Midsection clamps???


 
I installed these on my 22.5". Apparently, all the legs are not spaced evenly. I have to make sure that my latches are connected to the exact leg that they were drilled on. If I rotate the mid section at all, some of the latches do not line up.
 
After almost having my WSM come apart midway through a pork butt cook 5 days ago I mounted the same type clamps on mine. Easy job and am confident they will solve the problem. If Weber would have made the interlocking rims just a 1/4 inch bigger it would have gone a long way in solving the tippiness of the WSMs
 
JungWoo said:
I installed these on my 22.5". Apparently, all the legs are not spaced evenly. I have to make sure that my latches are connected to the exact leg that they were drilled on. If I rotate the mid section at all, some of the latches do not line up.
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Yup.
Reason I bought latches, but never installed. Difficult to locate 120 degrees apart exactly without screwing it up, and if want to rotate mid section at all....can't when latched.
 
ChuckH said:
After almost having my WSM come apart midway through a pork butt cook 5 days ago I mounted the same type clamps on mine. Easy job and am confident they will solve the problem. If Weber would have made the interlocking rims just a 1/4 inch bigger it would have gone a long way in solving the tippiness of the WSMs
Click to expand...

I guess I don’t quite understand the need to use these clamps. During a cook, I just take the cover off a few times to spritz the meat and I never worry about the mid section coming out.
 
The clamps mostly help when you have a lid hinge. A raised lid with no load in the mid section is pretty unstable, but that's a side effect of adding the hinge, not a design flaw. The Cajun Bandit style clamps allow the mid section to be rotated in any position since they only mount to the base. I found they get in the way sometimes when setting the mid section down on the base though.
 
BillSmith said:
I guess I don’t quite understand the need to use these clamps. During a cook, I just take the cover off a few times to spritz the meat and I never worry about the mid section coming out.
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I have a lid hinge on my WSM. And when the smoker is running at temp and the lid metal expands it forces the lid to push against the mid section lip on the handle side. So it can stick pretty good. Opening up to spritz a pork butt caused the smoker to almost come apart at the lower joint. Clamps will prevent this from happening again.
 
MartinB said:
If your going to roll it to where you cook....the clamps will help a lot to keep it together.

A lot of people keep under porch, garage, or eave....and roll out to patio/deck to cook
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This is EXACTLY why I put them on, I have to roll mine out to where I use it and the ground in rough.

With the clamps I can grab from the top handles and roll it on the casters , without them it would probably fall apart.

During a cook they are usually unclamped.
 
ChuckH said:
I have a lid hinge on my WSM. And when the smoker is running at temp and the lid metal expands it forces the lid to push against the mid section lip on the handle side. So it can stick pretty good. Opening up to spritz a pork butt caused the smoker to almost come apart at the lower joint. Clamps will prevent this from happening again.
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Interesting. What is the temperature that you run your WSM at? I have an old one from the mid 90s I believe and I never had the issue of the top sticking to the mid section. I try to keep the temp around 250.
 
BillSmith said:
Interesting. What is the temperature that you run your WSM at? I have an old one from the mid 90s I believe and I never had the issue of the top sticking to the mid section. I try to keep the temp around 250.
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I usually run between 225 and 275. The lid does not stick when I first go out to fire it up and when it has cooled down when I am finished cooking. The mating surface between the lid and the top of the mid section is clean. The only explanation I can think of to why it sticks is expansion. Only started happening after I installed a lid hinge. But I’m still happy with both of those modifications. My WSM is still my favorite and most used cooker.
 
I keep thinking that I should do it but, I’ve not found the need. My WSM lives in the garage in bad weather so, after a cook I take it apart to clean and on the way past the bin, I dump dead cold ash and put the bottom section away then pull the saucer, ditch the foil and grease re wrap the saucer move the middle in and set it up for next time. Finally bring the lid in and cover it up,people leave me alone while I do it so, I tend to take my own sweet time!
 
I see this style of clamp talked about here the most it seems but I installed the "no-drill" cajun bandit clamps and they work great too

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Make my own from some leftover metal total cost for that hardware was maybe six bucks
 

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