Adventure picking up a 10 year old $5K Viking Grill to restore.


 

Joe Anshien

TVWBB Platinum Member
My wife, dog, and I did a 2 day trip to the western part of Virginia to pick up a Viking grill. This was a good opportunity to see parts of the state that we had not been to. We traveled on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway where our ears popped, dog barfed, and breaks got so hot we smelled them burning. Then we did lunch in Lexington by Washington and Lee University. Then we traveled to the Natural bridge park in VA, and stayed the night in Roanoke where we had Peruvian food. I wanted to try the chicken to compare it to mine. Mine was way better as theirs was soooo dry. But my wife had what they called beefsteak but was some kind of tenderloin with pesto pasta. It was really, really good. We stayed that night in a Westin hotel that was about 1 star up from a crack house. We WILL be spending more on hotels in the future.
Next morning we did a 40 minute ride to pick up the grill. Lucky I decided to be cautious and use the Sienna instead of the Prius V, as I thought it was only a 2 burner grill and would fit no problem in the Prius. This thing is a monster and would never have fit in the Prius. Good thing the seller was there and in good shape, and I brought the hand truck. I don't think we could have gotten it the 4 steps off his porch without it. This baby really does weigh in at almost 400lbs of solid 304 stainless steel!
He won the grill in a contest back in 2011 and it retailed at almost $5K, as he had to pay taxes on it. Except for the "flavorizers" the grill seems to be in fairly good shape but really filthy. It came with the included heavy duty rotisserie, burner, a tank, and cover.
I was initially contemplating replacing my Broilmaster with this grill but it is just too massive for us to handle.
We spent some time exploring Lynchburg on the way home. We did get some unique ice cream at the Cold Rolled Creamery. They pour cream over a frozen plate, stir it around and then using a spatula scrape it up into a bunch of rolls that they put into a cup. It was quite good.
It was kind of scary getting the grill out of the van, as had 7 abdominal operations and my wife is barely 5'. Thanks to those massive wheels that I locked. we where able to slide then tilt it enough to get it out.
Below are some pictures of our trip and grill. I will be posting more pictures of the grill as I take it apart and rebuild it.

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Here's to hoping your re-sell pays for your trip (I suspect it will). Either way, looks like it was a great time and a nice adventure. Love the pics - I've been wanting to get to Natural Bridge for a bit now.
 
Now that's my former neck of the woods. Love the Natural Bridge. Lots of history. Did you happen to lay eyes on the Survey Marker where George Washington surveyed it for Thomas Jefferson. Spent two years living in Roanoke. Still at the top of my list of places to live. My daughter is currently at VCU in a graduate program.
 
Now that's my former neck of the woods. Love the Natural Bridge. Lots of history. Did you happen to lay eyes on the Survey Marker where George Washington surveyed it for Thomas Jefferson. Spent two years living in Roanoke. Still at the top of my list of places to live. My daughter is currently at VCU in a graduate program.
They drew a box around the marker, it was kind of far to make out though. We are actually living in Richmond because my son went to medical school here at VCU. He strongly recommended I come here for medical care after the hospital in FL screwed me up. Richmond it a great small city to live in and very convenient.
 
Now that's my former neck of the woods. Love the Natural Bridge. Lots of history. Did you happen to lay eyes on the Survey Marker where George Washington surveyed it for Thomas Jefferson. Spent two years living in Roanoke. Still at the top of my list of places to live. My daughter is currently at VCU in a graduate program.
Mine, too. I lived in Roanoke for almost 20 years and traveled all over that part of the state in my job. When my son was about 8 years old we visited the Natural Bridge Zoo and he had the experience of being knocked down by a baby elephant - a woman was feeding it popcorn from a bag, and my son was standing too close. When the popcorn ran out the elephant turned to leave, and my son ended up on the ground . Totally unharmed, of course, but with a bit lot of exaggeration this became an "I was almost trampled by an elephant" story for him, or an "I faced down an elephant to protect my son" story for me.
 
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I had some time today and called Viking support to see if I could get these burner protectors or "flavor grids" as they call them, replaced under warranty. Lets just say their customer service is not up to Weber's. I was on hold a while and then had and used the option to have them call me. They did. I sent pictures and then argued that the parts have a life time warranty. Then off to a different department, then sent me to a link to fill out a service request and had to upload a bunch of pictures. Got a ticket #. Still waiting. I think these flavor grids go for about $254 each, and I need either 2.5 or 3. Then I dove into taking this apart. All SS sheet screws like the Wolf. The one big difference is the back of the fire box is enameled coated steel, not 304 SS like the Wolf. It all came apart and will now have to be scrubbed. I like how the firebox comes out just like the Wolf. I did find a whole lot of dead beetles or stink bugs between the walls of the firebox.
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This is basically the same grill as (Lynx and Viking are the same company) at the same price in Gretna, Louisiana
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I finished up the grill. I am still trying to get new heat shields from Viking under warranty but wanted to get this listed so I purchased a set of aftermarket ones and new grates from Amazon. Not that I may have but I would NEVER buy a new product from Viking as their support is truly horrendous. After restoring this and the Wolf, I believe the Wolf to be the superior made grill IMHO. This one came with a non 304 warming rack, percaline coated CI grates, and had some spot welds that were not 304 also. I had to sand most of the stainless with 220 aluminum oxide to get most of the interior clean and make it shine again. On the plus side the cabinet is 1st class, love the slide out grease draw, and really heavy duty rotisserie set up. Here are some pics and the link to the ad. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/44389408706822120211007_171925.jpg20211010_113342.jpg20211010_113440.jpg20211010_113659.jpg20211010_114531.jpg20211010_114756.jpg20211010_114831.jpg20211010_115004.jpg20211010_120946.jpg
 
Well damn that turned out GREAT!
Thanks Larry. I will report back when it sells. These 2 high end grills were fun to work on. I have not seen a deal on a Weber around me in over a month. Funny but someone on Nextdoor.com wrote to me within minutes of posting it complimenting me on how nice the grill was. Too bad he was no interested in buying it.
 
Wow, that looks fantastic. You may have found yourself a very profitable side gig restoring and selling these high-end grills.
 

 

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