I just got the BJ3 and it had a slight overbite, then after one hot pizza cook, I couldn’t unlatch it, overbite grew, and divide and conquer rack hits the lid with slow roller in place. Even when rotated 45 degrees. So I went down the rabbit hole and eventually fixed it. Here is what I did. 1. Loosen airlift hinge as lose as you can. 2. Use the lock assembly and lock the air lift hinge in place for safety. 3. Loosen all hex bolts connecting the hinge assembly to the bands (top and bottom) 12 bolts. Don’t undo them, just very lose so that there is movement. 4. I used a cranking tie down around the grill and bottom third of the air hinge to pull the bottom of the hinge closer to the grill and to make sure the bottom band’s hinge assembly was flush against the band. (This also pulled the lid back a little bit) 5. Once the hinge looked straight up and down, I started tightening the hinge attachments starting with the bottom INNER BOLTS working my way out. They seem to slip, so with my ratchet I tried to mimic an impact gun as I do not have one. This is what worked. It took a lot of sweat. But eventually I got that all tight in the right order. 5. I then wiggled the lid to try and push it back just a little and proceeded to tighten the top hinge attachment (inside bolts first working my way out) same as bottom. 6. Once it was tight I took off the tie down and unlocked the hinge. Adjusted my air lift hinge to my liking. 7. To be safe, I used a torque wrench set to 10 LBS/In and made sure that’s how tight top and bottom bands were. There is still the slightest bit of overbite (just like when it shipped) but now the slow roller does not hit the lid, everything is tight, and I know the ins and outs of this thing when things start to go wrong from time and high heat. I also added a washer to the bottom of the latch system so the overbite was compensated and the lid would smoothly lock itself and unlatch with plenty wiggle room. Hope this helps.

my BIG 3 have exact same issues, from first FISH grill. Gasket went off, alignment and hinges, Local reseller took it for a month to fix it but after the second grilling its back to zero.

Idle Hands, thanks for the detailed breakdown and others for the comments. I need to replace an older Vision and was circling this model but I'm pumping the brakes now! This is A LOT of money to spend and not get a proper setup and then not get proper customer service on top of that. Back to the drawing board.

I believe your problem is with assembly. The first ring that you put in for the smoke roller needs to be rotated 45°. By doing this you will provide clearance when you put in the frame that the grills actually sit on. You can continuous assembly of the smoke roller! When you place the grills on they will no longer be in a north-south configuration they will be about 45° to the right or left from Center. I have the same grill and that’s how I’ve assembled mine I have no clearance problems at all!

Ceramic, I imagine Is inherently "imperfect." Maybe lid movement pulled the hing during shipping, depending on how it was packaged. For that, of course, we'd need an unboxing video.

With this kind of issue with such an expensive grill I am out. One month to reply to the service request via mail is inacceptable. Support is important! Will go for some other brand then. You still have the issue, seems it has not been sold. Thanks for the heads up.

Excellent video. Great job of documenting the problem. This is complete garbage. Hope they tell you to crank down on those band bolts. I’d use a 1” drive air impact and say whoops. You’ll have to send me a new grill. This is like a dodge vehicle where they can’t figure out how to make a door open without eating its own seal

Got the exact same problem as I’m watching your video. The lid is too far forward. When cooking with slo roller I have to shift the whole rack off the notches as far towards the front of the grill as I can. Trying to find a solution to the whole thing through customer service as well..

You have beautiful grass 😊

I had the same thing with mine. I just moved my ceramics and ring ahead a bit.

Just got mine today, but I also have the added issues of having cracks in both the firebox parts and the body of the kamado itself...

Hey mine is the same I found if you move the notches to 45 degrees and push the firebox at but more towards the front by using kitchen roll behind the separate firebox pieces it’s the position of the steel ring on the firebox that he’s to be correct Yes we shouldn’t have to do that at this price point and it’s really annoying try it and let me know how you get on

I had lots of problems with my Big Joe II and customer service was very bad. I took my grill back to Costco got my money back.

I got the same issue than u! My dome over hangs ! Is so off and my ash catcher hardly goes in cause the air flow vent in the bottom is not square !

I have the same issue (overbite?) with a BJ3 I purchased about a month ago. I tried shifting the rings etc but nothing resolved the issue. I contacted Kamado Joe and they wanted to send me a new dome. I dont think the dome is faulty. I think the hinge/spring housing is too far forward on the dome portion with respect to the base portion. Ie. not something I can change. I placed washers between the lower ring and the hinge housing and it now lines up perfect. I have explained this to them and am awaiting an updated response. For now, the alignment issue is "fixed".

This is now two years latter... Can you give an update to this problem.??? I have seen other videos where that sealing ring has come loose after a year or so. Did the Smoking Dad alignment video help? I am just about ready to pull the trigger on buying one of these bad boys. I have looked at a dozen or so other Kamado grills and the Joe seems to have more features and followers/buyers. My guess is that it is the best for the price. Thanks..

first cook w the slow roller and have the exact same problem ... lid slightly forward and gasket not aligned properly ... ugh

I just got off the phone with Kamado Joe because i am having the same issue. I used your video to demonstrate the problem. They are going to send it to their engineers and come back with a solution! Will keep you posted.... unless you already fixed yours?

Wow, pretty crazy for such a high ticket item to have an issue like that... yikes!

I have the same problem with my big joe 3 i received a week before xmas,my lid is that far forward the latch doesn't hold properly no matter how much i adjust the latch using the small allen key to the point that the lid will constantly unlatch on its own during cooks. Has anyone had any luck yet from KJ.

Would love to know if they ever get back to you. I’m wanting to purchase a big joe three as well but am terrified of their customer service.

If you don’t complain they think you are happy,because you are the first to complain,so everyone else is Happy.Strange but true

I have the same problem with mine.

This video just put the brakes on me. I was leaning to an akorn kamado (though cheaper, it’s bullet proof) which is a better price point but doesn’t hold the temp the ceramics hold as easier. I was considering the classic joe 3 as I don’t need the extra real estate. Any idea is the same issue presents with the little brother of big joe?

Is your hinge level? Put a level on it to see how far it's off. It does look to be off.

Too expensive tool for building queality issues... Did Big Joe solve it since your video claim?

Hi , any update? I got the same issue

Hello! did you manage to solve the problem?

Any updates?

That’s no good they need to replace that!

Didn't you say you got a "great deal" on this grill? Perhaps this is why? If you still have this grill and issue, the following may help. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p719adB30MzSnX0.html

Watching this completely turned me off from buying a kamado joe. It’s too expensive to not be perfect.