Out of round 26" Weber..... your thoughts?


 
Pete in PG

Pete in PG

TVWBB Pro
Ok..... finally pulled the trigger and bought a 26" Weber and finished putting it together last night only to find that the top doesn't fit well to the base. I'm not sure if the base is out of round or if it's the top.

I'm thinking of finding out which is out of round tonight and then trying to bend that piece back to round to make it fit better.

Any other 26" buyers have this issue? Did you resolve it differently?

I've owned Webers all my life and grew up with them. I've never seen one new that was so poorly fitted.

BTW, the box and packaging were fine. It came this way from the factory which isn't in Palatine, IL anymore.
 
That’s a shame, QC isn’t what it used to be anywhere! How far out is it? Before fooling with anything too much I’d call Weber customer support, my guess is they will just send you a new lid. If that’s out of round, maybe a bowl if thats the culprit. The center of a WSM is easy to “hug” into proper shape but, a lid or bowl is a little more challenging.
 
Both my 26 and my deep ocean blue 22 leak badly in certain areas. Both have been purchased in the last 5 years. Some gasket matierial would probably seal it up, but its not a large enough concern for me to go to the trouble. I use them strictly for grilling only, so air leaks are not a big deal.

I bought my first Kettle in 1989, my second one in 1999 and neither of those had the " fit " problems that my current Kettles do.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
That’s a shame, QC isn’t what it used to be anywhere! How far out is it? Before fooling with anything too much I’d call Weber customer support, my guess is they will just send you a new lid. If that’s out of round, maybe a bowl if thats the culprit. The center of a WSM is easy to “hug” into proper shape but, a lid or bowl is a little more challenging.
Click to expand...
Thanks Tim; I'll probably call them in the morning. It's pretty badly out of round. I finished putting it completely together before putting the lid on it and was surprised that it didn't nest right away. I had to push on the lid pretty heavily to get it to completely go on the base.

With my fingers under the lip of the lid, I can feel that it's definitely very tight on two sides and loose on the other two.
 
I always check for out of round condition before putting it together, generally ive found the lid to have an issue but sometimes the bowl can too have about 1/8 to 3/16" out of round and it's not hard to fix...measure across in multiple directions and set a piece of wood on the ground and apply some pressure in the longest measurement direction..it doesnt take much
 
An update:

Both the lid and bowl were out of round. The lid by an inch and 3/8 and the bowl about an inch.

I did as Dave suggested above (thank you!) and gently applied pressure on the long sides. Both the lid and bowl easily moved and now there both mated well. I was a bit concerned I might overdo it, but I was careful. I've longed for the 26" for some time and decided it would be good for turkey next week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
 
And now we all know what to do if one ever goes out of round again. In this case, I think I would rather have the knowledge than the new parts.
 
Whoa - I didn't think the 26" kettle lid would be easy to bend... I wonder if Pete used his lava-hot laser eye beams to heat the lid before giving it a bend... He may never tell us but that special power would also come in handy for lighting charcoal wouldn't it!

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