Cajun Bandit Door for WSM. Do I need their latch?

[GoAnywhereJeep]

The latch can get a little hot to the touch and the door can also be radiating more heat than the  OEM aluminum door. What i have found is that the lock nut keeps coming loose due to the heat up and cool down cycles of the metal, which works the nut loose. Even when the lock nut does not work loose, it can become difficult to latch all the way shut when it is hot and the metal has expanded.

I am starting to think that the OEM door with a gasket might be the better choice.

[HoosierKettle]

Maybe you have a defective latch. I’ve not experienced any problem with mine.  Nothing has come loose and mine opens and closes the same hot or cold.


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[HoosierKettle]

And I agree with mike, I think the heavier door aids in keeping temp steady.


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[GoAnywhereJeep]

Maybe you have a defective latch. I’ve not experienced any problem with mine.  Nothing has come loose and mine opens and closes the same hot or cold.

Not sure how it can be defective. It has a lock washer. If anything, i might be snugging it up too tightly where it is pinching the door and barrel together at the latch.

And I agree with mike, I think the heavier door aids in keeping temp steady.

Agreed. That is a double edged sword, though, in that it has to be handled with gloves compared to the flimsy stamped aluminum door. Anyway, I run the water tray full of sand so the door does not matter so much as far as retaining heat in the metal. The leaks all around the door are the issue, IMHO.

[HoosierKettle]

I have the 18 so I can’t comment on fitment on the 22, but I will say that I bought my wsm second hand and my stock latch was very loose and bending the door didn’t help. It wouldn’t shut the coals down when I closed the vents and it wanted to run hot. That’s what prompted me to buy the door and latch.

When i used the door the first time I did notice it leaking out of the top corners like yours, however, when I closed all of my vents, it would snuff out the coals and it did keep it from running hot while cooking. In other words, the leaks I was getting with the new door were insignificant. Since then it has almost sealed completely from repeated cooks. It still has a small wisp if smoke on start up but that’s about it. My personal gauge on whether a kettle or a wsm is running tight enough is if I can snuff coals by closing the vents. If that works than it’s tight enough for me.

Regarding the hot latch, I had always thought it was because it was metal and didn’t have a plastic handle like the stock door. I keep a glove handy when opening and closing.


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