Refurbishing a Small Egg, and Carts

777Driver · July 2015

Hello all,

This is my first post on this forum. I am new to the Egg but have purchased two for myself in the last several months, a L and and XL, and I find that this is at least as addictive as heroin (not that I'd know, of course). So far I've done pork butt, baby backs, steaks, pork loin, thin crust pizza, deep dish pizza (doing a couple today), and beer can chicken. Why the hell didn't I buy an egg twenty or thirty years ago? Better late than never.

So I'm visiting my brother-in-law in near Cashier's, N.C. and he tells me he's got an Egg. I get here and find it's an older small model. The bands are rusting, the wheels are rusted, the gasket is crapped out, the daisywheel vent on top only swivels and doesn't slide open (and is rusting a little). I couldn't take the size for a bunch of ribs I wanted to cook so I went out and bought him a new L two days ago. In exchange he's donated this small one to me which I'll take back home and add to the other two, which leaves me with a couple of questions:

1) Where is the best place to get replacement parts for the small egg? I need bands with springs, a new top, gasket material, wheels for the nest, etc.?

2) Can anyone suggest good plans for building a table/cart that will hold three eggs?

Thanks,
Garry

The donated Egg:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ps/axge53ip6gfw.jpg

The deep dish egg pizzas. These puppies rocked!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/zz/zmt89tj5e036.jpg

WeberWho · July 2015

Welcome! More importantly, can I be your brother?

The band will most likely have to be ordered from your dealer. They are hard to come across used. The daisy wheel should be fine. It sounds like it might need to be re-seasoned. Member @RRP can hook you up with a Rutland gasket. (Better than stock gasket that comes with the egg) The nest wheels you should be able to find at any big box stores. You might also want to double check your dome thermometer for accuracy. Congrats on the small. It's the perfect egg that complements the L/XL

Daisy Wheel:
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/789061/does-anyone-season-their-daisy-wheel

Draft Door:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Small-Mini-Big-Green-Egg-Stainless-Draft-Door-SSMD-/121559721827?nav=SEARCH

Checking Dome Thermometer:

https://youtu.be/pmqKlXOjGNo

bo31210 · July 2015

WeberWho? said:

Welcome! More importantly, can I be your brother? The band's most likely will have to be ordered from your dealer. They are hard to come across used. The daisy wheel should be fine. It sounds like it might need to be re-seasoned. Member @RRP can hook you up with a Rutland gasket. (Better than stock gasket that comes with the egg) The nest wheels you should be able to find at any big box stores

Daisy Wheel:

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/789061/does-anyone-season-their-daisy-wheel

Plus 1 on the Rutland!

scootr2200 · July 2015

I'm not much help... But I live in Sylva, welcome to Jackon County NC!

Mickey

Hawg Fan · July 2015

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you are a veteran on the a Egg, so don't be shy about posting some more great cooks like your pies.

dcc · July 2015

Welcome to the insanity. Check out the Callenger Designs Carts. They are not cheap, but they are well made with lots of storage for your egging "stuff".

Proser · July 2015

You have a lucky brother

Here is the three egg table I came up with. Works well for me

777Driver · July 2015

WeberWho? said:
Welcome! More importantly, can I be your brother?

WeberWho?, thanks. Sure, you can be my brother. Can I use your big-arse mountain lake home for a month out of the year for free?

I appreciate all the leads. I'll start accumulating it all and get that little puppy outfitted. Photo to be posted when it's finished.

scootr2200 said:

I'm not much help... But I live in Sylva, welcome to Jackon County NC!

Mickey

Thanks Mickey. Been coming here for many years now. Love this place. Hope to buy a property in the not too distant future.

Hawg Fan said:

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you are a veteran on the a Egg, so don't be shy about posting some more great cooks like your pies.

Hang Fan, not a veteran with the Egg, a newbie for sure, but a veteran at barbecuing and grilling for sure. Like probably most here I have accumulated something of a collection: a stainless Bradley Smoker for many years, a Weber kettle that's getting retired, a Caja China, a Barbchef Stainless wheeled charcoal grill (not made any more and looking to get rid of it), and a Weber gas grill. And now the eggs. I think everything except the Bradley smoker and the gas grill will be finding new homes. I'll keep the Bradley for versatility and the gas grill because ... well ... I'm not sure why. Can I blame my wife?

I will post food photos as they happen.

dcc said:

Welcome to the insanity. Check out the Callenger Designs Carts. They are not cheap, but they are well made with lots of storage for your egging "stuff".

dcc, ha! It seems something more of a religion, or a cult. A good cult if there is such a thing. I'll look at the carts. I build artist's work stations, called a taboret, so I figure I can probably build an egg cart. I designed this www.theultimatetaboret.com, but I'd rather work from plans that I don't have to spend time designing.

Proser said:

Here is the three egg table I came up with. Works well for me

Proser, NICE! Really nice. I'm thinking that I'd want something on wheels but with three eggs it would be getting close to the size of a semi, or a doublewide. I may build a cart for two of them on wheels and leave the third one, the small one, on a nest.

Thanks all. I appreciate the hospitality.

Garry

777Driver · August 2015

To update a little bit...

I refinished the nest for the donated little BGE. I also put new wheels on it. I contacted Duane at BGE tech service. What a nice guy! He said that this egg is circa 2000ish, and that it is considered a "vintage egg." He suggested cleaning up the bands and the bottom vent and leaving them rather than replacing with new parts because there aren't many of these around. I'm really not thrilled with the locking mechanism on this - I know why they evolved into the current system, and I'm not sure that I want to keep it just for the sake of keeping it "vintage." Function is more important to me than nostalgia. Thankfully my wife doesn't feel that way about me. Also, the bottom vent does have some rust that would be difficult to really get cleaned without harming the metal.

Because of all of that I will probably go ahead and replace the bands and lower vent slider with new stuff.

Here you can see what I'm talking about as well as the reconditioned nest. When I replace the other parts I'll post photos.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/v2/cj0un6u6q2gj.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/80/ga8xpe2we0y7.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/n1/1drdlhm9if8g.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/3o/wumhs2ag20q6.jpg

To add to this project, a couple of weeks ago I bought a used large BGE in Ft. Lauderdale. The guy who owned it kept it near the ocean and it suffered as a result. The nest was pretty rusty, and the handle and side tables were crapped out. The only problem with the egg is a split (in two) fire ring which fits together perfectly. I probably won't replace that, not as long as it's functioning well. The bands were in pretty decent shape so I did not refinish them.

After some grinding, sanding, priming, and repainting I got the nest looking pretty good. I built new side tables from sapele (mahogany family) and liked them so much that I also built new handles. I also used stainless nuts and bolts to replace the old stuff. The wheels are from Rockler.com. They have a really nice selection of wheel products. The old wheels would have worked but were starting to corrode and rust... with all this work I had to have new wheels. Here are the before and after photos:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/j8/gnvrt9i2xtgo.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/89/wpgaxy3hydgg.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/dt/47v24v6kd2v7.jpg

Focker · August 2015

Nice restoration!

Jeremiah · August 2015

Great job! Did you replace the dome? It looks different in the last picture.

Focker · August 2015

@Jeremiah,
Might be a different egg?

WeberWho · August 2015

Jeremiah said:

Great job! Did you replace the dome? It looks different in the last picture.

It mentions above that he picked up another used egg (large) I believe the pics of the finished project is his large egg

777Driver · August 2015

Focker said:

Nice restoration!

Jeremiah said:

Great job! Did you replace the dome? It looks different in the last picture.

Thanks Focker and Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, yeah, as WeberWho? said, there are two different eggs there. I got a deal on the second one (L) but it needed some rust remediation, and new mates.

The top egg is a small donated by my brother-in-law.

SmokeyPitt · August 2015

Looking good! Yeah it sort of tricked me too...I was scrolling through the pics (too lazy, didn't read) and thought Whoa! what a restoration!

777Driver · August 2015

SmokeyPitt said:

Looking good! Yeah it sort of tricked me too...I was scrolling through the pics (too lazy, didn't read) and thought Whoa! what a restoration!

SmokeyPitt, HA!

Hopefully when I am finished with the small egg it will look as good.

Refurbishing a Small Egg, and Carts

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