Brand New Timberline 850 issues - need some feedback thank you

[unclelala]

The key to insuring that the gasket clips lock is to insure that they are inserted deeply enough for the free end to expand and lock on the other side of the sheet metal hood.

View attachment 2865

True but I tried that with the pliers but it didn't catch but when I bent out the clip it was fine.

 

[RemE]

True but I tried that with the pliers but it didn't catch but when I bent out the clip it was fine.

Agreed, my point is that the free end of the clip must get deep enough into the hole in the hood to snap outward, like a toggle bolt. If this doesn't happen, the clip is prone to pulling out. I fought mine for months before I went at it with pliers, like you, and got it to lock.

 

[GLENNSANDERS]

Hello -
I just had gotten my brand-new Timberline 850 and was overly excited. I read the owner’s manual that came with it and on pages 11 and 12 it explains how to 'Season Your Grill'.
I followed the steps as prescribed by the Traeger Owner’s Manual and had no issues with this process. As we do often have a couple over to cook out and decided to throw on some burgers easy right. I had an exceedingly difficult time with the aluminum drip pan liners in fact felt they were quite useless. Okay so during the cook cycle I was at the back of the TL850 for some reason and saw noticed something odd about the exterior paint down on the barrel just next to the downdraft. I had my friend Jim look at this and he said and verified that the exterior paint was blistered up about the size of a fifty-cent piece give or take a bit. So now I am wondering when this occurred was it like that the day it was delivered to me, could have been, I did not go over the TL850 with a fine-tooth comb. Or did it happen during the 'seasoning your grill' steps. A local Traeger rep says it is normal I said this is not normal as I had an IW650 for a while and never had any issues with the exterior paint blistering or peeling. But the Traeger Rep mentioned that there could have been a fire inside the TL850 something about the pellets and how they were being fed into the fire pot, but he did not elaborate any further. Who would have known everything looked okay? I was able to prime the auger no problems and ran the TL850 at 350 F for 20 minutes and then at 500 F for 30 minutes and then successfully went through the shutdown cycle. I am familiar with Traeger smokers as I had owned an Ironwood 650 before moving up the TL850. The Traeger Rep said I had the Cadillac of Traeger Smokers, okay great it is high end, but I should not be seeing the exterior paint blistering bubbling up, no way. Unless of course something was wrong with this TL850. It was brand new! The downdraft paint has discoloration in it already, is this normal after seasoning the smoker steps and 1 cook of hamburgers?
So now the Traeger Rep is coming out next week to look at this Timberline 850 high end appliance, anything short of a replacement will be unacceptable to my wife and I both. Are you kidding me we spent a lot of $$$ on this thing, & he told us he did not think it warranted a replacement barrel or replacement smoker altogether? My wife & I are like just dumbfounded at this response. Help me please I am searching for someone to give us some assistance with this issue. Also, the lid gasket is coming off already this grill was expensive and my dream smoker I am bummed out. Thanks for your support and help with this issue.

My 850 will not go from 0 to 500 deg f without this area melting paint. I have to heat to 490 deg. f very slowly to be able to cook at this temp without the 850 overshooting and shuting down.

 

[Switz]

I suggest using a non-Traeger ambient air thermometer to do the burn in. My new Century 885 CostCo version internal thermometer is way off at both ice water temp and boilings water temp. So It would be entirely possible that the new "Cadillac" units got too hot because of a defective internal ambient air probe.

I actually got tech support to agree today that my model sucks at creating an even temperature cooking environment. So by spending an extra $325 for a Thermoworks Signals four port device, I may be able to control either the cook or cremation of a meal......

The left side by the chimney is the hottest side for my model. He suggested "adjusting" the Coolie rain hat of the chimney to try and slow down the escaping heat to create more smoke and more heat build up on the right side of the grill.

He admitted they have had some bad internal thermometers.

 

[YYCRed]

Trager instructions for SEASONING YOUR GRILL - INITIAL BURN IN

My suggestion are in red.

Before cooking the first batch of food in your new Traeger, you will need to season the grill. This simple, one-time initial firing process will ensure that you get the most out of your Traeger Wood Pellet Grill. We’re so excited that you’ve chosen to join Traeger Nation.
Step 1 Plug in grill to an electrical outlet and turn on
Step 2 -Prime your auger tube with pellets
Step 3 -Add hardwood pellets to hopper
Step 4 -Turn the main power switch on
Step 5 -Turn dial to "Select Auger" then choose "Prime Auger"
Step 6 -Once pellets begin to fall into firepot, select "Done" to turn off auger
Step 7Turn selection dial clockwise to 225°F (107°C) and press the dial
Step 8Press ignite, close the lid, and when the temperature reaches 225°F, run for 20 minutes then Shutdown grill and let cool.
Start Gill again
Step 9 Turn selection dial clockwise to 340°F (170°C) and press the dial run for 20 minutes then Shutdown grill and let cool.
Start Gill again
Step 10 Turn selection dial clockwise to 450°F (230°C) and press the dial run for 20 minutes then Shutdown grill and let cool.

This approach will help give the paint time to "cure" before exsopure to high temps , hope it helps.

I'll be doing this tomorrow. Thanks again to @RustyJake for pointing me to this thread.

 

[RemE]

Just take it easy, and don't bother going over 450F before many cycles. Frankly, unless you insulate the exhaust ports I would get a set of GrillGrates and never go super high on the temps

 

[rono]

I don't think these are made in China but I could easily be wrong. The discoloration on the back looks about normal. The blistering looks lake maybe a metal prep defect before the paint/powder coat finish. It's not a deal breaker in my opinion but we are all hyper sensitive about blemishes on a new product. Look it over closely, if the blister is going to flake off and rust I would call them out. If it's just cosmetic but still firm and stable like the other paint I'd leave it be, it's on the back anyway.

The tray liners work pretty well for me they could be a touch deeper front to back but they cover most of what's needed.

When you open up the unit and look at the fire pot, it's hard to imagine the fire going anywhere but the pot so I'm not sure what the rep was trying to say exactly.

The cover gasket has those diamond shaped push clips, just re-seat the seal. I rubbed some silicone grease around the face to let the cloth gasket slide better on the grill as it's opened and closed. It worked for me.

It's a fire breathing dragon, it won't look pretty forever. I'm at 1 year now and love mine. My only issue was slow starting, Traeger sent me a whole new firepot/hot rod igniter assembly last month and it solved the problem.

 

[rono]

They ARE made in China.

 

[RemE]

They ARE made in China.

Yup, in June of 2020 we weren't sure...

 

[Switz]

With erratic temperatures and only two measuring devices, one is not sure which part has the issue. So I ordered a Fireboard 2 Drive system so there will be three devices like the US Navy had three clocks for navigation. By the time the prices of a Thermape nMK4, Thermoworks Signals with extra probes and a Fireboard 2 Drive with extra probes are added together,I have spent nearly the price of the Century 885 just trying to solve a temperature accuracy issue that should not be there as an issue in the first place..

Have a place in line for a new Yoder YS 640S for the August delivery of inventory to the local Phoenix dealership. The Yoder is made in Kansas by an American company. The August order will be sold out and prepaid before the end of May.

 

[Switz]

The Yoder dealer today said they had a non standard color of a yellow painted base on a Yoder Competition YS 640S coming in two weeks. It will coming to my place.

 

[Kenny449]

Hello -
I just had gotten my brand-new Timberline 850 and was overly excited. I read the owner’s manual that came with it and on pages 11 and 12 it explains how to 'Season Your Grill'.
I followed the steps as prescribed by the Traeger Owner’s Manual and had no issues with this process. As we do often have a couple over to cook out and decided to throw on some burgers easy right. I had an exceedingly difficult time with the aluminum drip pan liners in fact felt they were quite useless. Okay so during the cook cycle I was at the back of the TL850 for some reason and saw noticed something odd about the exterior paint down on the barrel just next to the downdraft. I had my friend Jim look at this and he said and verified that the exterior paint was blistered up about the size of a fifty-cent piece give or take a bit. So now I am wondering when this occurred was it like that the day it was delivered to me, could have been, I did not go over the TL850 with a fine-tooth comb. Or did it happen during the 'seasoning your grill' steps. A local Traeger rep says it is normal I said this is not normal as I had an IW650 for a while and never had any issues with the exterior paint blistering or peeling. But the Traeger Rep mentioned that there could have been a fire inside the TL850 something about the pellets and how they were being fed into the fire pot, but he did not elaborate any further. Who would have known everything looked okay? I was able to prime the auger no problems and ran the TL850 at 350 F for 20 minutes and then at 500 F for 30 minutes and then successfully went through the shutdown cycle. I am familiar with Traeger smokers as I had owned an Ironwood 650 before moving up the TL850. The Traeger Rep said I had the Cadillac of Traeger Smokers, okay great it is high end, but I should not be seeing the exterior paint blistering bubbling up, no way. Unless of course something was wrong with this TL850. It was brand new! The downdraft paint has discoloration in it already, is this normal after seasoning the smoker steps and 1 cook of hamburgers?
So now the Traeger Rep is coming out next week to look at this Timberline 850 high end appliance, anything short of a replacement will be unacceptable to my wife and I both. Are you kidding me we spent a lot of $$$ on this thing, & he told us he did not think it warranted a replacement barrel or replacement smoker altogether? My wife & I are like just dumbfounded at this response. Help me please I am searching for someone to give us some assistance with this issue. Also, the lid gasket is coming off already this grill was expensive and my dream smoker I am bummed out. Thanks for your support and help with this issue.

And here is the paint issue on my renegade Pro which they call cosmetic.

 

[Switz]

I had a new Traeger Century 885 through local CostCo purchased 4 Dec 2020 and delivered 19 Jan 2021. Had four cooks that required me being beside the grill the entire time monitoring the erratic (30 to 40 degree variances between left and right side of the grill) and had both temperature probes replaced between cooks 2 and 3 with no improvement in performance. It was returned to CostCo for a full refund on 30 March 2021. The CostCo clerk said they were getting lots of them back for poor temperature control of both cooking and the meat temperatures.

A defective ambient inside the grill air probe could have let the grill get too hot....

My new yellow base competition Yoder YS640 S was built 31 MAR 2021in Kansas (not China like all Treagers) and delivered to the dealer in Phoenix 2 April along with perhaps 20 more identical but different colored base units that were pre-sold. Mine will be delivered here to my home on 8 April.

The Timberline 850 scales 213 pounds while the Yoder scales 418 pounds.

The Traeger reps job is to do everything possible to deny Treager's fault for what ever happens. They are just like the insurance company adjusters whose job is constrain all costs possible.

Depending on the both the date of purchase and brand of credit card used, there may be some leverage there to cure the problem.

There is a 48 hour cooling off period where the grill could be returned. Get your credit card involved.

 

[SolarWoof13]

i have the same issue in the same spot. Grill was put together by the Traeger dealer. I’ve never seen it hit temps above 500F and clean it regularly and only use Traeger products on it. It’s already getting rust running down the side even with the custom Traeger cover. I really hope they help me out on this.

 

[RemE]

i have the same issue in the same spot. Grill was put together by the Traeger dealer. I’ve never seen it hit temps above 500F and clean it regularly and only use Traeger products on it. It’s already getting rust running down the side even with the custom Traeger cover. I really hope they help me out on this.

That's the hottest spot on the TL850 and where the paint usually fails. Traeger support is hit and miss on how they handle this.