Pig cooker/smoker trailer?

[dm22630]

I just won an auction up in good old Ft Drum, NY. It was one lot with 4 trailers. One of the trailers I am going to be making into a Pig Cooker/Smoker Trailer.

I dont know if I want to use a 275 HHO tank, or a 250-300 gallon round fuel tank. I have both here, but I dont know which way to go yet.

Has anyone here made a smoker trailer out of a military trailer? If so, what did you do & do you have pics?

Thanks!

Here is the trailer that will be converted.....

 

[maddawg308]

Neat idea, Daniel! I thought you sold your old smoker/BBQ trailer? I guess you wanted this to make a military-themed BBQ trailer!

I saw a pic of one recently, I think it was on this site in the photo album section. Someone made one out of a pioneer tool kit trailer or a M149 water trailer, it looked pretty schweet.

 

[GoHot229]

Now before you build it, let me suggest the way you orient the tub and the reasoning behind the suggestion. I'v seen them built both ways, but if its paralel with the front to back and your useing the fenders for a table, you will have a long reach to go when fliping whatever your cooking, leaning over the fenders also, if you are paralel to the axle you ill still have fender/tables but no reach. Just a thought.

 

[LanceRobson]

I've never done on on a GI trailer but have done or been involved in several stationary and trailer BBQ pit builds. I'm currently looking for a 3/4 ton chassis to make a MV show and rally pit.

A lot of folks have made a lot of both kind of pits and both can make great product with little heartburn.

I'm a fan of using a separate wood fire box with a used propane tank for the smoke chamber. then I'd add 2 propane burners-one to light the wood and a second, with a wood pan for smoke, in the smoke chamber for times when I don't want to use wood or as a boost heater for really cold, wet or windy days.

A 300 pound upright tank is usually about 5' long and can be set up to feed 60 or so folks with ease. A 300 gallon horizontal tankt is usually a little over 90" and can, depending on what you are BBQing can feed 200 or more.

The propane tank is longer and narrower making it easier to reach all the product in the smoke chamber. It is stiff enough to not need much bracing and will make temperature regulation much easier. It won't warp and is easier to get tight fitting doors that stay tight. When you're doing most of your cooking at 225-275 degrees, that's a biggie

With a propane tank the door(s) usuallyare higher in relation to the tank's height so you can put from 2-4 racks in it and use 2 racks for big items like hams or shoulder clods or use 3-4 racks for thinner stuff like rib and brisket.

If you use upright rib racks you can really pack 'em in there.

I've done very little BBQ in a 275 gallon oil tank, so take my thoughts on them as such.

One big advantage to the oil tank is that in laying flat it's able to accept a whole butterflied hog easier. The depth, front to back, means you'll be leaning over the cooker more and I don't know if it can be safely done on a 2-1/2 ton chassis because of height.

Maybe you'd need a work platform? Perhaps a 300 pound tank or 275 gallon oil tank crossways on the rear with the rest of the chassis being used for wood, water, cold storage, fish fry burners, yadda, yadda yadda?

I think the biggest challenge will be the height and width of the trailer. As bulky as a 2-1/2 ton trailer is you'll be a long way from most anything on it unless you really take care in the layout.

I'd consider coming up with your best plan and then mocking it up with cardboard boxes and maybe a 55 gallon drum and then pantomime a cookout.

Heck, the neighbors probably already think you're nuts so they won't mind. See how it all flows from prep to cooking to serving and clean up before actually building.

If you web crawl for a while you'll see plenty of ideas. Here's on site that has some well thought out designs. Barbecue Cooker, barbecue grill, and barbecue trailer from Cookers and Grills featuring unique and efficient designs of barbecue cookers, barbecue trailers, and barbecue grills

I have a CD that walks through the design and construction of a propane tank pit. If you want a copy, PM me and I'll see if I can find it. I'd have to get some blank CDs on a trip to town.

Lance

EDIT: gohot's got exactly what I was thinking.

 

[dabtl]

Things are different back east it appears. In Texas we do not cook BBQ over coals. That is called grilling here. It is for steaks and Yankees. We cook with offset heat at about 300 degrees. I primarily use Mesquite, Pecan and Hickory in combination for flavor.

Here are pics of my BBQ smoker with a three hundred gallon tank. As you may see the heat is entirely to the rear of the unit, cooking with heat rather than fire coals under the meat.

I leave for Lubbock on Wednesday where I cook for 300 other lawyers on Friday.

 

[powerhouseduece]

I had a friend that built one, it turned out seally cool. It wasent out of a millitary trailer but it still was cool. I think the best thing to do is go get a little 110v miller or hobart mig welder. Make sure that you DO NOT get a gassless mig welder. They are not that fun. this way you build one hell-of-a pig cooker and you learn a little bit about welding also.

 

[Sumoman]

Find a used missile or aircraft fuel tank and use it for the BBQ

As for BBQ rather then grilling, even us Yankee's do that.. its just sometimes there is nothing liked a properly charred animal cooked at impossible speed over the surface of the sun, the secret is you have to tenderize it just right

 

[neilhendrix]

Well which ever way you go something is smellin pretty good

 

[11Echo]

A couple more designs for you. Both types of these units worked very well taking care of large groups for 4+ day events.

 

[grounded]

I always thought about using a pioneer trailer to make a portable grill

 

[maddawg308]

Remember, that no matter what you make the stove part out of - it must be BARE STEEL on the inside to begin using it, or you will poison your food. The outside can be any high temp paint - NO CARC!

 

[Sumoman]

You could use a water buffalo, Just make sure you have at least an inch of air space between the subsequent steel plating you put inside. You can find scrap and just weld it into the shape you need. This way you have it looking like a piece of military equipment. I have some steel (fixing the trailer) that I found inside a box truck. Of course you could buy it.

You can always just fab a fire box onto the front so you can BBQ using the heat too or use as a smoker. The Buffalo you could just cut with a cutting tool.. Hmm you have talked me into it, time to hit GL cause I want one

 

[atankersdad]

Great post by LR. When I went and opened the link, the 12' grill looked like the CSA Hunley, the confederate sub sunk off Charleston SC in 1864!!! It may even be longer!!! Now that is a cooker.

 

[dm22630]

You could use a water buffalo, Just make sure you have at least an inch of air space between the subsequent steel plating you put inside. You can find scrap and just weld it into the shape you need. This way you have it looking like a piece of military equipment. I have some steel (fixing the trailer) that I found inside a box truck. Of course you could buy it.

You can always just fab a fire box onto the front so you can BBQ using the heat too or use as a smoker. The Buffalo you could just cut with a cutting tool.. Hmm you have talked me into it, time to hit GL cause I want one

I thought that water buffalos were aluminum?

 

[dabtl]

One of my clients was in the entertainment business big time. She had the world's largest BBQ smoker built.

Fairly good size, I think.

 

[Sumoman]

I thought that water buffalos were aluminum?

They are, I stated that you could then line the buffalo with steel.. making sure you had at least a one inch gap in between the metal. As long as there was adequate air space and a small hole to allow for flow of air it would not heat up to any great extent. As example I have a steel pipe used for a large sewer system from a local development, could just cut as it would be slightly smaller then the buffalo, but even so it would be easy to weld strips of steel in a wooden frame placed inside the buffalo.

 

[oilcan]

I saw a cooker online and immediately thought of this thread. Not quite military themed, but it did take some imagination to pull off.

 

[nk14zp]

cheep way out

 

[maddawg308]

I prefer the cheap way out. I can get shopping carts for free. Well, okay, I can STEAL them for free, after I buy my groceries....

 

[CGarbee]

Mine is made out of an old 250 gallon oil tank...
Photos show it in use at Aberdeen a couple of years ago when I cooked a hog for the East Coast Convoy participants...

Didn't use a military trailer for the running gear/frame although I am thinking of it for my next cooker... I did tow this one behind my M35A2C (until I sold it), and have been known to tow it behind my M37 (both are equiped with reciever hitches).

Enjoy.