Today is the day!

nyyyankees87

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If anyone is considering purchasing a new RecTeq, their shipping times are insane right now. I ordered my RT1250 on Tuesday night, it shipped Wednesday. I got an alert that it was in NJ 10 minutes from my house on Friday, and it's on the truck for delivery right now. Had they delivered on Saturday, I would have had it in 4 days.

Anyone have any tips for assembly of the beast? I was watching videos and it said to hand tighten the nuts but I was wondering if you tighten them later on? Or is it designed to be that way? I know there's a debate on sealing vs non sealing, but coming from a Pit Boss I don't have much experience with higher end smokers.
 
If anyone is considering purchasing a new RecTeq, their shipping times are insane right now. I ordered my RT1250 on Tuesday night, it shipped Wednesday. I got an alert that it was in NJ 10 minutes from my house on Friday, and it's on the truck for delivery right now. Had they delivered on Saturday, I would have had it in 4 days.

Anyone have any tips for assembly of the beast? I was watching videos and it said to hand tighten the nuts but I was wondering if you tighten them later on? Or is it designed to be that way? I know there's a debate on sealing vs non sealing, but coming from a Pit Boss I don't have much experience with higher end smokers.
Plenty of beer, easy on the nuts!
 
You hand tighten the nuts to allow a little adjustability in the pieces to be able to get all the bolts in place. Then you tighten everything.

My advice is to have a second person available to set the drum upright (or place it on the competition cart). It can be done by one person but it’s bulky, awkward and heavy so two makes easy work out of it.

As far as sealing that’s a personal choice. If smoke stains on the stainless barrel will bother you I’d seal it. If you like a grill that looks like a workhorse with a little grime then don’t bother. If you are going to seal it do it before you use it so the adhesive has clean metal to stick to.

Good luck and enjoy your new toy!
 
I sealed mine and glad I did. But as Waterboy said, do it before it gets too messy. You can do it after a cook or two, just make sure you hit the surface with a good grease cleaner.

As for assembly, be careful with the Philips screw heads, I found them to be soft as butter and easily rounds off heads.
 
My RT-700 came in in 5 days. Really fast shipping. And bonus....had the heavier cast iron heat deflector.
 
I suggest you start with an inspection. Check all the larger surfaces for damage in transportation, all weld points, and the concentricity of the bolts, nuts, bolt holes and their alignment. You may even want to do a test fit to make sure they aren’t cross threaded or damaged. I realize this shouldn’t be required but the variability in RecTeq quality will drive your decision, trust me. Then, lay down a large moving blanket or similar to protect the assembly area. Nothing worse than putting scratches on your new “rig” until there is a great story behind the battle scars, lol. I agree that a second set of hands helps when placing the cooking chamber on the stand, if not, an adjustable saw horse of tall floor jack will be your best friend.
 
It was completely clean, I couldn't find a scratch, scuff mark, missing parts etc. The one thing I will say, I was not a fan of the assembly. My neighbor and I were able to get it together, but they didn't really tell you which bolt to use etc. It was self explanatory in the end, but I'd rather have had a paper booklet instead of looking online at everything.

The only real issue we had was with the right horn. One of the bolts went in easy, but my neighbor skipped steps and put the horn on without the stainless plate. So we had to take the horn off and install it. One of the bolts got severely stuck in the horn to a point where we had to use a vice grip to twist it out. I got it back on correctly but if that bolt ever has to come out I might have to get a grinder and cut the entire screw in half
 
The only real issue we had was with the right horn. One of the bolts went in easy, but my neighbor skipped steps and put the horn on without the stainless plate. So we had to take the horn off and install it. One of the bolts got severely stuck in the horn to a point where we had to use a vice grip to twist it out. I got it back on correctly but if that bolt ever has to come out I might have to get a grinder and cut the entire screw in half
A tip for next time: put a little hi-temp lubricant on the bolt before installing it. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/AGS-SIL-Glyd...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Stainless steel will “gall” (fancy term for deform and stick) if put together dry. A light coating of lubricant on the threads will prevent galling.
 
Yeah we definitely didn't lube up the screws lol. I was aggravated with the install because I like having a manual to flip through instead of having to look at my phone. I'm not that old lol but it's small on the phone lol. I might take some of the screws out and use that stuff on them. The horn is on there, that right horn won't come off without a grinder lol.
 
I was going to do Chicken thighs today to season it, but I had to go help a buddy setup for his wedding tomorrow. Not going to be able to use it until Saturday.
 
I told him that he interfered with my plans. The plus side was he lives 10 minutes from store 2/2 that sells Lumberjack pellets in NJ. So I spent a ton of money too. Lol
 

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