Quick leg fix for kettle owners

[TX Sandman]

OK, I know I've heard about this from someone else, but just in case someone here hasn't, I figure I'd post.

I love my kettle, but one thing I don't like is that the legs fall off when I go to empty the ashes. When I turn the kettle over, invariably I'd end up standing there with one leg loose. And when I go to put the legs back in, trying to turn the kettle back over would be a circus of holding the legs in, lifting the kettle, and trying not to make too big a mess of things. I solved the leg problem by pinning the legs into place.

I went to Lowes and purchased a packet of #4 stainless steel sheet-metal screws, pan-head, 5/8" long. I took a pencil and drew a line along the bottom of the opening for the screw. After removing the legs, I drilled a pilot hole with a #18 drill bit about halfway between the line and the top of the legs. After inserting the legs in the kettle, I put a #4 screw into each leg. The legs will stay in place now, but I can remove them by removing the screws.



Another problem I had was getting dirt stuck in the front leg. If it had a cover, I lost it ages ago. To keep it from filling with dirt, I bought a pack of 1" rubber "feet" from the caster section in Lowes. After cleaning the dirt out, I slipped one over the leg. No more worries about mud, plus the rubber foot helpes keep the kettle stable and less likely to "slip away".



OK, back to your fancy pits.

[OSD]

Good tips. Thanks for posting them.

[DATsBBQ]

Great tips. I have a Weber that suffers from those same problems. Did you have to use a punch to make a divot as to where to drill? Thought it was all porcelain on steel and I didn't want to take a chance on screwing the whole kettle up.

[TX Sandman]

Did you have to use a punch to make a divot as to where to drill? Thought it was all porcelain on steel and I didn't want to take a chance on screwing the whole kettle up.

No, I didn't need a punch. The hole I drilled was in the aluminum leg, so the drill started quickly in the soft metal. I just made sure to start v-e-r-y slowly to let the bit get started first.

The kettles I have seen all have spaces in the leg sockets. By drilling into the leg where these sockets are, I avoided damaging the grill itself, and If I messed it up I can always get replacement legs from Weber.

I remove the legs to make drilling the holes easier. After drilling, I pre-installed the screws to cut threads, then removed the screws, put the legs back on, and inserted the screws. No danger of damage to the grill, and no fumbling to start the screws withthe legs installed.

This pic shows the general proceedure. If you look closely, you can see my pencil mark on the leg, and also the hole I drilled. On the right is the socket for the leg. You can see the space I used for the screw placement.



Dang, I didn't realize how much rust is there until I took this. This kettle is from 1993 and is still in good shape, but still . . .