Just got mine today and it doesn't sit flush either!!!

Same

I had then right but doesn't fit flush. I had to drill out the holes a bit

Does yours also hit the mounting screws for the firebox?

@@JEFFREYSOLORIO yep.

Try using a charcoal basket in the firebox if you're not doing that already. OK Joe sells them to fit perfectly. Makes it much easier to manage the fire. Start off with the the firebox door cracked a bit and the stack damper wide open. You can adjust this later. I prefer a little bit of Kingsford briquets and mostly Jealous Devil lump. Don't fill the charcoal basket with charcoal. Instead, start off with one chimney of lit charcoal, dump it in the basket, spread it around over the bottom of the basket, then add one or two splits. Wait for the splits to ignite with yellow flames. It's the splits that will give you the heat you need. The charcoal isn't enough. Doesn't matter how much charcoal you put in there. You want a little charcoal, and then the wood. Add a little charcoal periodically. Be patient, give the cook chamber time to heat up. Good luck.

had the same issue

About the same here but it certainly helps. Without the baffle I had 60+ difference. The firebox gets so hot I don’t think it’s possible to achieve even temps on both sides.

Lavalock sells a rectangular water container that is designed to snug up to the baffle angled steel at the firebox. I found this evens the temps to within ten degrees (hotter on the left side, cooler on the firebox side). The water bowl is pricy though. But worth it, IMO. Good luck

Had the same issue. I just put the water pan that covered the first 2 sets of holes. I mt was on average 10 degrees hotter. And when cooking on both sides(food on both sides) it's about 5 degrees cooler on average.

That's not that bad, without the plate it's almost uncontrollable

Yes. I was just out a few mins ago fooling around with this. Seems to me one has a number of options here: 1) Remove the top two fire box bolts, place and mark the baffle with a pencil, drill holes in the baffle, slide the baffle flush with the right side, place bolts through, replace nuts so the baffle is bolted snuggly to the right side, or 2) do the same thing except drill bigger holes to accommodate the size of the bolt heads so that the baffle will slide snug with the right side without having to bolt it in which gives the option of quick easy removal, or 3) put spare grates in place first as mentioned above, then place baffle on top of those grates which lift the baffle just enough so that the bolts are not in the way - but it appears it might take two layers of grates to lift it high enough. However, this creates a gap on the sides of the baffle. Or 4) attach a high temp fiberglass oven door insulation gasket (1500 F) to the baffle on the right side with high temp adhesive (2,000 F would be enough I think). The oven gasket would need to be thick enough (at least 5/16 inch which is the height of the bolt head) to cover the gap. Or 5) Adding an offset water pan, sold by bbqsmokermods to the right side - the firebox side - might be enough to reduce the cook temp on the firebox side of the smoker. Or 6) Just leave it as is and see how you like it. Edit: There is another problem besides the bolt head that hits the side of the baffle when you try to slide the baffle in snug to the right side. There's a seam that is welded inside - all the way around that round side of the cooking chamber, and it bulges out a bit and gets in the way of the baffle so that it won't slide in snug regardless of the bolts; that is, the triangular piece that is screwed into the baffle hits the seam and stops the baffle from becoming snug with the wall on the right side. To solve the problem, you can either remove the triangular part from the baffle, or you can bend that pointed part of the triangle in slightly so that it misses the seam, or you can swap it with the other side and install it backwards so that it's not aligned with the outside edge of the baffle - but rather inside - so that it is too far inside to hit the seam, or (best) you can grind a small horizontal notch at the bottom edge of the triangular piece to make room for the seam. Of course, you still have the option of lifting the whole thing up by putting in grates but you'd then have leaks on the sides of the baffle. Edit x 2: Within a short amount of time, the right-side bulkhead of the Highland will begin to bow out due to the weight of the firebox due to expansions/contractions of the thin steel of the right side bulkhead. This will cause the firebox to sag a bit. The good news is, you can solve this problem easily with this baffle because the baffle plate steel is quite thick - a bit thicker than the stock steel of the highland. The solution is to remove the two top firebox bolts, snug up the baffle, and use a pencil to mark where to drill holes into the baffle plate. Drill holes large enough to accommodate the fire box bolts. Snug up the baffle plate and replace the two firebox bolts. As you torque down the bolts, you will pull the right side bulkhead back into its original flat shape and the firebox will no longer sag. There is no need to use the pre-existing bolt holes on the baffle as they serve no purpose. Cheers.

@@markennes5208 Appreciate the advice. I just tried to install mine and the top firebox bolts are in the way. I am not sure if the drill method will work because it seems the bolts are hitting right on the transition of the angle to the flat part of the baffle plate. I got the stainless version so I am not sure I have a drill bit in the right size that will work. Kind of disappointed as this is holding me up from doing what I really want to do. Would return it and just deal with the uneven temps if I could.

@@KeithTullius On mine, the hole I drilled is just slightly above that fold. The hole does not touch the fold, but the bolt head does appear to be touching the folded steel. But nonetheless, the bolt is tightened all the way down and flat to the steel. The baffle is snug to the bulkhead. Another thing I did a few months after this mod was to cut the baffle at the bottom fold straight across with an angle grinder metal cutting wheel. This enables you to fine-tune the small temp differences from right to left my making very small micro-adjustments to the gap of the two pieces of baffle with a flat head screwdriver before several cooks until you eventually get it perfect. So in the end, you have perfect balanced temps from right to left. Good luck

You have a good point and it is kind of complicated because you're trying to balance radiant heat & convective heat. And then you also have the smoke. If one wants to just live with badly out of balance temps, then I guess one could go without the baffle. Personally, I definitely prefer the baffle. But you do have to consider where the heat and smoke is coming from (from below and rising up towards the stack opening). So for example, when I cook a rack of ribs, rather than laying them flat, I like to bank them about 30 or 45 degrees towards the firebox.

Bigger fire!

Confirmed, need a hot fire box when working with these baffles Also, you have to stay on top of managing the fire. I’m only using mine for smoking larger quantities with all wood. I use a Vision ceramic (lump charcoal and wood) for grilling and smaller smokes.

I found that if you remove the baffle door it improve the airflow eniugh where you can shut the door and control temps through smoke stack baffle.

Brilliant!!!😂