Chubby Resto Thread.

Just traded in my rear vent chubby for a top vent chubby. My old stove had the original shaker pot, a nightmare to shake down! I had to open the ash door to shake the stove, ash everywhere! The refurbished stove has the new style shaker pot. Common sense told me that the hole would eventually wear with normal tending and shaking of the stove. How fast, don't now! Figured the more worn the hole got the more of an air leak there would be. Besides, seeing pictures of how worn the hole was on other stoves made me nervous. I tried the suggestion of placing a 3/8 fender washer on the shaker rod. It works to cover up the gap, but how good? I took this idea further and used two 5/16" x 1 5/8" fender washers, thats what I had available. I drilled out the center holes to 3/8", just big enough for the shaker rod to fit through. I then drilled holes on the top and bottom of both washers. Lacking welding experience and a welder, I used JB weld to secure one washer to the nipple where the shaker rod goes through the body of the stove. JB weld is rated for 600*, the area in question will never see 600*. If it does then I am in trouble. I used small screws to secure both washers together. Not sure how small, whatever I had lying around! Once completed there is very little clearance for air leakage past the shaker rod. When the hole eventually wears too much I simply replace the worn outer washer with a new one! I originally planned on using 1 washer and drilling/tapping the nipple for the screws, but there wasn't enough surface area to tap the holes safely. Besides if I ever wanted to remove this brilliant idea there wouldn't be holes in the stove! I planned on painting it flat black to match the rest of the stove, but I kinda like the industrial look of it. Maybe I'll run this idea past Larry!

Jpete and JB, the stoves look really nice and ready to supply you with some nice even heat.

Did anyone say what the bracket was for, maybe I missed it but I see it in tcalo's picture as well ?
Tcalo nice repair by the way, it looks like it fits the rod perfectly.

Nice repair Tcalo. I haven't worked on my Chubby in a while but I have to do something similar. Mine is horribly worn out. I've been kicking around ideas. This seems pretty simple.

If my Mark II keeps busting my stones, I'll have to get thee Chubby back on the front burner.

echos67 wrote:Jpete and JB, the stoves look really nice and ready to supply you with some nice even heat.

Did anyone say what the bracket was for, maybe I missed it but I see it in tcalo's picture as well ?
Tcalo nice repair by the way, it looks like it fits the rod perfectly.

Thanks for the compliment. The 2 brackets between the hinges on the lower door were used to shake the pot down. There was a short rod that went through the shaker rod and attached to these brackets. Larry recommends pulling the shaker rod in and out using your poker. I could see someone smashing their hand on the stove using the short shaker rod, if their hand slipped. Probably why Larry no longer recommends it!

Using the bracket shaker rod was more of a rotating gesture and didn't work too well, it causes the grates to lift and bind. Pulling the shaker rod straight out and pushing it in is easier on the grate. I asked Larry about it a few seasons ago when I had the Chubby SR.

Thanks for the replies, it makes sense relating to the pictures.

Those stoves appear to be user friendly and look good to boot.

I just got home from work and went to shake the stove down from a nice 12 hour burn and sadly the washer that I JB welded onto the stove has broken loose. Guess I am going to have to find someone with a portable welder! So much for easy fixes.