Bull Has anyone reinstalled their lid?

[Luke Warm]

I am new to my RT-700. When I open the lid it hits the cap on the top of the chimney. It's annoying and starting to rub the finish off of the lid.

My belief is that the lid was installed a little bit too far toward the chimney side, and that it isn't normally supposed to hit.

It looks like I can unbolt the hinges and move them over a bit so that it will open without hitting. Just wondering if anyone else has done this. I don't want to take it off and find out I can't get it back on properly.

I have tried bending the chimney outward a bit. I can try harder, but worried I'll buckle the side of the grill. If all else fails I can cut part of the chimney cap off, but trying to avoid that.

Thanks

 

[davidnpeggy]

I adjusted my RT-700 lid when I assembled the smoker. My lid needed a minor adjustment.

 

[Waterboy]

Shouldn’t be a problem. Make sure you check the seal after you adjust it. If you get the curve of the lid off from the curve of the drum you’ll get a lot more smoke leaks.

 

[okie]

From all the shots of the 700, with lid open or even closed, I can't see how that could happen unless the stack is bent significantly inward. Or do you have the older 680? Can you send a pic of the problem? With the lid centered, on the barrel, there should be lotsa space between the two. I don't own the 700 but a lot of pics are seen on the RT website. I have never seen this complaint before.

 

[Waterboy]

There is about a 1/8” gap between the edge of the lid and the smokestack cap on my 700. If the smokestack cap isn’t seated properly and the lid is 1/16” off I can see it hitting. A little adjustment should take care of it.

 

[Luke Warm]

Shouldn’t be a problem. Make sure you check the seal after you adjust it. If you get the curve of the lid off from the curve of the drum you’ll get a lot more smoke leaks.

Thanks for mentioning this. I adjusted the lid before reading this and thought I had done a good job, but now see that the lid does have a gap now between it a the drum based on the curve. I'll try again. Should the lid be fully flush or is a small gap acceptable?

 

[Luke Warm]

From all the shots of the 700, with lid open or even closed, I can't see how that could happen unless the stack is bent significantly inward. Or do you have the older 680? Can you send a pic of the problem? With the lid centered, on the barrel, there should be lotsa space between the two. I don't own the 700 but a lot of pics are seen on the RT website. I have never seen this complaint before.

I have a 700, but when I signed up here, I didn't see that as an option, so picked 680. I couldn't figure out how to change it yesterday either. I'm not a complete idiot, though I feel like it when writing that.

As for pics, here's what it looks like now:
There isn't an obvious bend to the chimney, and it's a very strong tube with a 90deg bend, I can't really seem to bend it, but if I try, I can probably bed the part that attaches to the drum. The cap doesn't appear to be able to be adjusted off center well.

I have re-hung the lid and as you can see now there is a sliver of clearance.

 

[Luke Warm]

Should anyone else have this problem, an 8mm hex nut on a ratchet driver, and the 90 degree Phillips head driver that came with the grill are a good way to adjust the hinge bolt/nut.

 

[Waterboy]

Mine sits pretty flush. Any gaps will allow smoke to escape which will leave a lot of residue on the barrel. I’d try to get it as flush as you can. If the curves don’t match up there isn’t much you can do about that.

 

[okie]

Another possible cause might be that your chimney might be meant for another model I.e. 2500 that has different dimensions and clearances. You solved the problem but lid is not centered. No big deal if you don’t care. Or you could fashion an additional thick gasket between barrel and chimney and then center lid. BUT I would send your pics to RT first. They may have proper reason and solution. Anxious to find out!

 

[Thor8594]

Clearance is clearance

 

[Luke Warm]

Mine sits pretty flush. Any gaps will allow smoke to escape which will leave a lot of residue on the barrel. I’d try to get it as flush as you can. If the curves don’t match up there isn’t much you can do about that.
View attachment 18677

Thanks. My lid doesn't sit as flush, and after spending a day working on it, I really don't think I can fix that issue with the hinge position. It appears that the lid curvature is just slightly different than the barrel. It contacts at the top and bottom, but in the middle there is a small gap.

It does leak smoke through the gap. I have a picture, included, of what that side of the grill looked like after just the very first cook-- before I adjusted the hinges. There is discoloration, and you can see there is even grease dripping down the side. I just figured this is how these grills are supposed to be.

Thanks for your help with this.

 

[Luke Warm]

Another possible cause might be that your chimney might be meant for another model I.e. 2500 that has different dimensions and clearances. You solved the problem but lid is not centered. No big deal if you don’t care. Or you could fashion an additional thick gasket between barrel and chimney and then center lid. BUT I would send your pics to RT first. They may have proper reason and solution. Anxious to find out!

Thanks for this suggestion. If the lid is off center now, it's probably 1/8th of an inch or less off center. So, it's not too bad. The angle of the picture above makes it look a bit worse than it is.

The setup out of the box was such that the hinges weren't exactly snug-- the lid could be slid to the left and right at least 3/8 in either direction, so it wasn't really a centered lid to begin with. My adjustments have made this left-right movement much less.

I'll try contacting RT again.

Your idea about a gasket at the chimney is a clever one. I hadn't considered that.

 

[C. Keeper]

Clearance is clearance

 

[SmokeZilla]

I may not be remembering correctly but did you use/receive the gasket that goes between the smoker‘s main chamber and the chimney? Mine was about 1/8” thick. That may be the problem, especially if they didn’t include it in the packaging.

Just a thought,
Cheers