Lynx is in the cage


 

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Well I am not sure I believe it myself, but I am now the owner of a large Lynx grill for which I paid $175. It was a beast to move, even with the internals and drawers removed.

It is an ugly, rainy night so pictures will have to wait.

Quick Take

The good:
All heavy 304 stainless construction, even the firebox. Really not very dirty, but obviously no rust to contend with.

Although not shown in the ad, an apparently unused Lynx rotisserie motor (still in the box), rod and forks were all there.

Burners all lit, although only manually. Not sure about how igniters work on this grill or what it might take to get them working again.

Massive stainless grates that look to be very redeemable.

The not so good:
The trays that go over the burners and hold the ceramic pyramids are not just rusted, they are completely gone. No ceramic either. With a brief search to date I have already found some relatively inexpensive options for both of these replacements.

While the main infrared burner still seems to work well, it looks a little rough. Hoping I can carefully clean and with a new metal mesh replacement on top, hopefully it will look at least decent to prospective buyers. The other two main burners are massive cast iron pieces. Look fine and with a little cleaning should be good as new.

Knobs look pretty bad and detract from the exterior appearance.

I can’t quite figure how this seller came into possession of this grill. I didn’t ask. The fact that he jerry-rigged some plain steel pipes and chicken wire to hold up ceramic in lieu of replacement parts led me to think that he was not your typical Lynx owner. When he told me that he had been thinking about trying to turn it into a charcoal grill, my suspicion was confirmed.

I will keep you posted. Serious work will have to wait until after April 15:mad:... I am hoping I can realize it’s flip potential!
 
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Can't wait to see it. I think IIRC those main burners are cast stainless. Best of both worlds
 
Jon I'm anxious to see the before and after pictures. Chicken wire? Seriously?

Greg,

Yeah, he used a bunch of steel pipes (all rusted) to make supports. He said he just laid chicken wire over it and put the briquettes on that...He fell into this grill somehow or another. There is little doubt in my mind that he ever bought it for 4 figures. I really couldn't believe he was going to try and convert it to a charcoal grill! I love charcoal, but what a waste. It wouldn't have worked anyway unless he cut holes all over the place.

I am glad I rescued it from that fate. Just have to see what all is needed and try to steer a course toward making a profit. I am too easily sucked into trying to make these grills "perfect." It is a little more challenging to discern where that boundary is for something like this. My potential buyer is likely to be more knowledgeable and have good taste. So, looking good and maybe using OEM on the most critical aspects is is probably important. My biggest worry right now is the igniter system. Have to investigate what makes it tick, but looks like maybe that it actually is supposed to be plugged in and that the rotisserie and igniters all worked off that. No plug that I saw. the rotisserie motor (even the new ones + $200 online) doesn't have a plug, just an adapter to plug into something. It will be interesting! Have to wait for April 16, though.

Update: I got it on my deck, with help, where is will have to sit for a month (my wife is thrilled). I went ahead and put all the parts back except the burners and rotisserie stuff. It DOES have a plug and appears that there is some kind of transformer power pack that drives the igniters and rotisserie when it is attached. Still will need a lot of investigation, but I am a little more hopeful that the igniters might actually work.
 
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Can't wait to see it. I think IIRC those main burners are cast stainless. Best of both worlds

Larry,

The regular two burners are actually brass. They are extremely heavy. I bet they will shine up nice and maybe just a little cleaning on the ports.

The sear burner is another story. Seems to work but looks really rough. You can get a new cover screen (missing completely) for ~$32 or a whole new burner & screen for $215. This is where it gets dicey when trying to rehab to sell for a higher level of clientele. If just for me, I would live with it "as is" - just replacing the screen - until no longer working. But when trying to convince someone that this grill is close to new, a corroded (the stainless on this sear burner, unlike the grill itself, is not high grade), chipped and well used sear burner could be a big negative. I guess I could try, but I would hate to drop $32 on the screen only to have to go back and pay for a burner and another screen, too.

Any thoughts?
 
I would bet you could simply replace the sear burner with a regular one and just make it a completely conventional grill. I for one was never sold on IR burner grills anyway. High maintenance, expensive and IMO not all that useful. Plus IR burners like this do not fare well when used "under" the food you're cooking where the juices and such cause much harm. They are much more suited to being used from above or behind the food. I'd try swapping one of the main burners tot hat spot if it fits, look for a source and eliminate the IR burner
 
I'd price that over two thousand if it were all cleaned up looking like new. I think with a product like that, if you price too low you never know, and if you price it too high, you know right away.
 
I'd price that over two thousand if it were all cleaned up looking like new. I think with a product like that, if you price too low you never know, and if you price it too high, you know right away.

I think that is good advice. I definitely don't want to try for the quickest turnaround like I might for an inexpensive thing like a mediocre kettle. This will take time to sell, and to appeal to right kind of buyer has to look good. Just have to find a good balance in restoring.

For the knobs I plan to use OEM, because it will be obvious if I don't. On the other hand, I was looking at the drawer handles when I put it back together to sit on my deck for the next month. They appear to be like pot metal that was coated but now the coating is gone. Looks like well-worn parts from a really old car. For something like that I am sure the Lynx OEM handles will be outrageous but maybe I can find a couple off the shelf stainless handles at Lowes that will look fine and do the job.

It will be an interesting ride; I just hope I can snag a well-healed buyer for the price range you are talking about.
 
Going to be interesting to see where this one goes Jon. I wish you all the luck and success. I don't know if I would have been up to the challenge.
 
Like this:

“When he told me that he had been thinking about trying to turn it into a charcoal grill, my suspicion was confirmed.”

This forum is great 🤙🤙🤙
 
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Going to be interesting to see where this one goes Jon. I wish you all the luck and success. I don't know if I would have been up to the challenge.

Thanks, Bruce! This one is kind of risky, but has more upside potential than probably anything I could do. It sure would be nice to turn enough profit to erase several of my fiascoes.
 
I do recall few years back the same experience Jon had. I bought a Broilmaster and the lady said it is gas and charcoal ready with a big smile on her face 😁
As soon as she opened the lid lo and behold huge pile of charcoal ash 🙄
 
Yah, I bought a Silver B two years ago that the guy had said charcoal grate needed to be replaced :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: He had taken the wire rack from the bottom of the grill and put it inside the cook box to lay the charcoal on. Needless to say, I needed a new rack for the bottom.
 
This is how I see it Jon, I think this one is a better rehab than the current gen Summits and we all know that you haven't had the best of luck restoring Summits and we all saw what you did with that TEC grill and how you came out ($$$) :cool:
 
I would bet you could simply replace the sear burner with a regular one and just make it a completely conventional grill.

Hey Jon,

Sorry, haven't been around for awhile, but happy to see you did the "dirty" and picked this up at such a great price. I also bet Larry is right on about replacing the sear burner with a conventional as Lynx offered the IR as an option - though suspect it might cost nearly as much to replace it with conventional as with a new IR burner, plus it will likely require replacement of the associated gas valve orifice (very important you use the right one regardless of which way you go). This is coming from somewhat distant memory (in addition to me being an old Grandpa'), but definitely recall they use different sizes. I think your idea of just replacing the screen and trying it out as-is for starters is a good one. That being said...

I'm also betting Larry is right in saying you might want to keep this unit rather than flip it. Lynx (like Larry's Wolf) is a major, major step-up from anything Weber ever made. As you will soon find out, there is really no comparison. The primary reason I didn't keep the Lynx for myself after rebuilding it (rather than passing it on to our business) was a fear that the H-burners would use considerably more propane on our small cooks than the single-burners Summit (it's usually just me and Grandma'). I was wrong. After using it at work, found out the difference is minimal for maintaining the same temps. The Lynx will also do slightly lower temps for my reverse-sear method than the Summit and...

Larry is also correct as to higher temps. The Lynx can get incredibly hot. I did a half-hour, all lower burners on high, "burn-in", on an average-temp day (~70°F), with the lid closed. The thing got so hot, it scared me. The stainless grates ended up glowing ingot-red, which you could see in the afternoon sun. I didn't measure it, but guessing the temp had to be well over 1000°. (And that was with an all conventional burners set-up and the back IR burner OFF.) I was literally afraid the whole unit was going to melt down in my driveway!

Here's a few things I found out (usually the hard way, of course) when rebuilding mine:

1. Lynx has full schematics and Owner's Manuals available online. The schematics in particular are very helpful in the rebuild process. You can easily see how to dis-assemble and re-assemble the unit from them. Part nos. are listed for each item, which you can use to search online to find best pricing.
2. Lynx has excellent customer service and surprisingly reasonable pricing on parts. In my case, I was able to talk to one of the gals who built my unit, which was one of the first 200 made. Don't be afraid to call them. You'll be happy you did. Unlike Weber, everyone I talked to there was very knowledgeable and had actually worked on the assembly line. The one time a rep didn't know the answer immediately, he found out and emailed me back within a few hours.
3. The gas valves are very easily cleaned with solvent and lubed with a tiny smear high-temp grease. They come apart with only a couple Philips-head screws and don't have any rubber o-rings or other parts that need replacement. There are several videos online as to how to do it, but definitely note the valve position when disassembling them.
4. The are some cheaper "generic" replacement parts available, but found branded ones are a better fit and value.

Hope this helps. God bless in your efforts!
 
Cool post Victor 🤙
Man i wishes i bought the Lynx i found on CL last year...is just the factory burners replacement cost scared me
 

 

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