Harman P43 slide plate fun

Noticed the P43 was making a "click" sound every time the auger would turn. The click was sufficiently audible to irritate someone with enough time. It always seemed to happen at the same spot, with the same timing. Pulled the shrouds off the stove and got behind there with a flashlight to have a look. Sure enough, the click would happen at exactly the same spot as the auger wheel did it's rotation over the pusher arm. In fact, when the click sound happened, you could visibly see the auger motor housing move due to hitting some unexpected resistance. Hmm.

Having seen something similar in the past, I had an idea where the issue might be. Emptied the hopper completely, exposing the slide plate. There was a lot of fines in the slide plate area. Vacuumed it all out. There was visible scoring on the right side of the slide plate. Nice. Pulled the control board off the side of the stove, gaining access to the fines box cover. Pulled the fines box cover off. Tried to pull the slide plate out. Not happening, it's wedged. Went back behind the stove and moved the pusher arm manually with my hand. Also very difficult, but only in one direction. It moved freely in the direction away from the fines box cover (pushing the plate in). Pulling it back was initially easy, but became extremely difficult the further it moved. I had to use some force to move it back and forth repeatedly, tapping it each time. Each time I would do this, the tapping caused more fines to appear on top of the plate. Hmm. Eventually after doing this for a while, vacuuming out the newly freed fines, and applying some serious pressure, the pusher arm was finally able to move enough that the plate broke free of it and with resistance, it came out of the stove.

Look at the slide plate and it's clear what happened. The slide plate is actually constructed of two flat metal plates that are bonded together with 3 metal studs (like rivets, but flush with the plate surface). The studs in this case did not hold the plates tightly together, the two plates had actually separated a fraction of an inch from each other. Just enough that over time, fines and little tiny bits of pellets got in between them and created a situation where it increased the thickness of the slide plate just enough to cause friction and wedge itself every time the pusher arm would pull it in the direction of the fines box cover.

I put a tiny flat head screwdriver between the plates to increase the opening and used a blower to get all of the fines and pellet bits out from between them, and then pressed the two plates back together. They did "snap" right back together and the studs are holding them tight, at least for now. After putting everything back together, the slide plate moves freely now, no more resistance or clicking. Seems unlikely it will last though. Whatever circumstances allowed it to separate this time will eventually happen again, given enough time. Time to shop for a new slide plate.

 

stove and grill parts for less , $50

 

Just got a 20% off coupon from them, so $40. Seller on ebay has a used one for $27 after shipping. Hard to believe this thing costs so much. Local store wants $98 for one.

 

yea, some parts are surprisingly expensive......but there are alot of players in there trying to make money. What we are seeing now is certain parts with extended lead times....one particular motor in fact is taking weeks to get, which sucks. We also sell aftermarket motors for them, but I am on the fence for their quality......too early to tell!

 

If you have access to a BFH, a hard metal surface (anvil, back of a sturdy vise, etc), and a flat-end punch about the same size, try compressing the "pin/rivet" together.....might fix it for a while (or maybe permanently?).

 

A, BFH should be required in every tool box .

 

My tool of choice

 

Who might this have been?

 

Besides my sticks of dynamite it is the only other tool in my toolbox.

 

DON"T FORCE IT! Use a bigger hammer!

 

Just curious.
If you successfully got the two pieces back together, why not just
expand the two rivets?
If I understand what you are saying, You could take a center punch
and center it on the rivet, and give it a couple of whacks..
The usually will expand the rivet enough to tighten it again..
Now, that said, I have no idea what the thing actually looks like.
And perhaps it may not apply.
However, there have been many times I have done that on
other mechanical things with pretty good results..
could save you 40 bucks..

Dan

 

Its not like your typical rivet, but yea, if a guy can get the two pieces sufficiently together and tight, no reason you cant use the BFH to attempt to retighten....its a steel rivet though, to a really big BFH

 

Sorry I responded to the original problem, before reading all of the
other replies..
I read TT's, and just responded to what I would try.
Done it many times..
Surprising how little it actually takes to tighten something up..

Dan