I f'ed with it, and f'ed with it, and f'ed with it but now it's all good (for$125)

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I have had a serious underbite on my 9 year old egg for 2 years or more. No matter what I tried, it seemed to just get worse. I watched all the videos, listened to all the forum experts, made **** up and tried that but nothing worked. It got so bad that I could have my draft door and daisy shut down and temps would still run away. I noticed that my bands were twisted a little in the back ( from over-torquing), the big bolts were really bent more than normal, and the 2 ends of the band were almost smashed together when i tightened them down. It all just seemed super pliable- like you couldn't tighten it enough and everything was really bendy and stretchy. Any time I loosened them up and tried to realign, it All looked great until the last bolt I would tighten. So frustrating- I would have it all lined up and then the last bolt I would tighten (no matter which one) would pull the dome back so much it almost made the egg non-functional. We have a big catering event for (200) coming up in 2 weeks and needed both eggs to be fully functional so as a last resort I went to the shop today and bought a new set of bands. $125 and 30 minutes later my old egg is now dead centered and actually in better shape than my Salado egg, which has been getting most of the work since I got it in march. After I took my old bands off, they were so pliable I can't believe they were holding my egg together. I could bend them easily with my hands. Soooo....if your egg is older, has an underbite you can't fix- you might drop the $125 for new bands. Carry on- Tex

stemc33

@The Cen-Tex Smoker‌, the warranty doesn't cover bands?

cazzy

Awesome! Now here is the question, could this have been covered under warranty? This is assuming someone wanted to fuss with it.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Bands are like 1 year or something like that. The big warranty is on the ceramics. Either way, I got 9 yrs out of them so I'm good. Wish I would have done it 2 yrs ago.

cazzy

Ah makes sense. Good **** either way! Grats

The Cen-Tex Smoker

cazzy said:

Ah makes sense. Good **** either way! Grats

feels like a new egg. I'm fired up about it.

stemc33

Definitely good advice for those with the alignment problem.

SGH

Glad you got it fixed brother Tex. Now wear it out!!!

caliking

Don't go unlovin' curry egg just because the older one had some dental work done.

Good to know though. I've had an underbite forever and have been tempted to mess with it, but I can hold steady temps, etc. so I'm going to leave it alone for now.

Hey I just thought of something - could that major underbite have been the reason why you had a suboptimal experience with the Smokeware cap?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

caliking said:

Don't go unlovin' curry egg just because the older one had some dental work done. Good to know though. I've had an underbite forever and have been tempted to mess with it, but I can hold steady temps, etc. so I'm going to leave it alone for now. Hey I just thought of something - could that major underbite have been the reason why you had a suboptimal experience with the Smokeware cap?

and my cyber q too. Dangit Caliking- I think you nailed it. I'm ordering a new cap tomorrow and I'll play with the cyber q again when it's back off loan in a few weeks.

nolaegghead

The dominoes are falling into place. 

R2Egg2Q

Glad you got it fixed. Thx for sharing. Good to know. And since the question about warranty on the bands came up, I was curious and checked. Here's the info from the BGE warranty page:

METAL COMPONENTS: Metal, Stainless Steel and Cast Iron components of the EGG (including the metal bands, hinge mechanism, dual function metal top, cooking grid, fire grate and draft door) carry a Limited Five (5) Year Warranty to the original purchaser.

fishlessman

mines 2 years older and eventually did the same thing. are the handles welded to the bands or bolted, the ones that were welded were made in mexico and bge was replacing all those bands behind the scenes regardless of warranty periods. mine eventually had the underbite then a year later it locked up

anton

Good deal, glad your problem got fixed, here's to f'ing with it !
=D>

Skiddymarker

Interesting advice and observation - did you torque the bolts of just tighten till they bend?

I wonder if over torqued, which is easy to do unless using a torque wrench, deforms and causes the underbite? 

After nine years the pliability shouldn't be that different for bands in good shape (no rust) - maybe the new bands are a different steel. 

ehummelman

I have only had my Large since February, but just had to get new bands for the same reason.  Luckily I live about 5 minutes from the mothership.  They gave me a new setup no cost, no questions asked.  As for the torque, they said that mine might have gotten tweaked because I didn't tighten them enough and after repeated opening and closing they loosened just enough to distort.  Funny thing is that I used a torque wrench when I assembled it and followed the directions to a T.  They told me to just tighten the bands until the ends touch and that the bolts should be bent quite a bit. They said that the bent bolts actually keep the bands from loosening.  Now why can't they just tell you that in the instructions?