Middle grate on 18.5" WSM

[Dean Smiley]

I have wanted a middle grate in my 18.5” WSM for some time now but wasn’t sure how I was going to accomplish this. I studied Chris’s mod page dealing with adding a shelf and liked what Jonas Klint did except instead of adding brackets to the grill straps, I added acorn nuts which are .3” long which is plenty to catch an additional top grate. Specifically, I used 4mm flat head socket cap screws 8mm long and matching acorn nuts. I counter sunk the straps at a level that would give me 4” from the top of the middle grate to the top of the upper one. This is near the middle of the strap and high enough that the grate doesn’t interfere with the door latch. Like Jonas, I cut the top machine screws flush with the nuts to make it easier to insert the middle grate; it would hang up on these screws before. The photos were taken prior to the cutting.

Straps ready for installation

Acorn nut holding rack

Door latch clears

All three grates in place

Thanks for looking.

Dean

 

[J Hoke]

Looks good. I was lazy and just drilled holes and put in stainless bolts.

 

[Dave Russell]

Looks good, Dean. That's pretty much how the middle rack on my big bullet is supported.

 

[Gary S]

That's a nice neat install Dean. I have a middle rack on mine and it's really handy.