How to get rid of the gap?

minniemoh · June 2014

My brother and his family moved this weekend and I was in charge of moving his BGEs. Over the Winter he picked up a very nice used M BGE very cheap. The original assembly was not done correctly. The bands were put together wrong - bottom band had the bolt on the left side of the egg and the top band had the clamping bolt on the right side. There was a 1/4" air gap at the hinge between the base and dome. This thing was only used a handful of times before he bought it and the gasket (surprisingly) was still in pretty good shape considering the amount of heat that had to be escaping through the gap at the back.

I thought I would help him out and re-assemble the egg correctly since there was so much air getting in that you couldn't even snuff out the fire. I switched the bands to the proper orientation and aligned the dome. As I tightened the bands, the dome would rise up and create the gap again. I tried every trick I know to get it to fit properly. I loosened the hinge bolts, and tightened the bands, tried tightening the base band first, tried tightening the top band first, tightened both bands equally at the same time. I had one of his buddies putting pressure down on the dome as I tightened to see if we could make it stay sealed. I worked on the thing for over two hours trying to get it right!

Anyone else every had this happen? I wonder if he needs new bands since they were installed incorrectly. He lives 4 hours away so I can't run back over and take pictures or give it another shot at a moment's notice. I am just really bugged by the fact that I couldn't get it to go together correctly. I have assembled and re-assembled at least a half dozen BGEs and never had this happen.

Suggestions?

Skiddymarker · June 2014

Wonder if the hinge assembly has been twisted out of shape?

With the hinge locked, the dome sitting on the base, let the bands align where they want to be and tightening the bands alternately has always resulted in a good fit - you've already tried that without success.

Looking at my 2011/12 MBGE the bands could be installed with the tension bolts on opposite sides and still work.

minniemoh · June 2014

@Skiddymarker - You're right in that it should have still worked just fine in that configuration. I used the white "hinge-lock" pieces on a few attempts, I also tried without them several times. I tried the little red tabs that are now included in the hardware pack to keep proper separation of the bands as you tighten and I tried without them too.

There was some grease build up on the back of the bands since so much smoke had been escaping through the gap. I cleaned that off with solvent thinking that it might be the cause due to the band being "lubed" and not gripping the ceramic well enough. I was able to get the gap down to about 1/8" of an inch but if I were to try dollar bill test, I would need a stack of about $20 worth of singles!

He also has the egg mates on the bands. My next step was to remove those to see if those were causing the bottom band to ride up as I tightened things up but I just ran out of time as we had to get back to the Twin Cities for dinner with my in-laws.

Thanks for trying to help.

How to get rid of the gap?

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