Issues with alignment?

blakeas

I have a large big green egg - I had an issue with overbite on my egg so they sent me a new clamp/hinge assembly.  So I have the Rutland gasket.  when I redid it, the back of the top lifts ever so slightly when I tighten everything down!  so I have gap.  I have tried adjusting several different times but it lifts ever so slightly when I tighten the bands.  Any advice?

Battleborn

Have you tried putting weight on the lid while you tighten the bands?

JethroBodeen

Either the bands are sliding or moving toward each other as your tightening or they are too close together holding the lid off the base before you started tightening. Also make sure the bolts holding the hinge pieces aren't so tight that they cause the hinge to bind when opened.

RRP

Your planes are out of whack! Proof of that is why the back lifts meaning that the front is sitting down first. You have to close the dome, loosen the bands, press the dome down hard to shift it and then retighten the nuts.

danv23

Thanks to insight from a prior post by "Grandpas Grub" my problem was solved. GG's solution is below, in italics. Here is the modified version of what I did:

- open dome, remove springs.
- close dome, loosen the 8 nuts securing hinge to bands.
- align dome to base, tighten the 8 nuts.
- open dome, reattach springs.

blakeas

I can get the dome to sit on the bottom that has the gasket and there is no gap.  its just when I tighten everything that the back has a gap.  I have retried it multiple times.  I am going to have the ace hardware come out (I bought it from them) to see if they can try but since I put the Rutland gasket, Im pretty sure they will say I am on my own!

I guess I can try to take the springs off?  how do I do that without opening?

Mattman3969

Use ratchet straps around the entire egg to hold it tightly in place then tighten the band bolts 

fishlessman

if you hold the dome open its easier to pop the springs off with a screwdriver or pliers.  use the screwdriver to pry the bands apart when re tightening them. pry off the hinge, tighten the bottom band first, then pry and tighten the top to keep it as high as possible on the dome

blakeas

so I got the below from someone - only problem is I don't know what they mean by slotted acorn nuts?  I don't see it?

"I called this morning and spoke to Dewayne at BGE HQ Customer Service.  He was extremely helpful and guided me through the steps to level out the top.  It was extremely simple to do, even for someone who didn't understand the way these things are put together. 

So basically here's what was the problem and what I did.  The first problem was that the lower band was not wrapped around evenly - it was lower in the rear than in the front.  He explained to me that the lower band should come right up to the edge of the lower gasket all the way around the lower half.  So I loosened the carriage bolt on the lower rear band and GENTLY tapped along the band using a block of wood and a rubber mallet until the band was placed evenly around the whole bottom.  Then I tightened the band.  From that point, the underbite had improved significantly, but there was still a bit of unevenness along the planes where the gaskets met and it still did not pass the dollar bill test.  In fact, the gap on the rear side between the gaskets was slightly worse, but I wasn't worried because I knew there were a couple more steps to 

Next step was to adjust the front to back placement to fine tune the sitting of the top to the bottom.  There are two slotted acorn nuts on the top part of the hinge (above the spring) on both sides of the top that needed to be loosened so that I can 'wiggle' the top into a centered position.  So I loosened all 4 nuts, wiggled it into position, then tightened.  Now the top was centered properly (no under or overbite), but there was still unevenness on the plane of contact - in other words, it still failed the dollar bill test. 

The last step was to somewhat repeat the first step (loosening the carriage bolt) except for the upper band.  Wherever there was the largest gap between the two gaskets, I GENTLY tapped the band upward which essentially pushed the lid downward by it's own weight.  Once I saw that the upper band was positioned in such a way that the entire top part of the egg sat nicely and evenly on the bottom, I tightened the carriage bolt of the top band and vuala!  It was fixed.  Dollar bill test passed all the way around the egg.  No more underbite (or overbite). “

Mark_B_Good

danv23 said:

Thanks to insight from a prior post by "Grandpas Grub" my problem was solved. GG's solution is below, in italics. Here is the modified version of what I did:

- open dome, remove springs.
- close dome, loosen the 8 nuts securing hinge to bands.
- align dome to base, tighten the 8 nuts.
- open dome, reattach springs.

I literally just did this about 5 minutes ago, as my right side was off by 1/4 inch. It worked, all aligned, no issues.

Thanks for posting.