Yoder Smokers Community Forum

I know that this is normally something you would see on an Automotive Forum vs a BBQ/Smoker forum but I wanted to share my restoration project.
A few weeks ago I had a chance to purchase a 2012 YS640 Competition Pellet Grill. It was posted on a local board I visit and included one blurry shot of the YS640 dressed in its silver thermal jacket. I have been looking for a YS640 for 4 years, after I saw one in action on our team at the American Royal. The photo was bad but the price was right and I knew it was a Yoder so it was built like a tank!
I purchased it and a couple of days later here is what I had:






I was not expecting that on the outside but what I really was not expecting was what I found on the inside!
I think it was 6 years of smoking and grilling and never a Spring cleaning! I failed to get a shot of the grill grates and heat diffuser but they had a good 1/4-1/2 inches of crude on them.
The real shock came when I removed everything and found literally 2 inches of baked on sludge. Not even sure what to call it as I had to use a hammer and chisel to break it up! The picture below is even after I had cleaned up the sides a bit.
It was so jammed that the damper would not slide!


The inside will end up being very close to new. I knew I was removing all the "seasoning" but this pit needed it removed and will easily be re-seasoned with a few pork butt cooks.
Next up was the grates and heat diffuser. For this I used an internet trick that says to place them in a large black garbage bag, add vinegar and ammonia, seal the bag and let it sit in the sun for 24-36 hours. I did not think it was going to work but it really did remove the bulk of the grease and burnt on junk! Finished with a trip to the local coin power wash station (don't tell them ) and finally a few minutes on each with a SS brush. Pictures on the results later!

Now that the inside was taken care of it was time to focus on the outside! Time to take every nut and bolt (and rivet) out and separate the body from the cart.
My smoke shack worked well as a lifting beam along with some 5,000lb ratchet straps.


This YS640 came with a factory silver cart and it was in pretty good shape once I cleaned it up.


I love the Yoder orange so I decided that I would use a removable primer on the factory silver cart. This way I can get my Yoder orange cart but in the future if I want to go back to factory silver I can by just pealing it off (again, more of a car/truck thing to keep things original but I collect trucks so thats why it's in my head to work like this)

Need more photo space so will keep adding to this topic

Cart cleaned up and ready for primer:




Taping:


Primer coat - it ended up with a bit more texture than I was expecting but I actually like it!


Wheels were a bit rusty so I removed them and painted them in a grey galvanizing paint
Before rust removal and paint


All removable parts were stripped off of the body.
The great thing about Yoder is that all those parts are stainless steel! This not only made it easy but is another reason this smoker lasts so long. All nuts, bolts, handles, etc were chemically cleaned, then manually wire wheels to bring them back to new condition.

Next on the list was the Yoder Smoker plaques on the front and rear of the cart.
Removed, stripped with my angle grinder and a wire wheel, rust treated and then primed and painted a nice gloss black.
I went to my local BBQ store and checked out a new Yoder so I could get some of the smaller details correct




Back to the inside




The grates are like new!

Its all in the details...












Completed project shots next...

And here she is - my newly restored YS640!
Cheers and thanks for reading my long post.
Dan

Put me down in the impressed column!

Lot of work but boy it sure looks pretty. I guess for the fun of it...I would be interested in how much you figure you have into it?

As far as removing the build up inside... personally I prefer to not have someone elses grime or buildup, who knows whats on there and good move to kinda just start over.

Anyway, great job and congrats. I know a lot of pride comes into play when someone puts their personal touch into a build or rebuild.

westhemess1 wrote:Put me down in the impressed column!

Lot of work but boy it sure looks pretty. I guess for the fun of it...I would be interested in how much you figure you have into it?

As far as removing the build up inside... personally I prefer to not have someone elses grime or buildup, who knows whats on there and good move to kinda just start over.

Anyway, great job and congrats. I know a lot of pride comes into play when someone puts their personal touch into a build or rebuild.

How much I have in it all depends on how you look at it.
Materials are fairly minimal - couple hundred but my time is where the cost comes. 2 solid weekends of work, a day off work and a few afterwork hours!
Thanks for the kind comments, it was a fun project and I just completed a slow burn in to set the high heat paint so it ready to go!
Dan

Thanks for taking the time to post this. We are reviewing it for inclusion into our YS blog.

Wow!!! Very nicely done. Very impressed. The food will taste that much better for all of your efforts!

I really like what you shared here...

Now that's an impressive restoration, your comparison with the automotive world isn't inaccurate at all. I've seen WW2 era vehicles restored with a similar amount of effort!

If it can help someone, my family has a lazy but efficient way to clean a greasy-as-hell and/or rusty steel item: douse them in Coca Cola, let the thing bathe for 24 hours, and if it isn't clean after this, you can try if you want to go for another 24 hours; if it keeps looking terrible after this, you have to break out the sandpaper or the wire wheel... But at this point, it'll be easier to replace the part altogether, if you can. Hell, I even used this to restore my grandfather's 1911 from the Korean War, which had the trigger mechanism rusted solid.

Amazing Job techmogogy!
You must have got one hell of a deal on it to put that much work into it.
It sure was a mess in the beginning, no respect letting it get into that kind of shape.
But as heavy duty as these things are, you will have it for many years to come.

Strelok_401 I need to try that cola idea, have a few Items I want to try and restore.