handle mod for wsm 22.5”?


 
A

AlanDike

New member
Bought some handles for my middle piece on my new 22.5 wsm. The hand is said 7.25... Still way too short. I have to flatten em out too much to be usable. Has anyone found any that work for these yet? Hole spacing isn't 6” like on the 18.5's... Its 7.255 center to center according to the calipers. The holes on my 7.25” handles are 6” center to center.

Suggestions?
 
This is disappointing, I just ordered some of those Genie brand name garage door handles that I have read seem to work. But upon further research I noticed they are all mounted on 18.5" units judging from the 3 hole dampers. The handles said 7.25", which is the hole gap on the mounting bolts, but if that is overall length, I am going to be depressed when they arrive.
 
Thats the one thing I'm trying to avoid Jim.. I cringe at drilling holes in it.. I'll come up with something.

Did think of a good use for my ECB's charcoal pan with this though. The WSM excells at being a smoker, but it appears to fail pretty hard as a grill. I'll use either the charcoal pan or the water pan (whichever has the larger diameter) from my ecb as a charcoal pan in the WSM when grilling. Just pop it on top of the bottom grill, and I should have a few inches of clearance, but a good source of heat at the same time...
 
Go ahead and flatten them to meet the current hole pattern then use some longer hardware and a spacer or stack of washers.
 
AlanDike said:
Did think of a good use for my ECB's charcoal pan with this though. The WSM excells at being a smoker, but it appears to fail pretty hard as a grill. I'll use either the charcoal pan or the water pan (whichever has the larger diameter) from my ecb as a charcoal pan in the WSM when grilling. Just pop it on top of the bottom grill, and I should have a few inches of clearance, but a good source of heat at the same time...
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The WSM works great as a grill. Just remove the center section and put the top grate on the ring for the center section.
 
Matt Gard said:
The WSM works great as a grill. Just remove the center section and put the top grate on the ring for the center section.
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Good point, but I like to sit there and work it.. thats a pretty squat grill...

Got the maiden firing of it going on right now.. Have realized that I can fit about 24 lbs of lump charcoal in there.. roughly 3 bags of what I have here at the house..
 
AlanDike said:
Bought some handles for my middle piece on my new 22.5 wsm. The hand is said 7.25... Still way too short. I have to flatten em out too much to be usable. Has anyone found any that work for these yet? Hole spacing isn't 6” like on the 18.5's... Its 7.255 center to center according to the calipers. The holes on my 7.25” handles are 6” center to center.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...


I have some genie handles I flattened out and painted and after looking at them just made my own. You can get the handle pieces easily and cheap and flat stock aluminum at Lowes to make the brackets. I made mine for both of my WSM 22`s. The first one like you I didn't want to drill new holes so I used existing ones for the inner brackets in a vertical handle position. Second smoker I went horizontal and just drilled the holes. Much easier to lift with horizontal handles over vertical ones in my opinion...I just used stainless screws with fiber washers on the body contact areas and its been fine and leak free. I still have the garage door handles somewhere around here :)
Second smoker: drilled holes


First smoker adding handles USING EXISTING holes....
mikeleiter2.jpg
 
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Mike, I've seen that in other threads.. including your dimensions. Its definitely on the table..

So far, 4 hours on 8lbs of lump charcoal and still just above 250 degrees, no dampening yet. Just burning off the oils it shipped with.
 
ok, was ony 6.6 lbs of charcoal, kept it above 225 degrees (according to the dome temp gauge) for 4 hours.. little leakage of smoke around the door, bit more from around the lid.. I think I'll see some LONG burns out of this thing..
 
AlanDike said:
Bought some handles for my middle piece on my new 22.5 wsm. The hand is said 7.25... Still way too short. I have to flatten em out too much to be usable. Has anyone found any that work for these yet? Hole spacing isn't 6” like on the 18.5's... Its 7.255 center to center according to the calipers. The holes on my 7.25” handles are 6” center to center.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

There was a post back on the old forum but the links I found are broken. IIRC he used Stanley black gate handles which had a gothic sort of look, the centers did line up perfectly.

Tim
 
AlanDike said:
Thats the one thing I'm trying to avoid Jim.. I cringe at drilling holes in it.. I'll come up with something.
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really, drilling into the WSM is nothing... the paint doesn't chip, the exposed metal doesn't rust... there's nothing to it. And as in Mike's top photo, it looks PROFESSIONAL! And he's correct, it's EASIER to lift the midsection with horizontal handles than with vertical handles.

but, to each his own.....

however you do it, good luck & welcome to the forums:)
 
Jim.. chipping paint is the exact reason I dont want too drill.. I've yet to have it not chip. I may do it anyways just so I can install some racks for hanging off grill tools, like tongs etc. The other main reason is its new right now.. let that wear off and I'll probably be a bit more inclined to permenantly mod it.

hmm.. wonder if I could fit an aluminum rail running horizontally between the two pre drilled holes.. have it match the curvature, but stand off about 2".. plenty to grab on to, far enough away to be able to handle with just gloves on, and enough rail to put utensils on (or to hang thermometers, etc off of).
 
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AlanDike said:
Jim.. chipping paint is the exact reason I dont want too drill.. I've yet to have it not chip. I may do it anyways just so I can install some racks for hanging off grill tools, like tongs etc. The other main reason is its new right now.. let that wear off and I'll probably be a bit more inclined to permenantly mod it.

hmm.. wonder if I could fit an aluminum rail running horizontally between the two pre drilled holes.. have it match the curvature, but stand off about 2".. plenty to grab on to, far enough away to be able to handle with just gloves on, and enough rail to put utensils on (or to hang thermometers, etc off of).
Click to expand...

I`ve drilled for the handles and for the probe port mod and have no chips on any of the holes I`ve done.. I always lay down painters tape first in two layers and then use a step drill bit to drill the holes. They are less apt to grab the metal and cause the chips as like a regular drill bit. The also make much smoother holes.
 
well, here are the preliminarys from the maiden smoke.

Fairly windy out today, but 70 degrees. Temp is very steady.
2 chickens. Very pale pink smoke ring, but good and deep. I'm used to a much darker ring.
Briskett, wont clear 140 degrees.. Looks good, looks juicy, just wont clear 140 degrees.
Got two meatloafs in there right now.
The apple wood I tossed in there has charred, but not actually burnt. Dont know if its too wet, or what, but it worked GREAT in my very leaky ECB.
I did have to open the vents a hair about 4 hours in.. I'm at 5ish hours now. It got up to temp very fast, and has pretty much been set and forget. I'll grab a pic of one of the birds, the other has been eaten lol.
 
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