Reburbishing my Charbroil Quickset Grill - Stage 1: Replacing the warming racks

I purchased my grill back in 2001 when I moved into my first home. This thing has worked great, but has taken some abuse over the years. I decided it's time to slowly (as I'm on a low budget for this) replace parts to bring this back to full glory. The following are the items that I will need to replace in the not to distant future:

• 1. Warming / grilling racks
• 
• 2. Clean up rusting spots (high temp flat black paint)
• 3. Ceramic Briquets
• 4. Drip shield
• 5. Ignitor

I have ordered the items in the order in which I plan to replace parts. This is step 1, and I'll be replacing the warming/grilling racks.

My grill has 3 tiers: The main/lowest THICK grill that is great for flashing the meats right above the flame. A middle tier for everyday grilling (nothing too fancy) and the upper tray I use as a warming rack. The main grilling rack is very thick and shows little to no wear.


The middle and upper are much thinner metal and some of the pieces have thinned to the point of almost dental floss, and were ready to break at any moment.

Before and After:

Looking up the parts for the grill online wasn't simple, until I found a great site (currently no affiliation) grillparts.com. My model, a CharBroil Quickset is rather non-descript. I had no idea what series it was in the CharBroil line. This site made it easy. a couple of quick measurements of the parts I wanted to replace and it was perfectly matched to what I needed. Found out I have a 8000 series model. I measured the depth and width of each piece I needed and matched it on their site. Worked great. I ordered the parts on a friday afternoon, and had them on my doorstep then installed by tuesday of the following week, shipped to my door for just around $32. It might be easier for some of you to go to a local store and purchase yours, and save you a couple bucks, but it's a 30 minute drive one way for me to anywhere like that, and then I'd have to find the right store. Much cheaper to just pay the shipping.

The new parts slid right in after removing the old ones with no problems. Took about 5 minutes, and getting the old shelves out was a little messy / greasy. Step 1 complete, now to clean up the ugly rust.