?

[Darko]

That would be quite expensive.

[WNC]

Man great find, and awesome job so far!
That kettle is still in great shape. The legs are totally salvageable, go over them with some fine grain sand paper (keep your sanding in one direction), steel wool, and then Mothers Aluminum Polish and they'll look good as new!
If you like the look, then spray painting the triangle is the way to go. A wire wheel connected to a power drill does wonders for getting the rust off those things.
As far as the rust through on the leg sockets, it's not that bad. After a couple of greasy chicken cooks that should seal up nicely.
Great job so far on the restore, and of course a new set of wood handles will really set it off!


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[mhiszem]

I don't think powder coat can withstand the high temperature. There are some coatings that can take the high heat but they are expensive. From what I have read there is not a foolproof way to paint without it peeling or flaking.

[toebee97]

Man great find, and awesome job so far!
That kettle is still in great shape. The legs are totally salvageable, go over them with some fine grain sand paper (keep your sanding in one direction), steel wool, and then Mothers Aluminum Polish and they'll look good as new!
If you like the look, then spray painting the triangle is the way to go. A wire wheel connected to a power drill does wonders for getting the rust off those things.
As far as the rust through on the leg sockets, it's not that bad. After a couple of greasy chicken cooks that should seal up nicely.
Great job so far on the restore, and of course a new set of wood handles will really set it off!

Thank you! I've been reading all the restoration guides this afternoon and I think you're right, I'll be able to salvage a lot more of it than previously thought. I have plenty of steel wool left, and I think I have a can of Nevr-Dull in my garage somewhere. Also I actually have a couple different wire wheels I bought the other day for my drill to clean up the grate on my OTS, but man that newer grate is junk compared to the one in the J so I'm hoping I can save that too. At the very least I'll need to get a charcoal grate and a sweeper and pan for it. Anyway I think I'll hit the garage again and see if I can make some more stuff shiny 

[Cellar2ful]

This is a triangle and legs before restoration.  Yours is in no worse shape than these.



And here is the same triangle after cleaning it of rust with a wire brush drill attachment. It was then spray painted with primer filler and finished with metallic silver Rustoleum.  It takes a couple of days with drying time in between coats. Same legs also after step sanding with different grades of sandpaper then steel wool #0000.  I did not polish these with Mothers Polish, electing to leave them with a brushed aluminum look.

[AZ Monsoon]

Powder coating won't work. It will only hold up to the temp it was fired at.

I paint all my wheels on restos. They look better than new in my opinion. Satin black.

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[AZ Monsoon]

Powder coating won't work. It will only hold up to the temp it was baked at.

I paint all my wheels on restos. They look better than new in my opinion. Satin black.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

Sent from my VS985 4G using Weber Kettle Club mobile app