Daniel Boone - GMG service - Feedback

    • Official Post

    I purchased my DB second hand more than two years ago. Ever since then it has made a slight grinding noise (every now and then), which I promptly ignored as it worked perfectly. A few weeks ago I was unable to start it as it wasn't feeding pellets, but after a few startup attempts it got going and worked perfectly for a few weeks.... weird right?
    Then last night it would not feed pellets no matter what I did. So I pulled it apart and could see the motor fan spinning, the shaft of the motor spinning, but the auger not spinning.
    This morning I rang Hark. Nick helped me to figure out that there was a split pin missing... in fact it wasn't missing, but had somehow been chewed up and squished between the motor shaft and the auger.
    I know why it happened, but would rather not say as it may or may not involve the previous owner.

    This is what the chewed pin looked like (supposed to be in the hole where the motor shaft meets the auger):

    Following Nick's advice I used a punch to remove what remained of it:

    Then replaced it with a screw/bolt I had lying around:

    It worked a treat, but when I put the whole thing back together and tested it, I noticed some temp fluctuations. They didn't concern me, so I emailed Nick the good news. He promptly phoned me advising me to reset and update the firmware and sure enough that fixed it so it is now 100% again. Holding temp perfectly and spinning without making any grinding noise.

    Hats off to Hark for the service, even if I'd had to use replacement parts they were offered to me at what I think is an excellent price. Even better, Nick was patient and willing to spend some time with me on the phone and help to troubleshoot and rectify. Couldn't ask for better service!
    Also hats off to the DB motor, which managed to chew and spit out a metal split pin, managed to make the DB work for over 2 years despite grinding metal, and continues to work perfectly. 8o

    I love my GMG! :D

    Masterbuilt Gravity 800 | Maximus Pizza Oven | GMG - Daniel Boone | Cyprus Grill | Big Steel Keg | Blackstone Griddle | Fire Pit | Weber Genesis |

  • The shear pin correct? It is supposed to "shear" or break off if the load becomes to sever to prevent motor burn out. You might want to contact them and see if I am correct. If it is that, the bolt idea is not the way to go as it will not shear. Maybe things have completely changed in 7 years!

    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

  • Bentley is right. You have just removed a cheap design element that will fail to save your motor failing. With the bolt there the next time the the motor cant rotate the auger you will blow your motor. Please have the factory designed item installed...

    • Official Post

    Full disclosure: when I took out the auger I found an extraneous piece of metal that had become virtually welded to it (it got squashed between the auger and the metal tube). I've never fed metal in the hopper, so I'm not sure how the metal got in there. I suspect it happened before I purchased the unit from the original owner since the BBQ has always made an odd sound. My theory is that this is what caused the added workload to the motor and the pin.
    When testing the auger spin cycle by hand, I found that every now and then it would get stuck, so I filed the guilty party down and gave the auger another extensive manual test without it ever getting stuck.


    The shear pin correct? It is supposed to "shear" or break off if the load becomes to sever to prevent motor burn out.

    You have just removed a cheap design element that will fail to save your motor failing.


    Thanks Bentley and Freddie, knowing the cost of the parts I decided to take my chances. I'm pretty sure it will be fine, but if the motor fails then I'll replace both the motor and the auger. They're not expensive.

    • Official Post

    Hey Narms, if its a shear pin you can probably get one the right size from whoever services your car or a local workshop. Maybe a $1. You can buy them in blister packs at Supercheap, Repco etc but the you end up with heap of them with nothing to use them for. Still got a pack like that I bought in Tassie a few years back. :)


    Cheers, Wayne

    • Official Post

    Hey Narms, if its a shear pin you can probably get one the right size from whoever services your car or a local workshop. Maybe a $1

    Thanks BB, I'm sure even Bunnings has some or for a few bucks I could get the exact part from Hark. Thing is, if it were to happen again and another pin got chewed up I would replace both the motor and the auger anyway since their shafts didn't munch on the pin without consequence (I had to do some filing and plier work just to pull them apart, I changed the size of the first pic so hopefully you can see what I mean).

    • Official Post

    Bentley is right! It is a shear pin, the motor is supposed to break the pin if the auger cannot turn.

    I agree and it did the job quite well. We can use my bolt as a test case of how long before the motor breaks :)

    Masterbuilt Gravity 800 | Maximus Pizza Oven | GMG - Daniel Boone | Cyprus Grill | Big Steel Keg | Blackstone Griddle | Fire Pit | Weber Genesis |

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!