I've had my 18.5 about 2 months now and I've noticed I have to be very careful how I place my meat on the top grate. The grate can very easily slip off of one the prongs (or whatever they're called) and fall down. Is that normal? It seems those prongs should be sticking out just a bit more.
Top grate on the 18.5 doesn't seem very stable.
- Thread starter TVanDyke
- Start date
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Not a problem I'm familiar with. Sure your cooker isn't out of round?
Doesn't seem to be. My lid fits just fine. There just seems to be a bit of play with the top grate where you have to make sure it doesn't scoot too far in one direction or it will fall off one of the prongs. It really gets me when I"m trying to scoot a heavy piece of meat into position like a brisket. On Saturday, my brisket almost fell down to the middle grate when I was trying to position it because of this problem. It's almost like my top grate is a fraction too small.
Paul Pearson
TVWBB Super Fan
I have also noticed this. I try to position the grate so I will be pushing it in a direction between two of the tabs. Seems like less chance of it falling down. I usually only have problems when I put the grate on though.
I bought my first WSM on Friday. Did some ribs on Sunday and the same thing happened to me.
Kevin L (NKY)
TVWBB Diamond Member
The grate supports hold both the upper and lower grates in position, So my question is how well does the lower grate fit? If it is also loose or not level I would guess the one or two of the shelf supports were installed inverted simple mistake.
timothy
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
A few things you should check before you call Weber.
Top grate measured at the center bar should be 17 1/2"
Inside diameter of the middle section measured where the grate sits should be a hair over/ under 17 3/4"
Grate straps should be close to sticking out 3/8" to a small half.
So if all of that is true, than it would be almost impossible to have that much wiggle room to have a grate fall off, unless like Dave pointed out, you have an out of round condition.
J hoke has the solution, add some washers as shims, and that should do the trick.
Tim
Top grate measured at the center bar should be 17 1/2"
Inside diameter of the middle section measured where the grate sits should be a hair over/ under 17 3/4"
Grate straps should be close to sticking out 3/8" to a small half.
So if all of that is true, than it would be almost impossible to have that much wiggle room to have a grate fall off, unless like Dave pointed out, you have an out of round condition.
J hoke has the solution, add some washers as shims, and that should do the trick.
Tim
If I recall, the bottom portion of the support bar has a zigzagged bend that supports both the water pan and the lower grate so can't imagine they're inverted since I'm not sure how the water pan and lower grate would fit otherwise. They both fit pretty snug. I'm not sure how the older model supports were designed. I think the idea of adding a washer to push the tabs out a bit, however it's interesting that I'm not the only one who has this problem, while others haven't. I wonder if it's based on the model year. Like I said, mine is only about 6 weeks old, but I'm not sure if it's a 2013 or 2014 model. I bought it at Lowe's. For all I know it's been in a box for a year.
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I called Weber and they told me to go home and measure the diameter of the top section all the way around. If it's out of round, they said they'd simply send me a new middle section which is pretty cool. I'm guessing that if I add the washers, I should only add them to the top bolts? The water pan and lower grate seem to fit just fine.