New Pit

[ddlexis]

I am in the process of having a pit built and am seeking ideas and advice. I have two doors on the main cooking chamber one is 5ft.x39in.x3/8 inch thick the other door is 4 ft.x39in.x3/8 inch thick. Should i use these doors or go with a lighter weight door?

[OSD]

That's going to be a really big pit. I don't see why the doors wouldn't work as long as they have the proper counterweights on them to make them lift right.

BTW.. stop over to the Wanted Posters section and introduce yourself.

[ddlexis]

I guess that is the main problem the counterweights and the fact if they are not right, someone might get killed if the door hits them. I will post some pics in the morning. The main cooking chamber is 13 feet by 3 feet wide by 3/8 thick. The firebox is 24x24x36 with a cast iron front door. The warmer box is 36x24x24 which sits on top of the firebox.

[Papa Tom]

I guess that is the main problem the counterweights and the fact if they are not right, someone might get killed if the door hits them. I will post some pics in the morning. The main cooking chamber is 13 feet by 3 feet wide by 3/8 thick. The firebox is 24x24x36 with a cast iron front door. The warmer box is 36x24x24 which sits on top of the firebox.

That's a big ol' pit. Capacity exceeds a couple chickens (and a moose...)

[JamesB]

Wowser! That is a monster pit! I thought my 8' x 48" pit was big...

On your doors, what kind of counter weight system do you have?

[ddlexis]

Right now I don't have any counterweights. My fabricator has reccommended going with a lighter metal for the doors. I have always been told the heavier the metal the more efficient the cooker. He said he could make the doors work but it would be $$$$$$$$$$$$. I hate to waste the steel. Any ideas? Please. I don't think it will hurt that much in the end? The tank and trailer weighed 1600lbs without the firebox and warmer. We cut 3 ft off the tank to make the firebox fit on the trailer.

[OSD]

Even if you went to 1/4" metal doors, I wouldn't go any thinner. I don't see where cost should be that much more to use the 3/8" metal you already have. You will still need heavy hinges and counterweights on the thinner doors. Only other thing would be to go to 3 doors instead of 2, but you'll still need counterweights.

[JamesB]

If your builder can design the counter weights correctly, I would prefer the thicker steel doors. I would just take a look at some of the more popular pit builders sites for ideas.

My 8' x 30" reverse flow pit is also 3/8" thick and originally had cables and weights to assist with opening the doors, but I took them off as they didn't seem to help that much, but your doors are more than twice the size of mine.

[ddlexis]

We thought about 3 or more doors but I figured more cuts and fab would cost more. When I get the pics on here in the morning maybe that will help. I am doing the reverse flow as well my current pit is not set up like that so I am interested to see the difference. James do you have any pics? What about 11 gauge? Thanks for the ideas.

[JamesB]

What kind of pics are you looking for? My reverse flow has 3 doors and even at that size they are heavy...

I looked around and found very few of the cables that the pit had on it when I first started cooking on it. I threw them and a few of my other pit here:

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg31 ... mview=grid

Not the greatest pics, but maybe will give you some idea how they did it on this pit. I have since taken the cables and weights off. The weights were off a bit and actually held the door open a fraction of an inch when they should have been closed and I didn't like the weights banging on the pit when you opened/closed the doors... There are much better ways.

Check out some of the pits and counter weight ideas on these websites.

http://www.bbqpits.com/
http://www.gatorpit.net/
http://lonestarcustompits.com/

[OSD]

Take a look at the pits Klose makes. He has counterweights on most of his pits and lists the price for them. Should run around $500 judging by what he shows.

Here's the link....

http://www.bbqpits.com/

[ddlexis]

I have been looking at their designs. We just need to judge how much weight to make it open right. James I just like looking at pics of other cookers.

[JamesB]

I like cooker pics too!

[ddlexis]

Here is some pics more to come.

[JamesB]

That is a big 'un fer sure.

How much clearance do you have from the bottom of the door to the bottom of the tank? The doors appear to be cut very low. If your going to do a reverse flow, you need to keep in mind that you will need space between the bottom of the tank and the reverse flow plate as well as distance from the plate to the first food grate. If there is not enough space on the bottom hf the pit, you could restrict air flow... if not enough room between plate and grate, you will scorch the food on the bottom rack.

Just a couple of thoughts. Looking foward to more pics!