Hello!
As I stated in my introductory post, I picked up a second Hitzer 5093 last Friday. I think it is one of the first generation model 5093's because it does not have a removable hopper boot.
Instead, it has a 4.5" steel plate welded directly to the hopper. My other one has the removable boot with a bolt on each of the 4 sides. The front of the hopper that faces the glass is pretty warped in the center which bubbles out toward the door like a piece of bologna in a fry pan. Also, the hopper is melted somewhat at the bottom and appears to be a little corroded.
The hopper lid has no hinge unlike my other one and the gasket was missing.
I suspect, it may have been run like this because there is evidence of black exhaust marks around the lid. Someone must have over fired it ( left the A.P door open?) to cause the extreme warping. The bottom door frame in front of the stove is bowed out about 1/8" in the middle which kept the door from latching.
The good news is that the grates look hardly used with no warps (sagging) .
The rear grate has a small groove worn in it from the shaking motion where it rests on the tray (on left )
The grate tray is a little warped but I think will work fine for a while. I talked to Lonnie and Dean Lehman at Hitzer today and they could not remember the ones with the welded plates around the bottom of the hopper. They both ask if I could see any bolt holes where it might have been bolted but there are none. The welds look very straight and "factory"
I also told them about the hinge-less hopper lid and they commented that it must have been one of the first models in 93. As far as the front lower door frame being bowed out, they both thought it would be ok to grind it down in the middle to straighten it so the door closes evenly. I was thinking of heating it up and pressing it back in. But as I often do , I chose the easier method of grinding it some. After grinding about an 1/8", I can get the door to latch (with new 3/4" rope gasket) but it is still a little harder than It should be. I guess a little more grinding and call it good. This must be one reason they now have a couple of 13" fire bricks you can buy for the front. You would think with this much over firing, the sides would also be warped but they are not. Dean Lehman said I could use the hopper like it was but I would like to cut off the bottom 4.5" all the way around and fabricate a new hopper boot. In cutting it that high up about where the original weld is, I would cut through the hopper metal also to get back to some straight metal. I guess I would use some 3/8" or so plate and make a new boot that would overlap the hopper metal about an inch or so and bolt it . Lastly, when I went to clean the glass because it was so dirty I could not see through it, I removed it and realized it was a piece of stainless metal.
In the craigslist ad, I saw what I thought was a diagonal crack in it. I asked the guy on the phone and he said it was a scratch. Even when I went to pick it up, it just looked like a dirty piece of glass.
Next time I will bring my glasses!
Please let me know what you think, any advice is appreciated! Thanks Erik
