Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits > Yoder
Yoder YS640 Restoration Project
TechMOGogy:
Normally people do this in car forums but I thought this may be fun.
A few weeks ago I found a great deal on a used Yoder YS640 Comp Cart.
I only saw 1 semi-clear cell phone shot of it and knew for the price it would sell fast.
Here in Canada these smokers are not cheap!
This is a shot of the retail price tag from my local bbq shop I took yesterday - YIKES!!
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I purchased it and seller even offered to even deliver it to my house - great deal all around!!
When it arrived it was raining so I did not have a ton of time to check it out other than the basic once over.
Few days later the fun began when I started taking the grates and heat diffuser out!
Here are some shots of how it looked - note that when it arrived it had a Yoder insulated jacket on it so most of the exterior was covered
by the silver 'jacket' (a $400 option so nice bonus for me)
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Back is not too rough!
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That was the good news!
The inside was a disgusting mess that I guarantee had never been cleaned (at all) since new!
I failed to get a shot of the grease crusted grates and the heat deflector that had a 1/2" of grease and crude stuck to it.
I knew from this that it was going to take a bit more than some paper towels and soap to clean this up :)
This shot is part of the inside - I had started to clean the sides and the adjustable heat baffle would barely move.
The lumps and chunks are from me slowly chipping away at, no word of a lie, 1.5-2" of grease and god knows what!! Hard crusted stuff that I had to use
a cold chisel to help remove!! It was really quite something.
To the far right is the grease drain, yeah you know the 1.5" hole where you place the bucket to drain all the grease! What you can't see it???
Neither could I as there was another 2" of grease there as well and the hole was fully plugged up (I actually had to look under the smoker to see where the grease drain was
located in a Yoder as it was a mystery from above and Yoders are new to me).
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Again, dirty hands so I failed to get a before shot of the lid - good 1/4" of material on it
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6 hours in and I was able to chip off all the junk on the bottom - if this was any other metal smoker it would be rusted through and be a pile of junk.
Yoder uses heavy gauge steel and that saved this one!
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Will post some additional pictures of the inside but it is now at the point where you can wipe you finger on it and it comes off the steel clean!
I know I removed the pits "seasoning" but it easy for me to re-season with a couple of pork butts and it was really so gross that it had to be done.
I used my garbage bag trick in the sun filled with 5 cups of ammonia and 5 cups of vinegar with baking soda for the grates... and then took them (and then heat
deflector to the local car wash - I am sure they will love me for that!). After a good blast and then wire brushing the heck out of them they turned out like new!
The bottom grates are literally like new, the upper has just a bit of baked on grease left on the front edges.
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on this photo you can see how clean the sides are - the whole inside of the pit is this way now
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At his point I am 8+ hours in - just to clean the inside of this thing!
Next is the fun part (for me)...the restoration of the outside!
Kristin Meredith:
Nice work so far. Looking forward to seeing the journey!!!
gkas:
That is definitely a project. Looks great so far.
TechMOGogy:
Took pretty much everything apart (or will - including removing the hopper).
All bolts, handles, signage, electrical connections and controller removed.
The bolts and handles were all degreased and then manually cleaned on a wire wheel since they are stainless steel.
Controller cleaned with degreaser
Yoder front and rear signage was wire brushed with my angle grinder, treated with a zinc phosphate coating, primed and painted black (as per factory Yoder specs)
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Drilled out the rivets on the Yoder front door plaque - will clean it and re-rivet once everything is painted
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Hopper work
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The body work - sand, sand, grind, grind, sand, sand :)
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And now for the body off restoration part :)
A couple of 3000lbs ratchet straps made short work of the 400lbs body
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Cart ready for prep work
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Tomorrow I will be cleaning the competition cart up and actually 'dipping it' Yoder orange.
I am doing the orange as a "temporary" coating (which should easily last 5+ years) as I want the option of keeping the
cart its original factory silver!
Final coat of 1200 degree black paint will go on and then everything goes back together!
Will post a few shots of the finished product.
If you have made it this far, thanks for reading though all of this!
Cheers,
Dan
Bentley:
How does the igniter plug look?
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