Rear-Facing Reverse-Flow Barbecue Trailer

[tom37]

Looking good, I really like the look of the channel iron frame. 

 

[bamaboy]

Oh yeah,looks good bro

 

[spankerchief]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!

(Although it makes being stuck design-wise hurt a bit more...)

No worries, though.

I had a problem with locking the tongue to the trailer down.

My original idea:

...seemed okay-ish.

But I wanted something a little more durable so I did this:

Now I just need to weld on some rods and come up with a locking lever and we're back in business!

 

[spankerchief]

Side note:

I'll be putting a teflon nut (or a crown nut and pin) on there and a bigger washer before taking it anywhere.

 

[spankerchief]

Aaaaaand, I'm stuck again.

Damn.

I need two inches of travel without making this linkage stick out like a sore thumb:

I just don't like the bar sticking up on top, but I need 4" of arc to get the catches to pull back enough.

...Ideas?

 

[tom37]

I like the second choice to secure the frame much better, it looks like it oughtta lock it together really nice. 

Maybe I missed something but I am not seeing what the rod in the last pic is being used for. Is this the latch mech for the frame lock, or is it to latch the frame when its up? 

 

[spankerchief]

There's a rod welded to the backside of the catches resting just inside the channel iron (pointing foreward.)
The idea was to weld in some flat stock arms to the 3/4 bar stock on top linking it so that a twist of the bar stock would draw the catches back and forth.
(It's harder to describe than to do)

 

[tom37]

I think I am on the same page here, 

Could you drop the rod down inside the channel, still have a flat stock arm pointing down to reach the right radius, then have a drag link arm bent in a manor to clear the pin but still weld to the latch on the inside of the frame. 

I'm not sure if you will have room for it to clear the firebox. 

Here is a very vague sketch of what I tried to describe. Am I even close to being on track here.

 

[spankerchief]

Wow. That wasn't a bad idea!

I had a little excitement this morning. The diaphragm in my acetylene regulator burst and I didn't smell the gas until I was about to start grinding on some parts.

I hit the garage door opener, closed the tank valves and tried to stop cussing before going back in the house.

I bought a new torch kit from Lowes.

Lincoln weld-pro(or something like that.)

OooOOoo Shiny!

I didn't check the site before getting started this morning, so I ended up doing this:

I reinforced the catches since I figure the force at that joint will be around 300-500 lbs with a shock weight of maybe 1000.(just guessing, really)

That was a pretty quick response.

(I wasn't really expecting one, to be honest)

I really appreciate the help though, Tom.

Thank you.

 

[tom37]

Not a problem man, I think what you came up with is gonna work just fine. I know when I hit a spot like this, I have to step back and ask others what they think. For me, there is so many times that there is a great easy fix but I just can't see it.

I didn't have the regulator problem, mine was the stem on the act tank. I always shut my tanks off if its gonna be more then an hour or so. For some freak reason I forgot to close the valves, about midnight one night I had a memory flash and went to the garage to find the act smell really bad. I had lost half of a K tank. I was lucky since it was winter, and the furnace had not kicked on the whole evening, thank god.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[spankerchief]

Jeebus!^

I test measured the tongue to make sure the mechanism clears the firebox.
I had 9" of space at the closest point.

I ran into a snag when it came time to put the smoke chamber up on the trailer.
The darned thing is just a hair heavier than I'm comfortable lifting.

Enter:
Perfect neighbor Brian.
This guy and I have been having a friendly pi##ing contest for over a decade now.
I can build anything, but this  guy has a scale calibration/ food processing equipment repair business and sidelines at a cogen.
This dude OWNS OR HAS ACCESS TO EVERY PIECE OF MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT IMAGINABLE.
I am not exaggerating.

I asked him to come over to help me lift the box. He glanced at it, grunted and said "Be right back"
He came back with this mutant lift device that was absolutely perfect for the job:

He left it for me to use to hold the box up so that I had a proper gap for welding.

Honestly I'm kind of afraid to tick him off, for fear that I'll come home later and find the house turned around and facing the other way.
This dude could do it.

So anyway it's finally starting to look like something:

 

 

[spankerchief]

Also, I checked and the tongue weight is about twenty pounds as it is now.

When the firebox is installed, (with the rebar grate installed) it'll be probably about 80-100 lbs front-heavy and should track pretty well.

I may install some shocks if it seems like it'll get "bouncy"

 

[spankerchief]

Oh, wait. Sorry. Some of that's gonna go away when I install the 1/4" thermal plate, grills and lid.

 

[tom37]

Gotta love a neighbor thats willing to offer his support. Thats really cool that he left it for you to use. 

The trailer is looking good, I do notice in the very last pic that you posted.

There is an arm or handle pointing forward just ahead of your latch mech, I think its the handle for the latch. 

In the pic it looks like its sticking out there just a little ways, it may not be out there as far as it looks. But thats the stuff that I would crash my shin into in a heartbeat.

 

[spankerchief]

Yeah, that's the handle to the latching mechanism.

I was gonna face it the other way to keep my shins safe, but this way it falls in the locked position. (I wanted everything on the left side so I didn't have to walk around the truck to unhook it)

Since the tongue narrows in from the frame (and gets folded up anyway), my shins should be fairly safe.

That said, watch as I hook a pant leg and faceplant right in front of everybody.

 

[tom37]

No way on the face plant,,,,,,,been here done this,,,,

It will be when your hands are full of a giant batch of the best bbq beans ever cooked, and I might add that mine had about 5 lbs of rib meat mixed in as well. And I lost the whole works right in a leaf pile at the edge of the driveway. At that very moment it didnt even hurt, all I could think was OMG the 5 sec rule. And there was no way that was gonna happen. I even thought for a split second, that maybe I could get part of the top of the pile back in the pan since they didnt touch the driveway.


I ended up writing off the whole batch, that was a sad sad day.

I had actually forgot about the fold up part while I was looking at the handle, even tho thats what its there for.

 

[spankerchief]

Lols!

Ahem. I mean:

Sorry for your loss.

Today was all about the fire box.

 

[spankerchief]

 

[spankerchief]

(sigh)

 

[smokingohiobutcher]

Awww spankeroo!!!  that sucks!   Looking good though!

SOB