DUDE! YOUR KID IS A GENIUS! Thank you so much for sharing. Every other method I was looking at was saying BEAT the auger box. I put a bolt inside the hole, grabbed it with vise grips and is just she twisted right out. Used the auger to dig the rest out and we are up and running again!
@@e31chrisl Honestly don't know. It doesn't even have to fit snug. You just need something that will take up enough space so you cant CRUSH the tubing. I think mine was a 7/16 and it did bend the tube but it was super easy to get it back into shape after the clog was rooted out.
Man this video saved my marriage! Well, that is extreme, but my wife is VERY HAPPY! Definitely best video on fixing clogged auger out there. Great tips! And gave me the confidence to get mine apart and fix it. Thanks again!
Thanks for the kind words! Every day I have regrets about things I could’ve done better as a father, but all we can do is strive to do better tomorrow in God‘s grace.
The two of you make a great team. I would probably have never thought of sticking a bolt inside the auger end. THIS is why a smart man (patting me on the back) finds information out here in the world to avoid a FUBAR situation! THANKS Eric!
So first off, I'm gonna have to put this methodology to use tonight. My augur is jammed and I watched a few videos and for the life of me haven't been able to take it out to clean the jam. That being said, the "I found a bolt..." "That was actually me" part had me in stitches. Awesome family.
Thank you so much, this just happened to us this week and your video helped immensely 😊, we didn’t think we could fix it but we followed your advice and it’s now working
Decided to clean mine out for the spring, the hopper was empty, but the auger tube was full and completely seized up. I had to use an AK-47 clearing rod to unjam it after I followed your guide to unscrewing it.
Thanks for the video!!!! Yours was the first one that popped up when I searched how to fix my auger on my PITBOSS. Of course it had the wet pellet problem, I did try burning them out first, but that didn't work. Your video got me up and running!!!!!! Thank you and your helpers!!!!!!
Thanks for the video. Son gave me his old Austin XL. The auger was jammed. The shank end of a drill bit supporting the inside of the shaft worked for me. When I went turn the auger with a pipe wrench, the weld broke where the shaft is welded to the auger. It was a really poor weld. Just a small tack weld. Was still able to turn the auger out and use it to clean out the debris. Took the auger over to a friend and he welded it back up. Checked it for wobble rolling it across a table. Good as new.
Good video, unfortunatly mine was way worse than that. I went to Lowes to see if they had anyone to work on them and the reply was no, we throw them in the trash. A new one was on sale so I bought it! ha ha. Giving the old one to a friend that might be able to get it fixed but I have to cook for a non profit before I see him so just bought the new one. I wish I had seen this first. Might give it a try. Good work there Sir!
Pit Boss 1150 temp Run-A-Way I purchased my Pit Boss last November when Lowe’s had their $500 off sale. I used it twice without any problem. The cooking temp was rock solid. Yesterday, Feb 14th I put some chicken leg quarters and hamburger meat on the Pit Boss. I had the temp set at 270 deg F. I have been watching the You Tube videos on cooking chicken leg quarters at 270 deg F. for about 3-4 hours. I was outside watching things when in about 2 hours my temperature went from 270 deg to 310 deg F. I hadn’t changed anything. I called Pit Boss and talked to Mr. Jo. He hadn’t had a clue. He ask what kind of pellets I was using and I told him Oak Kingsford pellets. He said he never heard the name Kingsford pellets or charcoal bricks. The pellets were new and dry so I don’t know what was going on. I always clean out all the pellets when I cook. This includes all the pellets in the auger tube. Anyone have this problem?
I have the same problem except I don’t realize it and actually stripped the gears in the motor so I have to replace the motor too. Thanks for the information.
Seems hard but ive done it like 3-4 times on multiple Pitboss grilles and its easy. Takes a lil bit of time and gets you dirty but its easy. Just go at it without fear, if u go in scared to do it then you will mess up somehow.
Hey man, so I was like your 50th subscriber and now you have 1.06k and I knew you would eventually be famous and i cant beleive your video got 1m views!
When you get to the auger , use a drill and hook to the end of the auger . Make sure you run the grill in reverse. Keep using the drill till the auger shaft is clear . 😉
That would probably work, it might take a few hours or more to soak, and I didn’t have the patience to wait that long, gotta get that food on the grill😁
I’m not sure how smoker companies have not engineered a solution to prevent this or at least make it easier to remove the auger (ie. Make the shaft able to accept a socket instead of people relying on channel locks)
@@coolstuffwithEric I thought I had a Pit Boss but it's a Pitmaster, and they do not make the hopper removable, nor do they make accessing the end of the auger doable either. I ended up using a clothes hanger to remove most of the pellet mush and then used a screwdriver and hammer to whack the end of the auger (by the heater part) to make it rotate. I got the thing on the curb and thought everything worked on it, which it does but the auger doesn't go slow and it ends up putting way too much pellets in the thing which causes a fire and no smoke. So the smoker it junk. I have a buddy who is an electronics guru and could fix it or put a knob on it so i can control the speed myself but I'm over it, I'm just going to buy a better smoker for myself, never dealing with that stupid plugged auger on that one ever again.
@@coolstuffwithEric After watching a bunch of pit boss videos I have seen that they actually considered a few things when they built it. Just being able to remove the hopper and the auger easily makes me want to buy a pit boss, will never buy a pitmaster, those engineers are idiots. Would you recommend a Pit Boss brand smoker? Also, thanks for the replies. Very much appreciated.
That did help! Thank you! Instead of the wrench I used some vice grips. I would actually recommend the vice grips over the wrench, but the bolt in the motor hole was a pro move that I definitely copied
Dude! Thanks for your video. I tried 6-7 other videos and was about to give up until I saw yours. I’m back up and running. Had my 5 year old assist me as well. Thanks you!!
Thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t even realize yt had a cc option! That’ll save us some editing time on the next vid. It probably took 20 min to fix all the cc errors in Clipchamp lol
One option is to let soak a day or two with some good penetrant, like PB Blaster. And/or you could try heating the auger (not the bolt) with a torch). But that would certainly be a more dangerous option, so have the water hose ready!
I just got a Pit Boss 1150. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast where the humidity is high. One thing Pit Boss needs to do on their menu when you start your cooking is have a "Prime" feature of say 30-50 seconds to feed pellets into the burn pot. When you get through have a 'run-out' to clear all the pellets out of the tube.
Hello from Atlanta, Georgia! I guess Pit Boss read your mind, because mine has both of those features. As soon as you fired up, automatically primes in quite a bit to load the burn pot, but it also has a prime button where you can manually prime more if you want to. Also, when I turn mine off, it continues to run for at least another five minutes or so to finish burning off what’s left in the burn pot. (But I have to keep it plugged in during that time so the charge air fan can keep going)
The easiest way is to empty the feed box, use a compressor with a blower on one end and a vacuum on the other and keep switching back and forth sucking all the loose stuff out. Just did it in about 5-10 minutes including emptying the hopper
You must’ve caught yours early before it got too bad, because mine had about a 6 inch section of the tube in the middle where the pellets were almost as hard as Concrete that I had to chip out once I got the auger unscrewed and removed. I’m Glad you got yours up and running again!
DUDE! YOUR KID IS A GENIUS! Thank you so much for sharing. Every other method I was looking at was saying BEAT the auger box.
I put a bolt inside the hole, grabbed it with vise grips and is just she twisted right out. Used the auger to dig the rest out and we are up and running again!
I agree, she’s a genius and she didn’t get that from me!😂
That’s awesome man, happy grilling n smoking!
What size bolt
@@e31chrisl Honestly don't know. It doesn't even have to fit snug. You just need something that will take up enough space so you cant CRUSH the tubing. I think mine was a 7/16 and it did bend the tube but it was super easy to get it back into shape after the clog was rooted out.
@@matthewcarpenter4716 it is a 7/16 bolt i have been dealing with these grills for years i know everything there is to know about these!😂
10mm @@e31chrisl
Man this video saved my marriage! Well, that is extreme, but my wife is VERY HAPPY! Definitely best video on fixing clogged auger out there. Great tips! And gave me the confidence to get mine apart and fix it. Thanks again!
@@MichaelDavidGarcia that’s great news, glad we helped save your marriage😂😂
@@coolstuffwithEricWOW!!😮 This man's hard work is saving marriages, protect this man at ALL costs!!!!
@@Owenplaysgolfs3030 😂😂
You’re fortunate, you’ve got a qualified team of helpers! Your 5 year old is a natural cinematographer!!
Spot on Eric! Really liked the tip of putting a bolt in the neck of the auger. Worked like a charm.
@@LTCangle excellent, glad it worked for you! Don’t forget to sub😁
Thank you for sharing. My kids left my grill outside in the rain to make room in the garage for their friends bikes. I'll be attempting this tomorrow.
@@lenchoayala6921 best of luck!
I wish i grew up with a father like you. This world need more ppl like you, God bless
Thanks for the kind words! Every day I have regrets about things I could’ve done better as a father, but all we can do is strive to do better tomorrow in God‘s grace.
Exactly how I did mine and worked great. It's crazy to me that the auger motor free floats, the tray that it rides on bent like crazy from the torque.
@@zmanmeyer2172 yeah I agree. When I our first saw it just hanging on the end of the auger I was quite surprised too🤯
The two of you make a great team. I would probably have never thought of sticking a bolt inside the auger end. THIS is why a smart man (patting me on the back) finds information out here in the world to avoid a FUBAR situation! THANKS Eric!
Thank you for sharing, it really made it easy.
Well Done Sir
So first off, I'm gonna have to put this methodology to use tonight. My augur is jammed and I watched a few videos and for the life of me haven't been able to take it out to clean the jam. That being said, the "I found a bolt..." "That was actually me" part had me in stitches. Awesome family.
Yeah she keeps me on my toes, doesn’t let anything slide! 😂
Hope it helps you to fix your grill!
I wish i had a father like you
The absolute best way to do it!!! Took me a half hr and I didn't have to beat the brakes off of it! 🤘🤘 Thank u sir and kiddo!!!!!
Good deal, I’m glad our solution worked for you too! Happy pellet grilling!!!
Great job. Awesome family affair repairing the smoker. I hope I don’t ever have to take mine down to that level, but if so I’ll remember your tips.
Thank you so much, this just happened to us this week and your video helped immensely 😊, we didn’t think we could fix it but we followed your advice and it’s now working
Awesome, glad we could help you guys!!
Fantastic job, got my grill cleared and back up... Wish Z-Grill would link your video 😁👍
@@williamfields647 glad it worked for you!! Happy smoking!!!
Good job raising your kids and the video was great too!
@@greggmt6075 thank you kindly Sir.
That was Awesome! You weren't too bad either, Eric!
😂Thanks!
Bro, Your kids are to adorable. Thank god I haven't had a jam yet , but now I know what to do if it happens. Thanks
Thank you sir!
Decided to clean mine out for the spring, the hopper was empty, but the auger tube was full and completely seized up. I had to use an AK-47 clearing rod to unjam it after I followed your guide to unscrewing it.
Wow, sounds like yours was seized up a lot worse than mine. Glad you got it fixed!
@@coolstuffwithEric Yeah it was a solid log that made mini tunnels for the auger to slide out of, leaving the whole log of wood lol
@@BK-cx7qi wow! It’s crazy how that stuff gets hard as a brick after it gets wet and dries!
Thanks for the video!!!! Yours was the first one that popped up when I searched how to fix my auger on my PITBOSS. Of course it had the wet pellet problem, I did try burning them out first, but that didn't work. Your video got me up and running!!!!!! Thank you and your helpers!!!!!!
That’s awesome, I’m glad we could help get you back to grilling and smoking!!
Thanks for the video. Son gave me his old Austin XL. The auger was jammed. The shank end of a drill bit supporting the inside of the shaft worked for me. When I went turn the auger with a pipe wrench, the weld broke where the shaft is welded to the auger. It was a really poor weld. Just a small tack weld. Was still able to turn the auger out and use it to clean out the debris. Took the auger over to a friend and he welded it back up. Checked it for wobble rolling it across a table. Good as new.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad to hear you were still able to get it up and running even after the weld broke!
Good video, unfortunatly mine was way worse than that. I went to Lowes to see if they had anyone to work on them and the reply was no, we throw them in the trash. A new one was on sale so I bought it! ha ha. Giving the old one to a friend that might be able to get it fixed but I have to cook for a non profit before I see him so just bought the new one. I wish I had seen this first. Might give it a try. Good work there Sir!
Hopefully your friend can get it fixed up!
What model did you go with on your new one?
Pit Boss 1150 temp Run-A-Way
I purchased my Pit Boss last November when Lowe’s had their $500 off sale.
I used it twice without any problem. The cooking temp was rock solid.
Yesterday, Feb 14th I put some chicken leg quarters and hamburger meat on the
Pit Boss. I had the temp set at 270 deg F. I have been watching the You Tube videos on
cooking chicken leg quarters at 270 deg F. for about 3-4 hours.
I was outside watching things when in about 2 hours my temperature went from 270 deg
to 310 deg F. I hadn’t changed anything. I called Pit Boss and talked to Mr. Jo. He hadn’t
had a clue. He ask what kind of pellets I was using and I told him Oak Kingsford pellets.
He said he never heard the name Kingsford pellets or charcoal bricks.
The pellets were new and dry so I don’t know what was going on. I always clean out all
the pellets when I cook. This includes all the pellets in the auger tube.
Anyone have this problem?
Eric ….. so glad I found your video! Awesome idea about putting the bolt in the tube …. Only way I got mine to finally turn! Thank you 🤠
I’m glad we could be of service to a fellow grill master!! 😁
Your son is damn good with that camera. Man, I miss my boy.
This video definitely helped me, Thank you for posting it!
Very smart intuitive little man u got there.
Indeed, it’s so fun to watch them pick up on things!
Thanks for the information. Great video!
Great little supervisor, I'm sure he called you a name or two for leaving the grill out in the rain. LOL
I put the auger in a drill and used it to drill out the wet pellets, it's super fast this way
@@skip111ben good idea, thank you for the tip!
Awwwwwwww........what a sweet family 😊
Worked like a charm I helped my dad fix this thank you
Awesome, glad we could help!
This video is going to save me from having to upgrade my grill 😅
@@crasharound9999 that’s great news! …. Unless you were ready to upgrade already! 😂
Great tip! Thanks for sharing!
I have the same problem except I don’t realize it and actually stripped the gears in the motor so I have to replace the motor too. Thanks for the information.
@@lessummers43 aww that’s a bummer, how much is the new motor/gearbox?
Great video!!!!! Fixed my smoker right up👍👍👍
That’s great to hear, glad we could help!!
Seems hard but ive done it like 3-4 times on multiple Pitboss grilles and its easy. Takes a lil bit of time and gets you dirty but its easy. Just go at it without fear, if u go in scared to do it then you will mess up somehow.
Excellent vid. Saved my bacon....
Awesome, glad we could help! Happy grilling!
Good video bro
Hey man, so I was like your 50th subscriber and now you have 1.06k and I knew you would eventually be famous and i cant beleive your video got 1m views!
Thanks for ur dyi video, it worked great
When you get to the auger , use a drill and hook to the end of the auger . Make sure you run the grill in reverse. Keep using the drill till the auger shaft is clear . 😉
Great video thanks for sharing
I wonder if you wet it would it have softened the jam so you could pull it straight out?
That would probably work, it might take a few hours or more to soak, and I didn’t have the patience to wait that long, gotta get that food on the grill😁
Good stuff!
New pellets , they had some of the pellets were long , like 3” long which lead to jambs, pit boss Hickory pellets . Anyone else.
Wouldn't wetting the pellets again soften them up and maybe get it going again to clear it out?
What size bolt did you insert?
@@AaronHolder-x3t I think it was a fine thread 3/8 bolt if I remember correctly
I’m not sure how smoker companies have not engineered a solution to prevent this or at least make it easier to remove the auger (ie. Make the shaft able to accept a socket instead of people relying on channel locks)
That is what I was thinking. Drill a hole in the bolt that fits inside and put the screw back in. Then it can be removed with a ratchet.
You have to take care of your Pit boss this is what will happen
I hope you tipped your hired help.
Taking off the pellet hopper is not as easy as he makes it seem. Mine has a lot of electronics attached. Time to look for more videos.
just running into the same problem with mine!! indeed, time to find another video!!
@@coolstuffwithEric I thought I had a Pit Boss but it's a Pitmaster, and they do not make the hopper removable, nor do they make accessing the end of the auger doable either. I ended up using a clothes hanger to remove most of the pellet mush and then used a screwdriver and hammer to whack the end of the auger (by the heater part) to make it rotate. I got the thing on the curb and thought everything worked on it, which it does but the auger doesn't go slow and it ends up putting way too much pellets in the thing which causes a fire and no smoke. So the smoker it junk. I have a buddy who is an electronics guru and could fix it or put a knob on it so i can control the speed myself but I'm over it, I'm just going to buy a better smoker for myself, never dealing with that stupid plugged auger on that one ever again.
@@coolstuffwithEric After watching a bunch of pit boss videos I have seen that they actually considered a few things when they built it. Just being able to remove the hopper and the auger easily makes me want to buy a pit boss, will never buy a pitmaster, those engineers are idiots. Would you recommend a Pit Boss brand smoker? Also, thanks for the replies. Very much appreciated.
@@coolstuffwithEric you would think engineers who paid alot for a college degree would have figured the rain part out by now.
All I’ve ever done is expose the auger and then hit it with a hammer in wards that always loosens it up. 🤷🏻♂️
keep your pit out of the elements...
Why not drill a hole through the bolt put a pin in it
That should work too, but not as quick and easy.
That did help! Thank you! Instead of the wrench I used some vice grips. I would actually recommend the vice grips over the wrench, but the bolt in the motor hole was a pro move that I definitely copied
Awesome, glad to hear you’re back up and pellet grilling again!
Good Stuff... i have the same issue and now know how to fix with out waisting a bunch of trouble shooting time.
Good deal, good luck with the repair!
So, why was this not covered so rain didn’t get in?
Things happen
What size was the bolt you inserted?
Dude! Thanks for your video. I tried 6-7 other videos and was about to give up until I saw yours. I’m back up and running. Had my 5 year old assist me as well. Thanks you!!
That’s great news, I’m glad you and your #1 sidekick can get back to grilling now!! 😁
youtube has a CC option, you don't have to put them in your video. especially at such a huge font, lol
Thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t even realize yt had a cc option!
That’ll save us some editing time on the next vid. It probably took 20 min to fix all the cc errors in Clipchamp lol
For the life of me i can not remove the bolt that connects the auger 🤬🤬🤬 #Help
One option is to let soak a day or two with some good penetrant, like PB Blaster.
And/or you could try heating the auger (not the bolt) with a torch). But that would certainly be a more dangerous option, so have the water hose ready!
I just got a Pit Boss 1150. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast where the humidity is high. One thing Pit Boss needs to do on their menu when you start your cooking is have a "Prime" feature of say 30-50 seconds to feed pellets into the burn pot.
When you get through have a 'run-out' to clear all the pellets out of the tube.
Hello from Atlanta, Georgia!
I guess Pit Boss read your mind, because mine has both of those features.
As soon as you fired up, automatically primes in quite a bit to load the burn pot, but it also has a prime button where you can manually prime more if you want to.
Also, when I turn mine off, it continues to run for at least another five minutes or so to finish burning off what’s left in the burn pot. (But I have to keep it plugged in during that time so the charge air fan can keep going)
The easiest way is to empty the feed box, use a compressor with a blower on one end and a vacuum on the other and keep switching back and forth sucking all the loose stuff out. Just did it in about 5-10 minutes including emptying the hopper
You must’ve caught yours early before it got too bad, because mine had about a 6 inch section of the tube in the middle where the pellets were almost as hard as Concrete that I had to chip out once I got the auger unscrewed and removed.
I’m Glad you got yours up and running again!
Did exactly the same thing in unscrewing the auger on mine. I then used a 3/4 inch spade bit with extension to drill out the set up pellets. Easy fix.
Great idea with the spade bit!
Put some respect on her name lol
What size bolt did you use?
@@coolstuffwithEric Thank you!
Thanks!
Hope it helped you!