Hey pro's...I signed up to help a friend replace a cook box on a Genesis 335....question about the manifold bolts


 
J

JimV

TVWBB All-Star
So this guy actually bought a 310 off of me and I didnt know he had a 335 until we started chatting. He turned out to be a super nice guy and since he already bought a 310 from me he was on my good side :). I informed him that his cook box with a hole in it was still under warranty....long story short his new cook box and grill are in my shop. They sent the box.......3 burners instead of 4 :( .....grease trey rails and screws........cook box large side bolts.........but no manifold bolts. I noticed the cook box was not threaded....and neither is the manifold bracket. Just my luck they sent two sets of grease trey rail screws but no manifold bolts. Usually the bolts on a Weber are 1/4 20 but since these are not threaded I would need a self tapping 1/4 20 bolt. Now I have removed my share of these manifolds and the box is usually threaded and the bolt snaps about 35% of the time :( . Once I snap one I usually drill it out and just through bolt it. Sooooooo whats the consensus......has anyone replaced a few 300 series cook boxes and come across a box that was not threaded? I think my coarse of action will be to drill the hole a little larger and just through bolt it unless you guys can shed some light on this issue for me. Thanks
 
It has been a while since I did a E3xx series. I am guessing we are talking about a side control version and not the front control.

Are you saying you have manifold bolts that are not threaded?
 
Sorry.....its a front control 335. They did not even send manifold bolts and his box was damn near rotten so his manifold bolts were just snapped off because they were unusable. So he got a brand new cook box that I am installing. I need to attach the manifold to the cook box which is normally done with two bolts. I have a donor grill sitting in my shop and confirmed at least in my head that the manifold bolts thread into the aluminum cook box. In this case the cook box is not threaded. That said I should have snapped a pic of this issue. One thought is that the threads could be hidden due to a lot of cook box paint???
 
Correct.....here is one of my donor 335 grills for ref
 

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I have endless supplies of hardware but since it is not threaded the only move is to tap threads.......use a self tapping bolt.......or drill the hole larger and through bolt.
 
Jim, I would probably just go with your second solution and drill it out. Get some good SS bolts and nuts. Be careful if you use self tapping bolts as they could wind up twisting off. Go with the tap if you want to thread the hole.
 
JimV said:
Correct.....here is one of my donor 335 grills for ref
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I think that's a 2011-2016 E330. I'd drill it all the way through, use a SS hex bolt with the hex head on the inside with a washer and a nut and washer on the manifold side.

I have one I need to drill out and I'm not going to mess with drilling and tapping into it.
 
Thought I would follow up just in case u guys come across a brand spankin new cook box for a 335. This grill was a rusty mess. All of the burners had big gaping holes in them, the bottom shelf was rusted, the regulator was incorrect, the manifold mounts were a rusty mess, and more. So this little favor I am doing for this guy is going on session number 3 tomorrow. Anyway, I did drill out the non threaded holes in the cook box and through bolted them. At least he can now remove the manifold and not worry about snapping the bolts. There must be a reason that Weber does not through bolt the manifold but they through bolt the side cook box mounts.
All that said, what I discovered today was odd but it is what it is. When installing the grease trey rails I noticed those darn holes werent threaded either :( So I just filled the little hole with WD 40 and started screwing the new hardware in to see if it would bite and bite it did. The hardware is note even tapered yet the small bolts just grab that aluminum and chew their way right in. The only way that I can explain this is that maybe they drill out the hole so precisely that the hole with some new cook box paint is just enough to grab those threads and hold on. So my thought on the missing manifold mounting bolts. If they did send the OEM bolts I am now certain that they would have installed the same way.........Just put straight steady tension while screwing the bolt in and it would grab and do its thing. I have never seen anything like this before but I saw what I saw and I did what I did......so there.
 

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ps......since I know your gunna zoom in.......the rust color stuff on the manifold mounts is the Rustoleum rust converter spray that I use. You cant ever stop rust but I do try to slow it down. I grinded the heavy rust down as much as I could then hit it with the sauce. I used big washers to give a little more strength to the weakened metal. He doesnt get a finish coat spray because honestly it wouldnt be of much help in those spots.
 
@JimV,

I would flip the bolt so the nut is on the outside. If you have to remove the manifold in the future it will be easier to remove the nut if it's on the outside. The threads on the bolt on the inside will get a lot of gunk on it.
 
DanHoo said:
@JimV,

I would flip the bolt so the nut is on the outside. If you have to remove the manifold in the future it will be easier to remove the nut if it's on the outside. The threads on the bolt on the inside will get a lot of gunk on it.
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That's probably a pretty good idea for the cookbox mounting bolt on most of these grills too.
 
Agreed....when removing the old cook box the large cook box bolts just snapped from corrosion. I didnt even try to be gentle as I had brand new ones waiting to be installed.
 
Steve Hoch said:
That's probably a pretty good idea for the cookbox mounting bolt on most of these grills too.
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Yeah, but...

it doesn't match the instructions. The bolt that goes through the cart is a special bolt with a larger shank and I'm not sure it will fit through the hole drilled in the cookbox, and the cookbox has a casting that holds the nut. I've had six E3xx grills of apart and none have snapped the cookbox bolts ( 12 for 12 )

1695784815906.png

this PDF is the cookbox replacement instructions from my 2016 E330

 
Another good point. Thats why it is fun being on the pro site. The larger heavier bolt is designed to go one way for a couple of reasons. I also agree this is a very hardy bolt and doesnt have to be snapped. This grill was a real mess....I just wanted the old box out and I wasnt going to reuse the old bolts so I just cranked em hard and fast.
 
DanHoo said:
Yeah, but...

it doesn't match the instructions. The bolt that goes through the cart is a special bolt with a larger shank and I'm not sure it will fit through the hole drilled in the cookbox, and the cookbox has a casting that holds the nut. I've had six E3xx grills of apart and none have snapped the cookbox bolts ( 12 for 12 )

View attachment 79811

this PDF is the cookbox replacement instructions from my 2016 E330

Click to expand...
Ok, maybe not on that series of grills. I haven't messed around with any of those yet. I was thinking on Genesis 1000, Silver B, etc. where the nut is on the inside. I'll bet most of us have struggled to get those off before. It would be better to have the nut on the outside on those models instead.
 
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