Lazy Man Grill Anyone?


 

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Before you think I have gone on another sidetracked adventure, this new foray is for a friend on a time and materials basis.

My friend bought a fixer-upper house for the express purpose of flipping it in this crazy South Florida housing market. One of the main selling points of the house is a large porch with built-in gas grill. It is a Lazy-Man Grill, another of the various lower volume, expensive stainless grills.

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This one has a pretty nice retractable hood with a working rotisserie motor and stainless steel spit that looks to have not seen very much action. The grill, on the other hand, needs a lot of help:

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I did a little searching and found that Lazy-Man is still chugging along and that his grill is still made, although the lava rock grate and plastic knobs

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have given way to deflectors and stainless knobs. There are parts available from several outlets.

The worst aspect of the grill he got was the internal stainless firebox which was eaten through all over:

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That box alone is over $300. We got lucky, though, when I found on Letgo an identical grill in West Palm Beach for $100, which though missing grates and some parts apparently wasn't heavily used and had a firebox that was still very decent:

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I brought my Letgo find to my shop while my friend removed and brought his one there as well. The plan is simple and obvious. Salvage the best parts from both grills and buy only new parts that we need to make this grill work well and look nice. It is actually very simple in design, so mostly it will be cleaning stainless, lubricating the valves (which still turn on both grills even as is)

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and installing the new parts. Since both are the older model, we will be getting a new grate and switching from lava rocks to ceramic pyramids. Definitely need new burners, Lazy-Man's equivalent of crossovers, and an igniter & collector. The stainless rod grates look reusable given adequate hard cleaning.

I wouldn't be very interested in doing one of these on speculation for flipping. I don't think they have enough following even though they cost ~$2,300 new. But, for a friend and with a clear purpose in mind I think it will be an interesting thing to work on.
 
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Sounds like an interesting project and as long as it is someone else taking their wallet down the rabbit hole, I don't see a problem with following. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
Certainly looks like your hands will be full with that one. Have wonder how a stainless fire box got to that condition
 
High heat and grease and food acid somehow can do it. It is interesting because the grill that came with the house obviously saw plenty of use (except for the rotisserie) but because it was in a covered porch the outside is pretty decent. The other grill I got on Letgo must not have been used that much but apparently sat out in the elements. Other than the burners (the only magnetic part I found so far) it is decent inside, but the outside is dirty and things like the logo and plate that marks the burners are very faded. At least that makes for a good combining factor. The grill is very simple construction. Hopefully not a terrible project, although just the burners alone that I have found so far will set him back over $130:mad:! He agreed to pay for all the parts and my labor, so it will be under his control.
 
From the looks of this one, the guys wallet never had a chance to see the rabbit hole. The rabbit must have jumped out of the hole and devoured the wallet!
 
Lazy-Man Ready for a New Lease on Life!

OK, I have been quietly and steadily working on this kind of cool Lazy-Man Grill for my friend. First I had to source out parts which proved to not be that hard. Like Weber parts, there are options and you have to shop. I was able to find everything I needed and though not cheap the parts seem very good.

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The inner firebox I got from the $100 used grill cleaned up nicely. A LOT better condition than the one that came with the house my friend bought:

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Even got a new peal and stick front instruction panel:

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Also got burners, a grate for the ceramic pyramids (to replace the original lava rocks), crossover burners and igniter parts. The original knobs were a dense plastic. When I started they appeared to be gray:

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However, when I cleaned them with the diluted bleach bath and applied 303 Protectant they turned brown! I found out that, in fact, this IS the color they are supposed to be. I decided the newer style chrome replacements were way overpriced and that it would be better to keep it original. The brown knobs tie in with the logo, too:

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CONTINUED BELOW
 
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The manifold on both grills were rusted and the knobs, while still going in and out, were stiff to turn. I couldn't justify not doing a proper disassembly and lubing using the method Larry described and Chris kindly turned into a video I reference every time I do this. (THANKS LARRY & CHRIS:coolkettle:)

This was made a lot easier because Lazy-Man used small BOLTS instead of strip-vulnerable screws to hold the valves together. Got to try out my Harbor Freight Quinn 1/4" ratchet and one of the sockets - a Christmas present from my older son;).

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Here's a little commentary from me that I made to send my friend so that he could see that I was hard at work:eek::

https://youtu.be/olq_M6HD5rk
 
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My First Foray Into Stainless Steel Restoration

This Lazy-Man Grill is actually a very simple design. It's claims to fame are that the company claims to have manufactured the FIRST gas grill and that it is well made with mostly high grade stainless construction. That is great, but after 20+ years of use, even 304 stainless gets rough looking. I scrubbed and sprayed Sam's Grill Cleaner like crazy (this time thankfully avoiding more serious alkali burns:mad:). All the grease came off pretty easily:

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So, grease gone...BUT That second picture shows the stainless hood SQUEAKLY CLEAN, but it sure didn't look good. I was pretty bummed out. How could I present this as a "restored" grill to my friend? I sent him some pictures and he said it was fine, but it wasn't. So, I did a little YouTube watching and came upon this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJmlXSCD0A

Pretty amazing if you stick it out or fast forward to get to the finished product. I showed this to a friend who does a lot of construction and mechanical stuff. He felt that an important part was that the guy used a drill-mounted pad rather than an orbital sander. I searched HF, HD and finally found a Craftsman one at Lowe's.

I tried to follow the YouTube author's steps. Many changes of disk pads liberally lubricated with cutting oil. Things didn't do so well for my first try on an inside section:

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I certainly didn't get "mirror" results. I decided to break out my old orbital sander and soon found that it worked a lot better.

Here is the most important part, the hood, after working it over hard. The etching was so bad that I had to go to coarser and coarser pads - from the 220 he recommended to finally 80!

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TO BE CONTINUED
 
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After going from 80 to 120 to 220 to 300 to 500 to 1000 to 1500 and finally 3000 grit, here is what the hood looked like:

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Not perfect, and in spite of a long time sanding, there is still some etching remaining. No mirror:rolleyes:, but that guy was working with a brand new piece of stainless.

The final thing was to polish thoroughly. I used Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish suitable for all metals. Switched to cheap palm polisher I got at Harbor Freight.

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The ending results, though certainly not perfect are nice enough that I am now happy to be associated with this project. My friend was very complimentary when I sent him the pictures. We plan to re-install one evening early next week.

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Jon, that is an amazing restore job on that SS hood. Your stamina in sanding it sure exceeds mine.

Question, do you think I could replace the manifold valve screws in a Weber with the hex head ones like the Lazy Man has, if the threads were the same? I realize they would need to be longer than the Weber screws as they would not recess into the valve housing. It would make for easier disassembly if needed in the future or as a repair if needing to drill out a Weber one.

Thanks, Richard.
 
Rich,
Sure you can. Just take the old screws to an Ace, tell them what new style you want and they will search the bins for you. Easiest way to size the threads is to first find a nut that goes on your screw/bolt. Then find the head style you want and then length.
 
Using a drill for sanding is kinda nuts. A random orbit or at least an oscillating sander would have helped the guy in the video do the job faster and with less steps. But, then you found that out LOL. Anyway very nice job. Want to come to my house and I will supply the beer and we can do my Wolf? :D
BTW that Lazy Man seems to be constructed in nearly identical fashion to the Wolf only smaller
 
I had one of these grills at my old house just north of Tampa. The shell and grates were perfect when I bought it but the burners were looking rough. I replaced them and never did anything else as far as repairs.

I know the current owner of the house and he still uses the grill regularly. It has sat out in the elements now for 12 years and it still works as new. I expect it will last nearly as long as my Weber.
 
Mission Accomplished: Lazy-Man Grill Back in its Home!

I helped my friend reinstall the Lazy-Man Grill tonight. A little stubborn working underneath to connect that gas line with no slack at all. But, we got it in OK, and I think it turned out to look really good in its original home. Still waiting on the lower grate so the ceramic pyramids can be put in:

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My friend was super happy, and when he texted a picture to his house buyer he got back a very enthusiastic response. My friend paid for all the parts and supplies and paid me more than I asked for the labor. At last, a positive cash flow grill after going off the straight and narrow and delving into hobby/collecting stuff!

I have a couple more small projects to chip away at, but my big ones likely won't see a lot of attention for a while now that tax season 2020 has me buried for the next ten weeks:p.
 
Wow, I didn't realize that was a built in grill. That is very cool you were able to revitalize that thing for them.
 

 

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