500 Gallon Reverse Flow Build

[speers90]

Dude,

You got to name that smoker "The Big Bad Wolf" cause you can cook all three little pigs in there!!

Great looking build and thanks for the photo updates...op2:

I like that a lot! On a side note, I was informed today that I am indeed cooking a whole hog on June 8th.

Dave, I found my trailer drawing with weights as I was walking out the door this morning, I will snap a picture and post here tonight.

 

[Yendor]

I like that a lot! On a side note, I was informed today that I am indeed cooking a whole hog on June 8th.

Dave, I found my trailer drawing with weights as I was walking out the door this morning, I will snap a picture and post here tonight.

Let me know if you need to get a price on a hog, my FIL works for a place that butchers just hogs and he said he can get them for you if you want them. Just name the size.

 

[Untraceable]

Awesome. And more awesome that with your history of pit turnover, I can probably get this on CL next year

 

[speers90]

Got the evening started by getting the exhausted stack fixed so it is perfectly level now.

Moved onto the valve openings and the pieces that needed to be cut off. I will try to remember to get a better pic of the valve patches.

After that I pulled out the reverse flow plate and cut it down the middle so it will be ready to tack in place once I get the angle iron and drain pipe installed.

Here is my crude drawing, the black line was my initial guess on axle placement. As you can see my weights would have left me a little light on the tongue so I slid the axle back a little bit.

 

[RookieTJx2]

How does that flooring hold up to weld splatter?

 

[speers90]

How does that flooring hold up to weld splatter?

Not very good that's why I move it out to the driveway! That being said, the dark gray color doesn't show it very much.

 

[mikemci]

Did it fit back in the garage after welding on the stack? Looks close in the pic!

 

[speers90]

Did it fit back in the garage after welding on the stack? Looks close in the pic!

From that angle it does look close but I have a good 1-2" of clearance, that was by design so I still have plenty of room to add a cover.

 

[meatpacker]

T Town

Brother you are setup.... and looking real good!!!!!

Lived there 10 years and worked fur VA. Uall still have Archibalds and Dreamland? Used to be some fine Q and written up in Southern Living at leats 3 times. Loved them Dreamy ribs. We'd mop up the sauce with the bread.

 

[meatpacker]

Nice

Not very good that's why I move it out to the driveway! That being said, the dark gray color doesn't show it very much.

Was thinking the same about the floor. My neighbor has a similar smoker but instead of a plate he ran the same 8 inch pipe from the fire box to within inches of the opposite end. Makes cleaning easier. Supported the pipe run with some saddles. Great looking work.

 

[speers90]

Picked up a new bottle of welding gas over lunch today, so we are back in business. Going to try to get the doors in place tonight.

 

[speers90]

Got the doors mounted tonight, I am very pleased with how they turned out. One of the things I really wanted on this build was to have the door strapping on the inside. I have built them both ways now and this was definitely more challenging but I really like the look.

There is one little 2" area on the rear door that I need to hit with the grinder to improve the fit, but other than that they fit beautifully.

 

[RookieTJx2]

Do you have a slip roller?

 

[speers90]

Do you have a slip roller?

Nope, just used c-clamps and clamped every couple of inches to get the curve. That was the time consuming part.

 

[dwfisk]

Very nice. I've started putting all my door framing on the inside of my verticals too, gives the cookers a much more "clean" exterior look. I really like the way you preserved the full width opening for hogs and still have two doors, was kinda wondering if that was your plan or you were going with a counterwieght on a single big door. IMO you made the better choice. Gettin close :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

 

[speers90]

Very nice. I've started putting all my door framing on the inside of my verticals too, give the cookers a much more "clean" exterior look. I really like the way you preserved the full width opening for hogs and still have two doors, was kinda wondering if that was your plan or you were going with a counterwieght on a single big door. IMO you made the better choice. Gettin close :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Yeah, the ability to cook whole hogs was definitely something I took into account in the design process and I went with double doors for a couple of reasons. The first being that I do not really like the look of the counterweight and secondly I suspect there will be plenty of cooks when I will really only need to use about half the cooker.

 

[T-doh]

That is exceptional work man. You keep that up I'm seeing a "Speer's Smokers" business in your future!!

 

[speers90]

That is exceptional work man. You keep that up I'm seeing a "Speer's Smokers" business in your future!!

I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that, but I need to build a few and be happy with my work before I would ever make that jump. I will tell you that I have discussed it with Paul (Tuscaloosa Q) a little bit. I sent him a few messages several months ago asking questions and he was very helpful and forthcoming. More coming very soon about Paul, what a good man he is.

 

[T-doh]

Well hey if you wanna build one and send it Down here to Illinois I'd be willing to try it out for a few years... You know... A little R&D work... Make sure it'll withstand the tests of time.. Lol

 

[speers90]

Paul (TuscaloosaQ) you are the man, your package for me arrived today.

Paul contacted me last week and asked if he could send me any parts for my build, I said sure send me one of those cool touch spring handles. A couple days later he sent me another message that said he was sending the handle along with trailer lights, light boxes, and asked again if I needed anything else. At that point I decided that I would do all of my handles with the cool touch springs and asked him to send me eight. Without hesitation Paul said you bet, I also asked him to send me a bill which he refused to do. Here are the goodies he sent to me, unsolicited.