Band Slippage, Gasket Replacement, and Test of New Light (pic heavy)

bob.bud

My egg has had a slight underbite for quite some time, and I have noticed that the bands appeared to be slipping. The following images show how the bands were not level:



the previous image show the tilt towards the back of the egg, in the following image you can see it riding high in the front:



I had purchased a replacement gasket from Ron several weeks ago as a result of my first clean burn, but had no real need to replace the original gasket. However, given that I was bringing the egg into the 'garage' I decided to fix the band issue and replace the gasket at the same time. The following are images of the egg surface as I cleaned it up using the 3M paint and rust wheel that Ron recommends in his instructions. What you see here is what remained of the gasket after I lifted the gasket with a razor knife and peeled what I could off to minimiz what I had to sand away:

Paper bags to catch debris:

all done and vacuumed out, and yes, a KAB in place without the original grate:

Scrunching it up per Ron's directions:

Sorry, no pics of the actual application of the Permatex Ultra Copper Max Temp RTV and the replacement gasket, but here is a pic of the replacement gasket in place. The image is of the fire just getting started for a test burn to get rid of the potential smell Ron cautioned could occur on the first cook after replacing the gasket.

Notice at the 12 o'clock position the extra gasket (that just needs to be trimmed, but it is not causing an issue). You can also see that I went ahead and removed the gasket on the dome.

While not a perfect job (you can see the inconsistencies all the way around, and that I was a little sloppy with the Permatex), I am pleased with the results. I bumped the egg up to 450 and let it sit there for 30 plus minutes to see if I noticed any foul smell - there was not hint of any abnormal smell. I would guess that the bags I used to catch any debris from the grinding and the vacuum job are responsible for the results. My only real regret was the burn of the Rockwood with no food as a result.

As you can see, this is a night time shot, and the lighting is compliments of a product I saw as a result of another posting about lights. I used to use a flashlight and/or a head lamp when needed, but this new light looks like a winner.

This is the light found at Lowe's for under $15.00:

and the last photo. The light is easily attached/removed (I cannot see leaving it out in the snow), and can be folded it out so it would be perpendicular to the handle and also can be rotated to change the direction in which the LEDs face:

Many thanks to Ron for the gasket and the instructions that made this job a piece of cake, and to the poster of the question on lights that led me to the lighting solution.

Bands fixed, gasket replaced, and light solution in place for my evening cooks and the dark of Winter.

SGH

Looks like you have that egg tuned up and in top notch shape. Now fire it up and cook

RRP

Thank you for your kind words and job well done! You can trim that excess Permatex if it bothers you, but otherwise it will become dull and dark in time.