My old Weber was handed down to me from my in-laws, and they bought it new in 2004. Fast-forward to 2024, and it was in need of some attention. The grates were in poor shape, the porcelain coating was chipping off and adding "texture" to our food, the flavorizer bars were barely hanging on, and the grease tray hangar was barely hanging on. Figuring that 20 years was a pretty good run, I started looking at new grills last year, and was tempted by some Black Friday markdowns on some pretty sweet Webers. I came away from that with some serious sticker shock. I was looking at a $1,300 model that was maked down to $869, but just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger as I mostly just use the grill for some quick and clean burgers/dogs for a weekend family dinner. I am not a serious grilling enthusiast. So I looked into what it would cost to rebuild mine, and for under $200 and an afternoon's worth of labor (leisurely pace for sure too), I was able to bring it back to nearly new status. The cheapest gasser at Lowes this spring was about $250-$300 and let's face it, there's no way it was going to last 10, let alone 20 years. The cast aluminum firebox on this grill is still in excellent condition. Nothing fancy for the clean-up/out. I scraped down the heavy crispy stuff, vacuumed that out, and then soaked what was left in Stihl degreaser and pressure-washed the firebox interior. The burners in mine were in very good shape, especially given their age. So I only replaced the cross tube and cleaned up my old main burner tubes. I did buy a complete OEM burner set though to throw on the shelf just in case these give out in a couple years. I did buy an aftermarket ignitor kit though as the collection box on my original was shot. Still worked though! Also found some stainless screws to replace the burner hold-down screws. New 304 stainless flavorizer bars that will probably outlast the grill. USA-made, although I highly doubt the raw material is US sourced? They appear to be made from standard 18ga sheet (even still had the blue film on one side) run through a press brake. Thicker than most aftermarket replacements and a little cheaper than the Weber offering. Finished it off with a set of stainless cook grates. These are aftermarket since they were just over half the cost of Weber's offering and identically built. $60 vs $100. It's barely visible in the photo but I did spring for a new warming basket since the original was pretty rough. I even use it from time to time! A neighbor reached out and offered me a new-in-the-box grill light which was a Weber original accessory for these. It doesn't fit his wooden-handle Genesis 5000 (which is likely at least 10 years older than mine, and in like-new condition!) but should fit mine no prob. I think I just might take him up on that offer! Here's to another 20 years!
Fantastic.....these are the projects I can get behind. Love to see people take something old and make it new again. There's quite a bit of pride in doing that. It came out looking great and hope you get many more years out of it.
If any of you BBQ afficionados know of a griddle that's both reasonably priced (ie: not GrillGrates) and fits a 15" Weber Genesis series, feel free to chime in. I'm having a heck of a time finding one that fits a 15" x 22.5" Weber. Tons of options for the Genesis Silver B & C, but not my Genisis Silver A.
Can I ask how you sourced parts? I have an abandoned nice Webber that has the stainless flavorizers and cast iron grates. It's a little rough looking but I have wondered if I can bring it back to usable condition. Is there a webber parts store or is it all 3rd party? A major hurdle for me will be identifying it. Do they plut ID tags on them anywhere? Guessing it was new 15-20 years ago.
Hey MasterMech , Great save on the Weber grill! I almost always prefer to have a well maintained or rebuilt appliance or machine over a new, built to minimum specs, one. Very nice indeed!
Gas Grill Replacement Parts & Grates | Weber Grills Weber Grill Parts for Weber Grills from Grill Parts Distributors, the Gas Grill Parts Specialist for Gas Grills. (bbqparts.com) Weber Grill Parts | Gas Grill Replacement Parts | grillparts.com Amazon and eBay have lots of stuff too. There are ID numbers/labels but it's hit or miss if they are still there. My ID label was under the firebox, left side attached to the frame. Post a pic, I can probably get pretty dang close.
I've had one for decades. The Weber Genesis Silver. It has three horizontal burners. I went with stainless flavorizers from the go. They're a little rippled on the edges, but are fine. I keep wanting to remove them and see how the burners look. Good luck with yours!
5 minutes of your time - maybe 10 if you have a model that has two layers of flavorizers. But then again, if you have two layers of flavorizers, very little grease is making to the burner!
The SS is most certainly sourced from overseas. Buying complements is my job, and when when I buy as I've done recently, 304ss studs, the material cake from overseas ( Asia) and was machined into studs in Ohio and then sent to us in Wisconsin. I had a charbroil SS grill, one of those $250 units , it wasn't all SS, and some of the lower parts were painted steel. It lasted about 7 years, and that was with aftermarket replacement ss burners and flavorizer bars about halfway through the time. It was always under a cover except while getting used, but it was outside. Now we have a few year old Weber spirit that was gifted to us. It's definitely built better than the char broil, but it has its spots that will end up being it's demise as well. Weber certainly charges now for their name brand. When I do have to buy a new grill, it probably went be a Weber and probably a Napoleon or another brand. Napoleon makes wood stoves, as you are well aware, so they are a solid brand. We have 2 large Napoleon (lol) gas grills at work that we bought when we moved in to the new building. Comparing the new Weber to the similar Napoleon, it's not even a fair comparison.
It's a Genesis, but I think it's earlier than I previously guessed. Maybe 2nd or 3rd version of it? Has the wood table on left, but not on right or underneath. I don't think it has a condiment rack to the right of the burner knobs. Top is black. The cast grates are mostly still looking good with a little corrosion at some of the edges. Can these be used still or would they need replaced? I was thinking of putting them in a blast cabinet but dunno if that viable. They're not bad really in my opinion. Main stuff that I know will need dealt with will be the quick attach gas hose, drip pan assembly and gas bars. I'm thinking of abandoning the cart and hard mounting it somehow as the cart is the worst off as far as deterioration. I will get some pics next time I'm near it and see if I can find the ID tag. I did some quick looking yesterday around net trying to identify but was having trouble as 'Genesis' is legacy name for Weber and they have made many versions. I guess not many posted pics of their grills to the web back in the late 80s early 90s. haha Thanks!
There's a guy 15 minutes from me who does a fantastic job at reconditioning these. I actually bought one from him a handful of years ago and I also took my dad's 30 YO grill to him to have it re-done. This is his personal one, the one I bought from him looked just like this but with SS grates. He's a regular on that site below. Bruce's Genesis Red Head 1000 Restore - Before & After
I use this on my grill pretty often (smooth side up). I didn't put the tape measure to mine, but the website says it will fit. I wish it was just a little bigger, but for the price it's hard to beat. Pro-Grid Reversible Grill / Griddle | Shop Online | Lodge Cast Iron I have a Weber Genesis series that I bought 12 or 13 years ago. It needs the same level of treatment you are giving yours....maybe next year.
All manufacturers that stopped manufacturing their own product have pretty much gone over to supporting the "just buy a new one" model. The only difference is getting to be whether it'll last for 1, 2, or 10 seasons, and how many apps it has on your phone. I'll give Weber credit for continuing to support their older products, as you will never find OEM parts for the last generation of box-store cheapie grills. The aftermarket parts availability is surprisingly good too. I had a hand-me-down KitchenAid grill before this one that maybe made it 5-6 years? And it was pretty much shot, all the paint peeling and steel rusting at that point. There's a crazy number of gas grills on FB Marketplace around here. Most are smaller models, 1-2 years old, barely used.
Sounds like it might be a Genesis 1000 (very popular). 2 or 3 burner? Wooden lid handle? Steel handle bracket or cast aluminum? If your cast iron grates are just bare cast, no porcelain coating, then you can absolutely clean 'em up and go again. Season them just like you would any other cast-iron cookware. Re-mounting is fairly simple as these just sit in a rectangular frame with one bolt through the left side of the firebox and the frame to hold it in place.
3 burner. Bare cast grates. I looked at the 1000s but some were not quite the same. The condiment rack stands out as absent on the one I have. Perhaps it was removed. Lift handle is aluminium, I think. I pass by it pretty often, but don't really pay much attention. Looking at some random components, this might not be too costly of a refurb.
Something like this would be acceptable, just wish it was 3-4 inches deeper. Thanks for the link - love the site!
Good stuff! I'm seriously considering just buying some 1/2" plate, and doing a model for a CNC. Just mill out some slots for lifting handles, and then mill out the cooking surface and maybe a grease trap. Would be a lot of time invested and probably expensive for just 1 piece, but how cool would the final product be?
