Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => Memphis => Topic started by: MadFoodScientist on February 20, 2018, 08:06:47 AM
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My Memphis Pro 304 was delivered last Thursday. My dealer delivered the grill already assembled. This included removing the film on the grill! There were a few “residue dots†(not sure what to call them) from the film that I had to wipe down. Also, there were a few stray pieces that were stuck in crevices ect so I felt some of the pain most new owners go through.
My initial impression was this grill has amazing finish quality. I have previously owned/used a Louisiana Grill CS540 and a Cookshack PG500 for reference. The Memphis Grill looks/feels like it is in a different league than these other grills. No sharp edges on the grill and just looks really well put together.
A have had good a few meals in it since recieving (though it has been almost non stop rain in Texas since Saturday night so I have not had a chance for any long smoking sessions). Below are my initial impressions:
The Controller:
The controller has a nice large read out that is easy to see. The interface is very intuitive and controlls seem really easy. WIFI set up worked on the first try. I have used WIFI on every cook and so far have not had any troubles with disconnects or the grill not finding the WIFI. My grill came with Grill Firmware 2.8.6 and WIFI Firmware 1.94. Does anyone know if this is the latest firmware?
The WIFI app is pretty basic. Can only set temperatures, probe targets, and turn on/off the grill. Would be great if it had more options (like my Fireboard). That being said, it is very convenient to be able to change temperatures and monitor the temperature without having to hook up external gadgets (like the Fireboard). The recipes in the app are very limited. Would be great if you could add your own recipes to the app.
Cooks:
My first cook was steak. I tried the open flame plate option. I tried to follow the instructions that were in the manual. I heated the grill to 500F with the indirect plate in and then switched to the open flame plate and left the hood open. I used OF2 and did not get much heat/sear on the steak. It seems like I would get better results using the indirect plate at 650F? I ended up switching the indirect plate into the grill, lowering the temperature to 500F and finishing it with the hood close. The steaks came out great. For other owners out there, do you keep the hood open when using the open flame plate? Can the open flame plate be used at a temperature (not OF setting) with the hood closed? Do you take the temperature past 500F before going into OF mode?
Next I cooked some hamburgers and hotdogs at 450F. They came out great. Burgers were really juicy and I was really happy with the results.
Next cook was chicken drums and wings. I put EVOO on the chicken and then put some chicken rub on the chicken. I smoked at 180F for 90 minutes. The grill put out a lot of smoke. I am not sure why some people say the Memphis does not smoke. I took a video of the smoke output and it is on youtube if anyone is interested https://youtu.be/KthmA9hIMmw . I then turned the heat up to 400 for 15ish minutes to finish off the chicken and get the skin crispy. The results were fantastic. My chicken definitely had smoke flavor and tasted great (and was juicy). The family loved it. During the cook, the temperature hardly fluctuated more than +/- 2 degrees according to the grill. Also neat how the fan turns on and off in smoke mode. Non of my previous pellet grills did this. It almost sounds like your grill has turned off when the fan stops running.
The weather forecast is saying rain here until Sunday. If that holds, I plan to do some low and slow on Sunday (either beef plate ribs or a brisket or both). If that plan holds, I will update with that cook.
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Congrats, and looking forward to seeing more of your cooks. How do you like the interior of the side shelves?
If you haven't tried it yet, I like to buy aluminum cake pans at Walmart that fit in the grease/ash drawers. I just take them and throw them out to minimize effort in clean up of the drawers.
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I do have a few issues that I think are mostly related to how the dealer assembled the grill. My dealer is sending over a tech this afternoon to see if they can fix these issues. Let me know if anyone else has experienced them.
1.The hood of the grill is misaligned (shown in the picture). The right side of the hood is over the right edge when shut and the left side of the hood does not reach the edge when shot. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the left side when cooking since the hood did not go all the way to the edge. Not sure if this can be fixed by adjusting the screws that hold in the hood. Looks like they were not tightened evenly?
2. The power cord storage hook is lose and the screws that hold it in are not catching. They keep falling out.
3. There are two extra cords that are hanging down from the controller area (that are not the power cord) which should not be there (circled in the attached picture). I assume those can be tucked into the grill?
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Congrats, and looking forward to seeing more of your cooks. How do you like the interior of the side shelves?
Thanks Bar-B-Lew! The interior of the side shelfs are good so far. I like having the one on the right to store the direct flame plate or the indirect plate in. It is a convenient spot to place it when they are hot. I also store the multi tool in there when not in use. The one on the left has much less space. So far I am using it to store the temp probe. I think it will be handy when cooking ribs or turkey for holding sauce/melted butter/etc. Overall, I think they are nice to have but are not a necessity.
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Congrats!!! Looks like you are off to a great start and quickly figuring things out. Hoping you get the couple of wrinkles ironed out with the tech visit :)
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I am shocked you couldn’t get a sear in open flame mode.
Thanks Gtsum2. I agree on the open flame mode. My grill has no problem with getting hot (and doing it quickly). I believe it was a user error. I plan to try again as soon as it stops raining here!
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Some answers:
Direct flame insert - you may use it with the hood closed. Just don't go away and leave it..You can check the pit temp by selecting your max temp setting if not comfortable cooking like that.
Hood shifted to the right. Call greg @ Memphis. He will send you a youtube video on hood alignment. It is a simple fix:Just requires a grab and shove to the left operation.
Cord cleat attaching screws. They are self taping and may have been over torqued resulting in stripped threads or an enlarged hole. The fix either /or new screws or nuts added.. I would mention to Greg." Memphis " is exceptionally cooperative!
Dangling cord.Proper placement should be displayed in your owners manual.
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Thanks John. Glad to hear confirmation that all the issues are resolvable. I contacted Memphis Grills over the weekend but have not heard back from them yet. I decided to get my dealer involved as well since they assembled the grill. Do you happen to have that youtube link for aligning the hood?
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Probably issues the dealer should handle. Especially since he is close.
Welcome to the team! Keep those cook pix coming!
Z
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Thanks John. Glad to hear confirmation that all the issues are resolvable. I contacted Memphis Grills over the weekend but have not heard back from them yet. I decided to get my dealer involved as well since they assembled the grill. Do you happen to have that youtube link for aligning the hood?
Sorry, I don't have the link. Memphis will get it to you for sure..They are good at getting back to you..They return calls on an as received basis. They don't work weekends so expect a call soon.
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Welcome to the Show!
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Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! Update on my grill- the dealer came out and looked at it. They tried to adjust the hood and move it over. The said it looks like the hood is warped. They also tried to bang it back with a hammer but were not able. They are going to order a new hood and install it when it comes in. Additionally, the said the wire harness was the wrong hardware and they are going to get the right hardware ordered. Hopefully they will get it all figured out. Disappointing to receive a grill with issues but hopefully these can all be fixed.
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Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! Update on my grill- the dealer came out and looked at it. They tried to adjust the hood and move it over. The said it looks like the hood is warped. They also tried to bang it back with a hammer but were not able. They are going to order a new hood and install it when it comes in. Additionally, the said the wire harness was the wrong hardware and they are going to get the right hardware ordered. Hopefully they will get it all figured out. Disappointing to receive a grill with issues but hopefully these can all be fixed.
Bummer, but this is where local dealer support sure does make a local purchase worth it vs buying online.
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welcome keep us posted on how everything works out for you going forward
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Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! Update on my grill- the dealer came out and looked at it. They tried to adjust the hood and move it over. The said it looks like the hood is warped. They also tried to bang it back with a hammer but were not able. They are going to order a new hood and install it when it comes in. Additionally, the said the wire harness was the wrong hardware and they are going to get the right hardware ordered. Hopefully they will get it all figured out. Disappointing to receive a grill with issues but hopefully these can all be fixed.
Bummer, but this is where local dealer support sure does make a local purchase worth it vs buying online.
It makes me wonder if that grill was a return.
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I doubt it was a return if it was being sold as new. Much like the owner, the dealer and even the factory..it may not have been seen it right away! It might have got tweeked in transit, and until someone really had a chance to admire it and look closely it was not caught. I thought it is just misaligned and could be corrected, but if the dealer cant do it, I am pretty sure you will see both the dealer and Hearthland stand behind their product. Of that I am positive!
But again, I am a biased owner and know the company!
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I doubt it was a return if it was being sold as new. Much like the owner, the dealer and even the factory..it may not have been seen it right away! It might have got tweeked in transit, and until someone really had a chance to admire it and look closely it was not caught. I thought it is just misaligned and could be corrected, but if the dealer cant do it, I am pretty sure you will see both the dealer and Hearthland stand behind their product. Of that I am positive!
But again, I am a biased owner and know the company!
I wasn't thinking a return to the factory. I was thinking a return to the dealer. The damaged lid isn't what makes me think this, but rather the wrong hardware being used on the wiring harness. Everything coming from the factory should have the same hardware on it, so if the hardware is different, it sounds kind of fishy.
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Is there an end to this story? It is so unfortunate that a premium pit, for what ever reason was delivered to to a customer in this condition.
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John,
Thanks for asking for a follow up. I never heard back from Memphis. I am planning on giving them another call today. The dealer has ordered the new hood and wire bracket hardware. They said the parts should arrive end of this week and then they will install.
I have noticed in using the grill I get a lot of smoke leakage from where the hood does not sit correctly on the grill. Additionally, the grill is using pellets really fast. The dealer is not willing to swap the grill even though it was defective when delivered to me. I asked what happened to the correct hardware for the bracket (was it used for a different step that it was not supposed to be used for) and where the hardware that was used was supposed to go in the grill. They did not have an answer. They speculate that the hood warping occurred during shipment. I am a bit concerned that if the hood warped from shipping- what else might have been damaged/warped.
I will update once the new parts are installed. If the new hood stops the smoke leaking/ high pellet usage then I will be satisified but I do think it is a bummer that such a high cost grill was sold to me defective and now will essentially be a refurbished grill.
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I am trying to choose between this and probably its most typical competitor and this might have sealed the deal for me. I would be livid spending that much and them telling me no bueno on an exchange. I am sorry to hear you are having these issues. I hope they make it right for you. Good luck.
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No way would I accept that as an acceptable response to a messed up $3k+ grill. I too would be pretty fired up!
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That is not like Memphis. Something is wrong.
The smoke leak should be rectified with a proper fitting hood to body fit..If the gap is large enough to loose heat, the pellet consumption will be elevated..The Pro is no where being a pellet hog- no way.
I would keep CALLING Memphis..I'll PM you a phone # and name..
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Can you just tell the dealer you want to return it and let that be the end of your relationship with them?
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I called back Memphis. I spoke to Zach and he was aware of the situation but did not know all the details. He was going to have his manager Sharla call me back. I am also going to try the number John PMed me later today. I have already asked the dealer to do a straight return so that I could go buy it else where and he said no since I have cooked on the grill.
The grill is definitely hogging the pellets. I went through a hopper of pellets doing the following cooks (several of them high heat but still seems to be high pellet use):
* Steaks in OF2 mode
* Hamburger and hotdogs with grill set at 450
*Smoked chicken with grill at 180F for 90 minutes and then finished at 400F for 15-20 mins
*Hamburgers and hotdogs with grill set at 450
I will keep you guys updated. It has honestly been a very upsetting experience.
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BTW- When I asked the dealer why they did not notice the hood was warped during assembly, they replied that they assemble the grills in a dark warehouse and the person assembling probably didn't see that it was warped since it is dark in the warehouse.
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Man, I sure hope Memphis is hearing about this kind (lack) of service from
one of their dealers...
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BTW- When I asked the dealer why they did not notice the hood was warped during assembly, they replied that they assemble the grills in a dark warehouse and the person assembling probably didn't see that it was warped since it is dark in the warehouse.
That may be one of the worst excuses I've ever heard. Sooooooo, they think it is a good excuse to ADMIT that they purposely assemble high end equipment IN THE DARK???
I was originally watching this thread to see how the dealer would make it right. Now, I'm watching to see if Memphis will make it right and make the DEALER right or drop them.
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Update- I have not heard back from Sharla at Memphis Grills yet. I did hear back from Greg from Tech support at Memphis Grills today (I called him in addition to my other call at Memphis). Greg said that he would let the national sales rep and regional sales rep know to check in with the dealer and see what is going on. Greg did say it would be up to the dealer to swap the grills and was not up to Memphis Grills (which is the opposite of what the dealer told me). I mentioned to Greg this is the opposite of what the dealer said and his response was that the dealer is the one who sold the grill to me (which is actually what I told my dealer). Greg said it takes a while for them to get a new hood made and it would be a while before I had that part sent.
Greg did not seem to be aware that the wrong screws were used for the power plug bracket.
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Your dealer should make this right. If one were to buy a new Ford pickup that ended up having issues the first place one would go would be the dealer.
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Unfortunately neither my dealer or Memphis seem to want to make it right so far. :( They are both saying they will not swap the grill for a non-defective unit and that they just want to replace the hood. The hood is a long lead part and it will be several weeks before a new hood gets in. Meanwhile, the grill uses a ton of pellets when operating due to no seal on the hood.
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Unfortunately neither my dealer or Memphis seem to want to make it right so far. :( They are both saying they will not swap the grill for a non-defective unit and that they just want to replace the hood. The hood is a long lead part and it will be several weeks before a new hood gets in. Meanwhile, the grill uses a ton of pellets when operating due to no seal on the hood.
Tell the dealer to give you your money back. Order one from where gtsum2 bought his.
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Sorry, but it sounds like a dealer issue and you need to make him/her understand you want your money back. If I bought a Chevy from a dealer with a problem, I would go back to that dealer because they are the one that took my money.
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Assuming you used a credit card, file a complaint too. This is ridiculous!!!
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These are the threads that are trying for an owner of a forum like this. You want to have folks be able to express thoughts and opinions on just about anything, but we also don't want Members to feel like they can hold Manufactures hostage to make something right! When it is not their responsibility to do so.
Now that everyone is riled up, I am not accusing MadFoodScientist of doing that...but it can sure come across that way.
I agree that it is a dealer issue. And I will simply be blunt as that seems to work best for me. Brining the Manufacture into it and saying they won't make it right does seem like you are trying to guilt them into doing so.
And I guess my last question is which quote below is accurate? If the dealer makes it right, will you be satisfied?
I am hoping you paid with a CC, I believe all have dispute services now days. I do not believe you will be happy with this unit, and maybe I am way off base with this next comment, do not believe due to this experience you may ever be satisfied with a Hearthland Product.
Seems to me you have excellent documentation of what has happened between you and the dealer and I would think that should be very valuable in a resolution!
I will update once the new parts are installed. If the new hood stops the smoke leaking/ high pellet usage then I will be satisified but I do think it is a bummer that such a high cost grill was sold to me defective and now will essentially be a refurbished grill.
Unfortunately neither my dealer or Memphis seem to want to make it right so far.
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I am not trying to throw blame at Memphis Grills or hold them hostage as I definitely see where they are coming from and my initial reaction was that the dealer needs to make it right (which is why I waited 2 weeks working with the dealer before really reaching out to Memphis). That being said, Memphis does pick who they allow to be dealers of the product. According to the dealer, it is up to Memphis if they replace just the hood or the whole grill (again this is according to the dealer).
I have done everything I think I can (beyond looking into legal solutions which I am not really wanting to do) to try to get the dealer to take the grill back (including talking to one of the owners of the dealer). I would say I feel more helpless at this point then anything which is very frustrating.
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Yep, file a claim with the credit card company. The threat of a charge back might be enough to get the dealer to move on this. I don't think it can hurt.
I am the owner of a Memphis Elite due to a similar situation. The original owner sold me the grill because it was damaged during delivery, and neither the dealer or mfg made it right to his satisfaction.
I got a pretty nice deal on grill that was only used a couple of time.
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Yep, file a claim with the credit card company. The threat of a charge back might be enough to get the dealer to move on this. I don't think it can hurt.
I am the owner of a Memphis Elite due to a similar situation. The original owner sold me the grill because it was damaged during delivery, and neither the dealer or mfg made it right to his satisfaction.
I got a pretty nice deal on grill that was only used a couple of time.
Interesting...
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You could also go to small claims court. Usually pretty cheap to file and neither side can have a lawyer. I had a one landlord who tried to stiff me out of my deposit. A few days after I served him with the papers I got my deposit plus my "court costs" by check in the mail.
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I just filed a dispute with the credit card company so we will see what happens. I will keep the claims court option in mind as well if the credit card company does not come through.
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I just filed a dispute with the credit card company so we will see what happens. I will keep the claims court option in mind as well if the credit card company does not come through.
Glad to hear you are holding their feet to the fire! What they are doing is just wrong.
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I just filed a dispute with the credit card company so we will see what happens. I will keep the claims court option in mind as well if the credit card company does not come through.
Glad to hear you are holding their feet to the fire! What they are doing is just wrong.
Any update? Super curious to hear how this ends up being handled...
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+1.
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Thanks for checking in guys! I was out of town last week on vacation but the dealer came by at the end of the week and swapped the hood out for a new hood. I am happy to report it lines up correctly now! It looks like I did indeed have a warped hood. The dealer also attached the cord bracket correctly. I have not had a chance yet to do any low and slow but have done some steaks this week. Everything appears to be working. I am planning to do some low and slow this weekend (I will post results) but if it works like it is supposed to- I am going to call the credit card company Monday and remove the dispute.
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Great, glad to hear there was a happy ending to the story. Enjoy the pit.
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To hopefully ease the pain, having just assembled mine, there's extra holes both in the cord bracket and the grill shelf itself and they are equal distance apart and slightly different sizes probably by about .5-1 mm. If you hit the wrong hole, the screw does not really tread in, but it close enough in size that it doesn't easily just slip back out either...I know all this because I missed on the underside of the shelf the first time because I didn't want to lay on the floor under the shelf to put in 2 screws. I felt wasn't threading and stopped to look closer.
Anyway, point being to hopefully ease some worry there, I'm thinking there's a good chance they used the correct hardware and just hit the wrong hole. These were the only screws I recall from the install (there were 10 bolts for the shelves), so it would have been hard to mix them up and use in a different step.
Happy cooking, enjoy the new Pro! Looks like you should be all set to go.
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In the end...... it's a pretty sexy cooker IMO.
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Looks good ! Such a performance to have to go thru... Now, on with the show and warmer weather on the way.....Enjoy that pit. :D
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So glad to hear things got worked out!
Now let's see what that baby can do.
Z
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Another update guys and this one is not good.... I have been traveling a lot in the last couple of weeks and there has been a lot of rain here in Texas so I have been limited in time I was able to use the grill. What I started noticing when I did use the grill (got about 3-4 cooks in during this time period), the hood would seem to shift back to the right. I was able to shift it back in place after cooking but it was drifting towards where it was previously with the warped hood. This weekend I ran a test. I made sure the hood was aligned when I started cooking. I kept the grill at 450F for an hour. At the end of the test, the hood had clearly shifted. I am thinking the issue was not with the previous hood but something about the grill when it gets hot. Below are some pictures after my hour long cook.
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Hey bud,
I know this is annoying with a high ticket item but rest easy. This won't affect performance at all unless you get it off to one side enough to lose the gasket seal. Mine does the same however not so much with high heat for a long duration. If I lift the hood and push to one side during closure it will cheat to whatever side i cheated towards. You can eliminate this if you wanted to by bending the hinge tabs closer together. I didn't find it worth all that. I loosened the two 4mm torx hinge bolts slightly, gave it a little love shove to the left and then tightened them back up. It can still shift left/right a bit if I don't close it with intent dead on center but it doesn't bother me unless the gasket looses seal, then you get inefficient burn and smoke soot all over your stainless. Also may want to check your level (Entire Grill Level) as if it's sitting high on the left side or right side as it heats up good ol gravity will lead it to cheat to one side of the other.
Let me know if you try the hinge bolt adjustment and how it turns out!
Happy Smoking
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Does it move when you use it? Like it starts in one place and then shifts during use?
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Mine shifts a little as well as I move it across uneven surfaces.
Have old cement and gravel driveway.. I just position it until I find a spot where it is fairly level and straight.
Still very solid and works extremely well..
Happy Camper.. :bbq:
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Is it effecting your cooking?
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Mine does not shift when I move the grill (I barely move it on a flat surface before cooking). Right now it does not seem to be effecting the cooking but I am concerned that if it keeps shifting when hot that over time it will become a problem.
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Seems strange. If there was play in the hinges (steel tabs held on with the two 4mm hex bolts) that are attached to the hood should have that little bit of slop while moving, opening closing etc not just when becoming hot. But maybe your situation is unique. I can only offer what I've experienced with my Pro but the hood is only able to shift as far as the small gap between grill body and those two tabs (hinges) will allow. If your two hex bolts are tight it should never move left or right enough to become an issue cooking.
I hope you are able to find some closure to this darn hood issue as it's such an amazing unit to cook on. Keep us posted and have you chatted with Memphis or your rep since this new discovery?
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The lid on my Pro doesn't move. I added three stainless flat washers to the hinge bolts to reduce axial play and center it. Two on one side and, that is right, one on the other.
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And that sir, is why we call C John a genius! :beer:
I shall now walk to the garage, grab a few ss washers, and never again concentrate on which side I cheat towards as I close the lid