Charcoal Grate Mod for the Weber Smokey Mountain

Here's a mod you can do to your Weber Smokey Mountain charcoal grates! I can't take credit for this one... thanks to Anthony Haden from the "Fans of the Smokey Mountain Smoker" Facebook Group for this idea. He also says that he can't take credit either since he got this idea this from someone else on the forum too!

I have two charcoal grates that are crisscrossed so that the used charcoal can't escape to the bottom of the WSM too quickly before they are truly burned up. But cleaning the bottom has always been a pain since I'd have to take out the charcoal ring and both grates separately which just made my hands all dirty.

Now, with this mod, I can just grab the eyebolts, shake the grate and all of the ash falls through leaving just the unburned charcoal behind!

I bought the hardware at Lowe's (no relation to me due to my last name being the same) and the cost for each smoker was only $3.06 for the two eyebolts (comes with two nuts), four washers and two more nuts. So for both smokers, the total cost was $6.12 before tax.

The second charcoal grate was bought through Amazon for $8.99 (here's a link if you want one for your 18.5" smoker: http://amzn.to/2CsPaLJ).  For the 22.5" smoker, I used this one: http://amzn.to/2Csjp5z. Cost was $10.99.

I used 6" eyebolts. For the 18.5" WSM, this makes the height of the eyebolt to the top of the charcoal ring, so it doesn't get in the way of your water pan.

The photos you see here are on my 18.5" WSM. I'm doing it for my 22.5" as well.

Overall, I'm very happy with this upgrade. If you do it, let me know in the comment section! Thanks again to Anthony and also to whoever it was that gave him the idea!