Tyrus Posted yesterday at 06:27 PM Report Posted yesterday at 06:27 PM Just the other day I was finishing up on a country ribs cook and my KK latch ended up coming off in my hand. To say the least I was surprised and my pork was still a ways out from finishing. Obviously without a latch the lid springs back up, so I had to come up with something nearby to hold the cover down in order to finish my cook. This was it and a day later an improved model was developed in the lab, needless to say I called Dennis and another is in the mail. Just keep in mind all our latches aren't created equal, Dennis stated they increase in size the larger the KK. So as to why it broke. Well, if you ever closed your KK and didn't have the latch pulled out from the bottom catch you might on an isolated occasion suddenly find your lid stops abruptly slamming the latch against the catch. There is a preventative measure Dennis built in though, a roller bearing on a small shaft, but even so on occasion it will hit just right and fail. It happens very seldom, but on occasion that disturbance would occur and the resulting accumulation of these incidents add up to popping the weld on the attached plate. Now I'm not a math major but the applied science here dictates that when a moving object suddenly stops against another object, it's kinetic energy is instantly converted into other forms, as potential deformatiom being one or damage more precisely. It's cumulative effect causes the failure way down the road...it may never happen to you, but if it does all is not lost. So keep in mind these innovative alternatives if and when it does to finish your cook.
C6Bill Posted yesterday at 07:03 PM Report Posted yesterday at 07:03 PM Well at least the pork came out great !!!!!! Great job improvising. 2
jdbower Posted yesterday at 08:39 PM Report Posted yesterday at 08:39 PM Finally, a use for exercise equipment other than as a clothes rack! 3
tony b Posted 7 hours ago Report Posted 7 hours ago I actually had the upper latch handle break on my KK. I could still latch the lid using pliers. Dennis sent a replacement and instructions on how to replace the whole upper latch assembly. There are some "cosmetic" welds that need to be ground out to remove the old one. The Dremel came in very handy for that task. All is well now. 1
Tyrus Posted 44 minutes ago Author Report Posted 44 minutes ago 6 hours ago, tony b said: There are some "cosmetic" welds that need to be ground As I stood by my KK talking with Dennis and I looked for those spot welds, there were none. Apparently it came down to the year of manufacture, that's all, other than that removal with a Dremel cutting wheel would make easy work of any tack weld as you stated. Looking at your break, I'd call that an oddity. For moi, it's pretty straight forward to install, remove the two cap nuts and replace. Weird how it happened though, I opened to take a temp on the meat and the latch stayed in my hand. I said, "this ain't good." So I posted this for those unaware to be mindful of the possibilities, reassure them it's only a speedbump. That's all Folks
