LavaLock® LL 12050 Smoker Vertical Handle Review

An effective product but I must say that I am very surprised and disappointed that the fixing screws/nuts/washers were not included, especially on a part with such a large markup. Now I have to make an extra trip to the hardware store to find the right bolts/nuts/washers for an efficient assembly. I would only recommend this part if the supplier put screws/nuts/washers in the bag instead of promotional cards.

I bought this to secure the lid on my Oklahoma Joe's Highland Smoker. My smoker's lid was not curved to fit the smoker's barrel to allow heat to escape. I was hoping this would solve the problem. After drilling holes and purchasing stainless steel hardware, I adjusted the latch and it would not engage. It looks like it was made with too little play to lock in place. I am not happy.

the first box was 1/4 20 screws were too big for the mounting holes. I drilled and tapped holes, drilled holes for the latch and put it on, that's when I realized it was poor quality, most likely chinese junk. I locked the latch and it opened immediately. I had to sharpen the stop to move the lever further forward and it was fixed. So it goes on, I don't know how long the rubber bumper will deform a lot, maybe with 50 pounds of force on it. Yes, I'm not happy.

I have ordered two of them. One worked great. If you locked it in the closed position, locking and unlocking was a little tedious. The other, in a locked position, required little to no pressure to release. And no, it wasn't the attitude. The part of the mechanism that the handle hit as it was being moved to the locked position prevented the handle from moving far enough to lock securely. I sent it back and the replacement did the same. I drilled about 1/32 inch from where the handle met the…