Trailblazer 340 arrived today

[ol' stonebreaker]

The UPS truck was in a wreck Thurs and I was advised it would be delivered Mon. The bottom of the box was beat up bad but no damage except one of the bottom shelf channels got tweaked slightly but pliers straightened it easy. Had to tweek the lid hinges slightly as the lid wouldn't close tight on the bottom. that fixed it, I think it was a factory thing. Fired it and ran it @ 400* for the hour for burn in. went up to 409 once for a short time, the rest of it was 400 +or- a couple of degrees. let it cool down and restarted @200*, it went up to 233* and finally settled 227*. so far I'm happy with it. I'm considering reversing the wheels to the other end as I think with a full load of pellets it may try to do a wheelstand. I'm not having any success with setting up the wifi. BTW, I ordered the lava lock seal mt'l so will install that when it arrives. Judging by the smoke coming out after I tweeked the hinges it only needs it on the top and bottom.
Ill call my son this PM and have him walk me thru it. He's a whiz at it with his 700.

 

[Mastertech59]

It's a shame these smaller grills get beat up like this when shipped, hope you get it straightened out, figure out the Wi-Fi and get to enjoy your new grill.

 

[Clm65]

What is the auger feed rate set at? Most seem to come from the factory with a feed rate of 6.5 (or 65), but I saw some recent posts where the factory setting was 3.0 or 3.5. If you are having trouble maintaining a low temperature setpoint, you can lower the feed rate to 3.0. Plenty of threads on this site discus this.

 

[charlesrshell]

Congrats

 

[TexasManInCajunLand]

The UPS truck was in a wreck Thurs and I was advised it would be delivered Mon. The bottom of the box was beat up bad but no damage except one of the bottom shelf channels got tweaked slightly but pliers straightened it easy. Had to tweek the lid hinges slightly as the lid wouldn't close tight on the bottom. that fixed it, I think it was a factory thing. Fired it and ran it @ 400* for the hour for burn in. went up to 409 once for a short time, the rest of it was 400 +or- a couple of degrees. let it cool down and restarted @200*, it went up to 233* and finally settled 227*. so far I'm happy with it. I'm considering reversing the wheels to the other end as I think with a full load of pellets it may try to do a wheelstand. I'm not having any success with setting up the wifi. BTW, I ordered the lava lock seal mt'l so will install that when it arrives. Judging by the smoke coming out after I tweeked the hinges it only needs it on the top and bottom.
Ill call my son this PM and have him walk me thru it. He's a whiz at it with his 700.

I have the 340 as well, and no issues with a full hopper and tipping. Also, I wouldn't bother with trying to seal the lid. There's not enough smoke escaping through the cracks of the lid to make a difference.

As for the WiFi, just make sure that your router is transmitting a 2.4 GHz signal and follow the instructions in this video:

Hope this helps,

Darrell

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

It didn't get beat up. Since the UPS trailer wound up on it's side I think it came thru pretty good with just a very small ding on the outside of the shelf channel that I straightened easily with the pliers.

 

[mooncusser2k]

It didn't get beat up. Since the UPS trailer wound up on it's side I think it came thru pretty good with just a very small ding on the outside of the shelf channel that I straightened easily with the pliers.

They're losing their touch. May need to get it on the roof next time.

 

[GH41]

My 590 is also pretty tipsy with the hopper full. Tipsy enough that if someone put something on the hopper shelf that weighed over a couple of pounds it would probably go over. I have a couple of 5 pound weights I keep on the opposite side of the lower shelf for insurance.

 

[Mastertech59]

My 590 is also pretty tipsy with the hopper full. Tipsy enough that if someone put something on the hopper shelf that weighed over a couple of pounds it would probably go over. I have a couple of 5 pound weights I keep on the opposite side of the lower shelf for insurance.

I'm surprised Rec Tec didn't do a wide leg standard cart for the Stampede like they did for the Bull, it's nice they now have a RT-590 competition cart but that is more $$ and had no storage.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

RT is still basically like other companies. Gotta watch those pennies. Not knocking them, just a basic rule of business. I may look into widening the wheel stance later. Might be a winter project.

 

[TexasManInCajunLand]

RT is still basically like other companies. Gotta watch those pennies. Not knocking them, just a basic rule of business. I may look into widening the wheel stance later. Might be a winter project.

I really think that you're overthinking the tipping thing. I've used about 100 lbs. of pellets in mine so far and it's as stable as can be and I have never had any concerns about it tipping/falling over. So unless you have it placed on some wobbly, unbalanced surface, you're going to be just fine.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

You're right, I'm just overthinking it. It sits on a flat, smooth concrete floor.

 

[charlesrshell]

@ol' stonebreaker, did you happen to check your Auger minimum feed setting?

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

No, Charles, I haven't. My brain needed a rest after calibrating the probes, LOL!!

 

[charlesrshell]

No, Charles, I haven't. My brain needed a rest after calibrating the probes, LOL!!

LOL @ol' stonebreaker. Understand. Thanks for all your your feed back.

 

[marmadmax]

The UPS truck was in a wreck Thurs and I was advised it would be delivered Mon. The bottom of the box was beat up bad but no damage except one of the bottom shelf channels got tweaked slightly but pliers straightened it easy. Had to tweek the lid hinges slightly as the lid wouldn't close tight on the bottom. that fixed it, I think it was a factory thing. Fired it and ran it @ 400* for the hour for burn in. went up to 409 once for a short time, the rest of it was 400 +or- a couple of degrees. let it cool down and restarted @200*, it went up to 233* and finally settled 227*. so far I'm happy with it. I'm considering reversing the wheels to the other end as I think with a full load of pellets it may try to do a wheelstand. I'm not having any success with setting up the wifi. BTW, I ordered the lava lock seal mt'l so will install that when it arrives. Judging by the smoke coming out after I tweeked the hinges it only needs it on the top and bottom.
Ill call my son this PM and have him walk me thru it. He's a whiz at it with his 700.

I got my 340 about 10 days ago and have done 2-3 cooks so far. Holds temp within 1-2 degrees except after opening the lid. The temp then rises quite a bit but eventually returns to the preset value. Auger was preset from the factory at 3.5 and I made no changes to the setting. What I have read and tried is after you close the lid after opening during a cook, lower the set point maybe 10%. The temp will still rise but not as far. Once the temp gets closer to your desired temp reset to original set point. Or you can do nothing and the grill should eventually get back to the original set point. I don't think you need to worry about wheelies! You do need to be concerned about moving the grill - period. I originally had planned to 'store' the grill in a more remote location on my patio - maybe only 20 ft. from where I would do the cooking. However, moving the grill proved to be a challenge - slow and concerning. Pushing the grill over the normal separation cracks in the patio was impossible. Larger wheels would probably help! The instructions say to not move the grill in the upright (legs extended) position and I now know why. I also had significant gaps at the top and bottom of the lid. Contacted RT and they assured me this was normal and part of the design. Said it was needed for ventilation and to hold the temps. Not sure I buy that explanation. If you install the seal, let us know how that works out. Good luck.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

Grilled some bacon after I installed the lava lock on the top and bottom of the the lid and it stopped the smoke coming out there and I couldn't see any coming out the sides of the lid. When I first got it I put a 1/4" piece of wood under the lid next to each hinge and pressed down on it to tweak them a little as the bottom of the lid wouldn't touch the body. That fixed it. You might try that with yours. Just start with the 1/4"first and if that doesn't do it go to 3/8" but don't push down so hard. Keep trying w/o the wood to check fit then put the wood back in to press a little harder until you get a good fit.
As far as moving mine it's on a smooth concrete floor in a large steel bldg and I only have to move it about 6' to the open roll up door.

 

[charlesrshell]

I got my 340 about 10 days ago and have done 2-3 cooks so far. Holds temp within 1-2 degrees except after opening the lid. The temp then rises quite a bit but eventually returns to the preset value. Auger was preset from the factory at 3.5 and I made no changes to the setting. What I have read and tried is after you close the lid after opening during a cook, lower the set point maybe 10%. The temp will still rise but not as far. Once the temp gets closer to your desired temp reset to original set point. Or you can do nothing and the grill should eventually get back to the original set point. I don't think you need to worry about wheelies! You do need to be concerned about moving the grill - period. I originally had planned to 'store' the grill in a more remote location on my patio - maybe only 20 ft. from where I would do the cooking. However, moving the grill proved to be a challenge - slow and concerning. Pushing the grill over the normal separation cracks in the patio was impossible. Larger wheels would probably help! The instructions say to not move the grill in the upright (legs extended) position and I now know why. I also had significant gaps at the top and bottom of the lid. Contacted RT and they assured me this was normal and part of the design. Said it was needed for ventilation and to hold the temps. Not sure I buy that explanation. If you install the seal, let us know how that works out. Good luck.

@marmadmax, thanks for your post, good info. On page 11 of your owner's manual, can you check and see what the Auger factory preset value is? Thanks.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

Pg 11 says factory preset is 65. The program says it's at 30. I haven't messed with the setting so I'm reasonably confident it came that way. It's working so well I ain't gonna fix it!!

OOPS, I see that question was directed at madmax. Anyway I threw my 2 pennies in.

 

[charlesrshell]

Pg 11 says factory preset is 65. The program says it's at 30. I haven't messed with the setting so I'm reasonably confident it came that way. It's working so well I ain't gonna fix it!!

OOPS, I see that question was directed at madmax. Anyway I threw my 2 pennies in.

Thanks. Maybe Rec Tec is going to change the preset to 3.0 or 3.5. Wonder if they change it based on what part of the country the grill goes to! No telling. I should get my Stampede next week and will check it too.