Replaced gasket on the Kamado Joe - what a pain....

9 months in, been meaning to do this for a little while as I've noticed that the fire doesn't snuff out quite as quickly as it did. Took a good couple of hours off and on.
The top of the old gasket came off with no problems - then I lit a fire to get it up to the recommended 400F.
Then scraped off as much as I could with a metal decorating scraper, perhaps without letting it get as cool as it should have. But hey, nice suntan now!
Then used a light sanding block to get as much of the remainder off the lower part of the egg. I did try a little area with some solvent - but I don't like the idea of using that on something I am going to be doing low & slows in. So I got as much as possible off with the scraper.
To be honest, I ran out of enthusiasm to do the same job on the top which is much more awkward to do without taking it off, so left much more of the old adhesive on there. My reasoning being - it's adhesive, not cooking gunk. And I'm about to put new adhesive on. We will see if the two bond together or not over the coming months!
But for now, job done - I let it rest overnight & then will light a low fire today & let it cool, ready for a hotter steak cook in the evening.
Kamado Joe gasket-less:

New gasket installed & after a night of being closed up and thus compressed:

The top of the old gasket came off with no problems - then I lit a fire to get it up to the recommended 400F.
Then scraped off as much as I could with a metal decorating scraper, perhaps without letting it get as cool as it should have. But hey, nice suntan now!

Then used a light sanding block to get as much of the remainder off the lower part of the egg. I did try a little area with some solvent - but I don't like the idea of using that on something I am going to be doing low & slows in. So I got as much as possible off with the scraper.
To be honest, I ran out of enthusiasm to do the same job on the top which is much more awkward to do without taking it off, so left much more of the old adhesive on there. My reasoning being - it's adhesive, not cooking gunk. And I'm about to put new adhesive on. We will see if the two bond together or not over the coming months!
But for now, job done - I let it rest overnight & then will light a low fire today & let it cool, ready for a hotter steak cook in the evening.
Kamado Joe gasket-less:

New gasket installed & after a night of being closed up and thus compressed:
