I have several old gas grills that the burners and grates have burned out. Finding the replacement parts were expensive and hard to find the right ones and it turned out to be cheaper and easier to buy new, on sale. I am planning to build a smoker using them, but am not sure just how I want to proceed. I am thinking use one for firebox, offset and lower with a flex pipe coming out the top. It will have to be removable to put wood/Charcoal into it. Any ideas/tips before I begin. Maybe someone here has done this and has pictures or warnings on what not to do. miles

Miles,

I got about $40 in mine.

Looks simple enough. miles

And it's portable! Well it's easy to reassemble if you wanna move it, anyway.

Son disassembled his and hauled it to a wedding a while back and prepared these wild shoats for the party

Sounds like he ain't afraid of work. miles

keep in mind the amount of meat you will be smoking. those concrete block smokers are great for big stuff but really use up a lot of charcoal or wood. i have a similiar setup for doing pigs but for most family sized feeds, an 18" weber smokey mountain does the trick for about $250 delivered. and its really portable and easy to use.

i like the rustic style smokers but find myself using the weber more.

Wow! You must really be throwing the wood to em 141!

Here comes DIYguy in 3...2...1...

You can build one like this in a day and you can build it any size you want.

Y'all are overlooking the question. Two old gas grills to be used. One as the firebox and one to smoke the meat in. miles

Miles - Have you lo online for the parts? Before I went to charcoal I found a website with parts for every gas grill ever made. The cost was nowhere near buying a new one. Just saying'..

Now, if you're bound and determined to build a smoker, have at it.

If you're planning on building a cold smoker (which it sounds like) I'd seriously consider a larger box for hanging meat.

Sounds like you have the right general idea. I would use a 6" + rigid pipe with some type of collar to set it aside to reload.

Holding my breath he won't

Have you tried smokingmeatsforum.com?

what size and type of gas grills are you starting with?

I can't really tell you without going down to the scrap pile. I know that have three to choose from and one is bigger that the other two. I also have a heavy cast aluminum charcoal grill that needs a little work. I know it needs a pin for the hinge and a grate. It was on some property that I bought. miles

I'm thinking bolt them together end to end with a flue pipe on the far side with a damper on the draft or the flue pipe.

One side would be the fire box and the other side would be for the food.