Hello all. First off being new to posting here but surely not good reading and learning I wanted to ask a few questions. I picked up this kettle on CL a few months ago. Its an 18.5" kettle but not on long legs like the OTS I have. Its on legs like my smokey Joe. Has anyone ever seen one before like this in grey? If so what exactly is it? Is it a regular weber kettle? Any help would be great and thanks. BTW what led me to this site was my 20$ purchase of an 18.5 WSM on CL an unbelievable find! Thanks for any help! Here is a link to the grill.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11962640@N03/3923973985/



Rich

I have read before about a hard to find smokey Joe gold this wouldn't be one of those would it? I couldn't be that lucky!

Thanks

Thats a Smoky Joe Platinum aka Jumbo Joe. It was discontinued a couple years ago because of the new "Q". Great find!

Nice! Thats kind of what I was hoping to here are they very common?

Im sure at one point, but they get more rare the older they get.

I don't suppose you can get replacement wood handles for them can you? And Im missing a vent but I think I can order that form Weber.

no more wood handles. just sand it and then treat it with mineral oil. i hate the plastic ones. as to the grey, the black ones will do that when left in the sun a lot. nice find.

Smokey Joe Gold is a 14.5", with a lock down handle to hold the lid on during transport in a car. Still available.

SJ Platinum/Jumbo Joe is an 18.5", also with a handle for lid lock down. Handle hooks on to side to create a Slide Aside lid holder. Discontinued in 2004 or so. There is a thread elsewhere on the board, re: they were on sale at Ace for $29.99 or $39.99 w/ a $20 mail in rebate (slow sellers to the general public when available-even though we on this site covet them).

Last month (August 2009), I ran across 2 NIB SJP at a local hardware store: a '97 and a '98. Imagine carrying an item in inventory for 12 years! Perfect brand new wood handles, etc. I got one off CL in July for $15, gray lid/black bowl.

Well thanks everyone for the information I really appreciate it and it seems to be a nice addition to the arsenal =)

Nice Find Rich, I have one that I bought at Ace with the rebate. I purchased a Pro Q WSM stacker and did the flip mod plus I added 3 curved daisy style vents in the bottom and now I have a very sweet little 3/4 WSM size smoker that works just great.

About the only issue I had with my Jumbo Joe was it just didn't burn quite hot enough. Tha addition of the borrom vents took care of this.

BTW incase someone is realy jonesen for a Jumbo Joe there is one on Ebay but the seller wants a C note ($100) for it. A bit steep for my taste.

Joe

Thanks Joe, I too have problems with the grill temps. That would be awesome to make another smoker like my WSM, do the original vents stay in place and you just add the small daisy style vents at the bottom? Also does it smoke as well as the WSM as far as holding temps and so forth? If so thats what Im doing as well. Only problem I see is the kettle is currently grey it would be mismatched which would rally bug me.

Thanks Joe

Rich, I placed the vents just slightly below the charcoal grate. Yes I left my original Jumbo Joe vents in, infact I use them more than the 3 new vents. What I did was remove the carry handle that holds the vents in place and replace it with a nut ,bolt,washer set up that allows me to use the original vents.

As far as holding temp, it does great!! once it is dialed into temp it will pretty much stay right there until it exhaust the fuel. It performs every bit as good as my WSM in holding temp. I think that is mostly due to the smaller size and less air to heat.

If you choose to do this mod you can pick up a Pro Q WSM stacker on Ebay for $20 plus around $16 shipping. I bought 3 sold 2 to friends for thier 18.5 webers , Yea I did the flip mod for them,LOL ,

Joe

Thats great news! Now the dumb question where can I go for details on the mod? Thanks for the info!

I think there is a thread here on this site in the WSM modification forum. Basically you just take the grate holders out and remove the carry handles.

Then what I did was place it upside down on a flat surface, by upside down I mean opisite side up from how it was set up to fit on your WSM before your removed the hardware.

Then what I did was measure up from the flat surface 6" and in line vertically with the 3 holes that held the grate hard ware before, mark the spot and punch

Next I drilled holes where I had the punch marks big enough for clearance on a 1/4-20 bolt.

Now the ProQ stacker grill grate holders are going to be too short to support the water pan from your WSM so you can either get a different style water pan that will work or what I did was space the grate holders out from the inside by placing a 1/4 20 bolt through the holes and then threading on 2 @1/4 20 nuts and then placing the grate hardware on the bolt and securing it with another 1/4 20 nut. This will stand the grate holders off from the side enough to support a WSM water bowl.

Next I relocated the handles to the same distance from the now top edge as they were from the old. Align verticaly with the old handle holes and repeat the mark and punch process. I drilled the new handle holes the same as the grate holders and re-used the handle hardware.

Next I took 7 short 3/8x 1/4 20's bolts and nuts and plugged all the holes where the old hardware was at. and that my friend is pretty much it.

Nothing to it ,your lid on your Jumbo Joe will fit the Pro Q stacker just fine, if you like you can place a thermo opisite 180* opisite the lid vent.

Joe

Thanks for all the info. Well its seems very simple and relatively straight forward. I guess the question now is do I want a grey bottom black middle and a grey lid? I really want to mod it though so we will see. Thanks again!