WSM Mods

[biaviian]

There have been a good number of threads on WSM mods, and I read them all a few years ago.  I recently upgraded to a 22" so I have another blank canvas.  For my 18" I used lamp parts for probe ports, but that is all I recall doing except for getting an extra grate and upgrading the door.

I'd like to know what people are currently doing.  I'm sure people have come up with more recent mods.  I do have a Guru that I will probably use.

I am thinking of going with side tables, casters, and locks for the body.  I may mess with the charcoal box.

 

[noboundaries]

Guru and gasket is all I've done.  I would like a hinged lid, but haven't found the incentive to do it yet.  Will definitely what this thread.

 

[SmokinAl]

Mine is about 7 or 8 years old & the only thing I did was add a Guru & 2 Tel Tru therms.

I'm sure if you wanted to you could really trick one out.

Al

 

[trueteam]

I am just not handy enough to do much. I added handles and grommets to my 18.5 and guru and cut a notch for the therm wires for my 22.5. I would love to be able to just pop the lids up but I am too chicken to attempt the mod. A lot of people have done some really cool stuff.

 

[dward51]

Mine is 12 years old.  The old style 18.5" lacked some of the items that are stock on the current 18.5 and 22" models.  I've thought about a hinge for the dome, but have not done that mod.  I did add a 2nd fire grate 90* to the original, wired the fire ring to the 2 fire grates, added a #' diameter Tru-Tel thermometer in the dome (original style had no thermometer at all), and of course a BBQ Guru. Other than that, it's pretty much stock.  Did not bother with gaskets as the smoke will seal small leak points on it's own pretty quickly.

I also have their discontinued sausage hanging rack, and extra grates (some smaller diameter) that I stack with 1" blocks separating them to load up on jerky and snack sticks.

Oh, and I did the e-WSM mod so I can run sausage and snack sticks at low temps as an electric.   That was probably the biggest mod I've done.  I can just change out the door and run as an electric under PID control with pellet tray, or with an original door run as a charcoal WSM.  Best of both worlds.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/183999/the-e-wsm-mod-a-convertable-electric-charcoal-wsm-smoker

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/233628/e-wsm-gets-an-upgrade-to-digital

 

[dirtsailor2003]

I think the WSM's major downfall is the charcoal ring. Why they don't make the ring and the charcoal grate one piece I don't know. Having them as one piece allows you to shake the ash off and save any unspent fuel. Wire together or weld, or make an entirely different one. Honestly I like them made out of expanded metal. The smaller holes allows the fuel to burn fully before falling into the ash pan.

 

[noboundaries]

I think the WSM's major downfall is the charcoal ring. Why they don't make the ring and the charcoal grate one piece I don't know. Having them as one piece allows you to shake the ash off and save any unspent fuel. Wire together or weld, or make an entirely different one. Honestly I like them made out of expanded metal. The smaller holes allows the fuel to burn fully before falling into the ash pan.

I agree about the charcoal/basket thing.

I forgot about doing this, but I purchased an extra charcoal grate, one designed to fit the 22.5" Weber Kettle.  It is EXACTLY the diameter of the 22.5" WSM charcoal basket and is smaller than the charcoal grate for the 22.5" WSM.  Did the 90 degree difference thing. 

When I need to clean the ash out, I just stir the used coals until all the ash falls off, find the two sides of the original charcoal grate with the largest gap, pick it all up (basket, grate, used charcoal) and set it on a couple bricks.  Clean the ash trap and then put the whole grates/basket/charcoal thing back in the WSM.  Just takes a couple minutes.         

 

[biaviian]

I am thinking of putting the hinged tables on either side.  That looks very handy.

 

[yankee2bbq]

Love the hinge modification. And did a gasket for the lid. Can’t wait for my next smoke!