Old Alaska Kodiak Stoker II rebuild

Picked this up last night an hour away. 500 bucks and I had to help him carry it out of the house. Not fun.
I got it home and wiped it down




So tonight I tore it all apart and started at it

No matter what I used, that crap on the glass would NOT come off. Even broke razor blades. So I took a wire wheel to it HAHA


Its crap. I might buy a new one.
As you can see in the above pictures the grate was cracked. Not a big deal. 95 bucks at the dealer. Picking that up saturday along with new gaskets.

Whats this gasket with the metal rod going thru it?


Hopper gasket was pretty rough and even missing in a spot


Took the stoker out and a part. This part is just hanging out there. How do I know where to adjust that?


Me at work


Take notes fellas.. I even got my girlfriend in there working


I spent 2 hours cleaning the inside.. pictures coming of that tomorrow. I took them but my camera sucks and they weren't on it.

Tommorrow night I am finishing the dirty work, sanding it down, and painting it in the hottest rustoleam I can find. Black inside and out of course. I was going to do silver on the inside but I doubt the paint on the inside will hold up. Silver will just get dirty and crappy anyways.

If that glass wasn't 65 bucks I would buy a new one just so that it was in better condition that mine is.

Nice pics. I could tell by the way that female was helping that she wasn't your wife.
Keep at it and she will look like new. (the stove that is)

^ Wifes are overrated

Yikes. I can't wait to see the finished product. It looks like you have some work to do but you'll have a nice stove when you're done. Alaska has a factory store and Jerry from Leisure Line carries many of the parts you'll need. It sure look different then my Channing 3. Are u using a chimney, power vent of cirect vent? ALso, make sure you gys use masks when scaping the stove clean. Lots of nasty stuff to breathe in.

LOL on that comment Gambler....really, I busted a gut. and I think I actually woke the kids up.
I had pretty-much the same stove a few years ago except I had enclosed-angled side panels on either side of the firebox running the entire height of the stove. The stove kicked out extreme heat. 80-85 degrees in uninsulated concrete 1350 sq ft basement. It even had the same crack on the grate Although it didn't seem to be as efficient as my Harman Mag is now. Could have had something to do with the crack in the grate.

Keep the pictures coming!

Have fun

Mark

I believe that the gasket with the metal reinforcement is what they call "stongback" gasket which is what alaska currently uses at the back edge of the grate where it meet the throat of the feeder.

If I remember right the threaded rod part connects to the "carpet" (flat sheet metal part with 90 deg bend and hole ) that the coal slides onto the burn grate in the firebox. The lobe on the rod is used to adjust the stroke length of the carpet.This directly relates to the level of heat the stove kicks out.

Mark

Put a wire cup on that angle grinder. It will get the crud and rust off in no time. It will be right down to bare metal. Give the paint a better chance to hold up on the inside of the stove.

There have been quite a few rebuilds done. I just finished up mine about 3 weeks ago. Kodiak Stoker Stove- Rebuild

Took the stoker out and a part. This part is just hanging out there. How do I know where to adjust that?

that's the linkage that moves the carpet back and forth to feed the coal. A crappy design. I fabbed up a piece of linkage for mine, Matthaus has designed a better link.

traderfjp wrote:Yikes. I can't wait to see the finished product. It looks like you have some work to do but you'll have a nice stove when you're done. Alaska has a factory store and Jerry from Leisure Line carries many of the parts you'll need. It sure look different then my Channing 3. Are u using a chimney, power vent of cirect vent? ALso, make sure you gys use masks when scaping the stove clean. Lots of nasty stuff to breathe in.

Chimney. I purchased my house 4 months ago and it has 3 chimneys. One is fuel oil, one is russian fireplace (wood), and the third is a coal stove that he removed prior to sale. This stove is going in that spot. I have never run coal in my life but since this is set up for it I figured why not.
Thanks for the comments!

jpen1 wrote:I believe that the gasket with the metal reinforcement is what they call "stongback" gasket which is what alaska currently uses at the back edge of the grate where it meet the throat of the feeder.

Thanks for that. Hopefully my alaska dealer carrys that gasket. I noticed the hardware store carried alot of gaskets for this stuff also.

heatwithcoal wrote:If I remember right the threaded rod part connects to the "carpet" (flat sheet metal part with 90 deg bend and hole ) that the coal slides onto the burn grate in the firebox. The lobe on the rod is used to adjust the stroke length of the carpet.This directly relates to the level of heat the stove kicks out.

Mark

That "lobe" looks like a pemsert I used to install at an old job. Its just dangling there. I wish I had the instruction manual. I have no idea what this is supposed to be set at. Any advice on this area of the stove would be greatly appreciated!

Linc wrote:Put a wire cup on that angle grinder.

Thats what was on it, works great and removing rust! I ran it inside the stove some.. no more of that haha. I used razor blades on the inside.. what a messy job.

woodncoal - thanks for that picture! I may copy that!!!

Look at the photo I just posted of the unit assembled.

That "lobe" looks like a pemsert I used to install at an old job. Its just dangling there. I wish I had the instruction manual. I have no idea what this is supposed to be set at. Any advice on this area of the stove would be greatly appreciated!

Yup, it looks just like a weld nut. All I did was fire my stove and then I spent a lot of time spinning the lobe one turn at a time then waiting and watching the location and height of the fire band on the grate while feeling the heat that it pumps out along with the amount of coal you are going through. It was a touchy-feely thing and eventually I knew the stove and its nuances and what effect one lobe turn had on the heat output and coal consumption. Keep a calendar on the wall next to the stove and make notes on lobe rotations(i.e +1 or -2 etc.), stove temp, pipe temp, room temp/outside temp,times when you add coal and how much,etc. sounds kinda geeky but this helped me a lot. .

Mark

^ Looking at woodncoals picture he doesn't have that setup.

I am wondering if mine is at a good baseline or if someone has messed with it. Do all stokers have this? Where is everyone elses set at? Whats the factory default?

I think he does. You can barely see the bottom of the lobe behind the sheet metal return. The distance between the lobe and the acorn nut on the end of the threaded rod determines
the amount of slack in the system, which in turn determines the amount of forward/backward stroke of the "carpet" that dispenses coal on the grate. the closer the lobe is the the nut, the longer stroke, therefore the more coal is pushed on the grate with each stoke. I would say start with 1/2"-3/4" between the lobe and the nut but others may know better.

My Magnum has something similar.

Hope this helps.

Mark

Mark is correct.

When you run the unit, you can look into the back and see just how far the carpet is traveling. At idle mine would only move about 1/8" From there to full bore cranking was 4-5 turns on the lobe. That's all the adjustment needed. Any more than that and you are pushing hot coal off the end into the ashpan. I used mine in the end bay of my auto body shop. I would idle it down at night, come in the morning turn the lobe out 4 complete turns, pull on the carpet once or twice to jump start the thing and let it go after that. It only took about 15 minutes to be putting out some serious heat. At idle with a full hopper, it will go for 3-4 days. Full bore only about 24 - 36 hours.

I also made my own jacket out of sheet metal. I stitch welded it to the outside and installed a fan to pull the heat off the stove into some ductwork. In between the stitching I used some RTV sealant. No need to fully weld it solid. These stoves were originally made to put in the basement or garage. They are not too pretty except for the glass. But seeing that orange glow makes me smile.

I'm now replacing the one here with a LL Hyfire II and taking that Alaska home for the garage/woodshop. No more propane at home !!!!


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Rick