500 gallon RF Build revised

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The springs work great!!! It was still too heavy with just one spring per side so I doubled up and the door stays open and it closes easily. I need to have my wife try to open it I am afraid it will still be hard for her to open. 

I absolutely love the look with no counterweights! Now I need to order 4 more springs for the other door. I may call around to some local dealers and try to find some but I am sure they will want more money but as long as I get them now and the price is not outrageous I will go for it to get the other door done. I had pretty much decided not to add a second rack and if I do I will need to get creative to avoid the springs but I think I am gong to have a hard time needing more room than the bottom rack will give me.

I will post pictures later today.  
 
Here are the springs
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Have you got a part number handy for those springs ???    That would help...   I looked up hood hinges and the number and assortment is overwhelming and not too clear for me.....
 
Yes Dave I will post them up in my thinking about internal hinges thread. I hould have titles it thinking about internal springs now that I think about it. 
 
The spring part numbers I found are C130508 for the drivers side and C130507 for the passenger side The number for a pair is C130507 PLK 

and a different number for what I believe is the same spring is C130503 PLK 

I have looked extensively into both numbers as the C130503 PLK are considerably cheaper than the C130507 PLK number but checking the vehicles they are used on (mostly trucks and suburbans etc) they appear to be the same hinge.

These are Chevrolet numbers I was concerned that the C130503 PLK was a smaller hinge or able to carry less load due to the cost difference but I could not find any info to back that up. I went thru Discountautoparts.com and got them for $58.17 for 4 of them. 

You have to dig through the site to find the right ones and the prices are all over the place for the same part. If you do a search using just the part number it will save you a ton of hunting. 

The best price I could find for the C130507 PLK (a pair of them R/H & L/H) was $94.68 not including shipping. 

This is the best info I have on the springs. 

After looking into all this stuff I think if a guy really wanted to do the math I bet a pair of scissor type hinges would work even better. they would not protrude as far into the cook chamber as the springs and would be a very clean install the only issue I see would be how much total upward travel you can get most hoods only swing I would guess about 25 degrees and that may not be enough to open your door high enough. You would not need any counterweights or hinges on the outside! That would be very cool in my opinion. 
 
My head is already spinning with ideas for my next smoker (much smaller) and with scissor type hinges and no external hinges and a hood style latch to close it. It will have a pull lever to "pop" the door and then open it. 
 
What someone really needs to do is make a heavy duty weld on  hinge with built in spring specifically for BBQ cooker doors.   Have the hinge adjustable so you could use a wrench to load the spring to the desired pressure/weight of the door. Save having to add counter weights.   
 
What someone really needs to do is make a heavy duty weld on  hinge with built in spring specifically for BBQ cooker doors.   Have the hinge adjustable so you could use a wrench to load the spring to the desired pressure/weight of the door. Save having to add counter weights.   

Not a huge market for a home build smoker hinge but I would BC e all over it if somebody made one.
 
Well after several modifications to my springs I was still unhappy with how they worked so I cut the mounts off and completely redesigned it. I fabbed new brackets to mount the springs and they work much better. All the springs are done and the doors work great and can be opened one handed.
I am now doing mock up of my exhaust plenum and will be cutting steel to build it soon then it's off to have it media blasted to prep for paint and seasoning. I have the material for the racks and will start on those today as well
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The spring on the one door is something I played with to see if it would help hold the door open without it going all the way up and it works very well. I had two of them laying around and I am going to add one to the other door as well. For a small spring it made a big difference.
 
I finished the lower racks and got them located. I built a small center section to span the gap between the doors and make it so I can do a 1/2 hog if I choose to. I just have to cut the steel for the exhaust plenum and weld it up and Monday I am taking to have it sand blasted to get ready for paint on the exterior and seasoning the interior
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Looks great.

One question.   Are you going to have enough ground clearance under the firebox ?

If you raise it up too much you the cooking chamber doors will be too high. You could make a locking latch like on my 250 gallon to help raise the smoker and still reach the door.

 
Looks great.


One question.   Are you going to have enough ground clearance under the firebox ?


If you raise it up too much you the cooking chamber doors will be too high. You could make a locking latch like on my 250 gallon to help raise the smoker and still reach the door.



My smoker is not going to stay on that trailer. It is going into its very own fully enclosed smokehouse. It will sit on legs I just have it on the trailer for mobility right now.
 
I got my plenum completed and installed yesterday and ready to punch a hole thru it and mount the stack. I need to double check my numbers on the stack size because I think I will have to go to a 7" diameter I don't think this 6" stack I have has enough cubic inches of volume for correct flow.
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Looking Good   That size smoker I would have gone with 7 - 8 inch stack  you need to move a lot of air    
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Gary
 
Looking Good   That size smoker I would have gone with 7 - 8 inch stack  you need to move a lot of air    
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Gary

Yea that's what I am afraid of. I need to look at the numbers DaveOmak ran for me (THANK YOU! very much Dave!!! I never would have got this far without his help) and double check the cubic inches of exhaust volume I need. I have room for a 7" stack on the plenum I made but not much more. My other option would be to run two 5" stacks I could add a 90° elbow out the side of plenum and run a second stack. I actually have a set of 5" chrome stacks off a truck that might look cool?!?!?
 
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