Traeger Grills - Troubleshooting: How to Clear a Jammed Auger

[@deborahcook2359]

I got tired of waiting on my husband so I fixed our Traeger all by myself. These videos made that possible. Pellets can and do get wet in Las Vegas. No more squeak, no more clogged auger. What a sense of accomplishment!!! Thanks Traeger for these videos.

[@TraegerGrills]

That's awesome, nice job! 👊🔥

[@Jordanfiend361]

Especially when you leave the pellets in for a few days or longer which they tell you not to do lol 🤷🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[@DesmoProfundis]

I felt this disturbance in the Force. Now you have the title of Grill Master, and with great power comes great responsibility. Your husband's man card can be turned in at any local hardware store or dive bar. 😉

[@deborahcook2359]

@@DesmoProfundis HAHAHA!! That made my day !!

[@hazelisbelle399]

To funny, I just said to my husband. Don't know why I got you. I hot you tube. And she's running now

[@mattsavoy2226]

worked like a charm!!! thank you! Not gonna leave the traeger in the rain again!!

[@anthonym6078]

Huge thanks for this video, i am giving my coworker my old Traeger since i upgraded recently but didn’t wanna give it to him without making sure it worked. Turns out the auger was jammed. This was a total lifesaver.

[@TraegerGrills]

Glad it helped 🙌

[@johnsned]

Tip, instead of relying on the wrench to bite into the rod, I put a nail through the hole used to connect the auger motor to the auger and used the wrench. It's worked great. Thanks for the video it got me started on clearing the jam.

[@TerranceAlletto]

This was great. Pro tip: when you reinstall, insert the auger and connect motor to auger before pushing all the way in. The motor/auger connection fits too tight to connect after auger is secured in its place.

[@TheNab89]

This right here is what finally made it go, nothing else was helping. You sir are the real MVP. Thanks.

[@tedpendlebury7978]

Somewhere, you should alert people to the negatives of letting this thing get wet. I LOVE my Traeger, but recently it got wet. The work involved in getting that wood out of the auger tube was insane. It's like concrete once it's wet! Looking forward to a delicious bird in a couple of weeks now that it's cleaned out. :)

[@krs357]

Exactly right. My Timberline has been rendered useless for this very reason and it stays covered when not in use.

[@sabrinamanning9935]

Hey wondering if you have any tips on getting that concrete wood out? Mine has the same problem and I can't get the auger out!

[@KphOutdoors27]

Same here. Mine got wet when my cover was blown away by the wind in a storm. The water soaked the pellets and caused my auger to lock up. Keep em dry

[@Headuardo]

@@krs357 I cover mine religiously and it still happens. :(

[@mjforsyt]

Great directions and worked perfectly. This saved me a lot of money.

[@mangoc4169]

Great video. No fluff. Took me from frustrated to grilling in under 30 minutes.

[@Rossi6998]

Great Video.. Thanks... FYI... I drilled a hole in the support to get to the Allen key pin. As luck would have it, the auger jammed with the Allen key pin face down.

[@iancable2863]

Thanks! This fix was really satisfying :) Looking forward to smoking up a storm the rest of this weekend.

[@DavidEoff]

I just did this repair. It went just like the video showed. On mine, the auger jammed with the nut in the pin pointed straight down, so it was a little tough to hold it until the nylock nut loosened. The auger is the best tool to clean out the pellet shaft. Just use it like a drill to loosen up some pellets, and then pull it out to clear the shaft.

[@IzzyEatz]

Brad is so excited to do this video

[@honkershop]

right on.. the video made it easy... mine was epically plugged.... 15 minute fix and we are on track for dinner! don't forget to lube the fan and drive bearings while you have it apart... keeps the squealing to the piggies!

[@Aeroadjuster]

Yep, just fixed an auger jam. Lucky for me I was able to free it up without removing the auger motor and removing the auger from the tube. Good thing that the working parts are easy to get to. It is very important to keep the grill dry. I have a cover and I use it. I no longer keep pellets in the hopper. Load it just before I use the grill. I viewed the video after I cleared the jam. Yes, I would never use a pipe wrench on the auger. Just run an allen wrench through the shear pin hole in the auger and use the wrench to turn the auger.

[@AKZOMBEY]

I'll be the first to admit. I was cleaning it and got water in the auger tube. My fault, but this video helped a great deal and I'm grillin Quail as I type this. Thank you!

[@presshrd5copys]

We had 3 days worth of storms after using my pellet grill which is a Academy model (re-branded Traeger maybe?). Didn’t cover & had left pellets in the hopper. Seized it up like concrete 😥. This video helped out immensely! Only issue I had was the shear pin was bent & the head was facing ‘down’ which wouldn’t allow me to get a bite on it. Had to grind it off w/ a Dremel tool being real careful. After that, it was a breeze getting her running again! Thanks for the lesson.

[@bradorahood742]

Been putting this off because I really am NOT good with tools. Went by the video and was able to get the Traeger up and running in under two hours! The hardest part was the allen bolt - it was seized tighter than the auger! Large quantities of WD-40 later, clean and running.

[@dustytravels9458]

Appreciate the video.. but to have to do this after only three uses, NOT Happy !!! Is there a method / or is it OK to run all of the pellets out of the unit after cooking?

[@scottwalter5702]

Followed this and got Traeger cooking again thanks

[@jeffberkovatz9796]

Thank you for the video the auger clean out is great thank you so much

[@bfed2831]

This is my second Traeger- First one lasted 12 years never had a problem cooking in the rain and snow. Never had an Auger Jam. On the most recent purchase I had an Auger Jam. Once I took the fire box off- I know why the pellets get wet- The seal was partially gone in several spots. Happy to send a Picture. I have re-placed and re-sealed the bad gasket. Now much more water proof.

[@needhlp20]

My gasket was bad too.

[@infiniteincongruence]

Yall got gaskets?

[@vattavattaveese]

Thank you, this was very helpful!

[@mdmackey]

Exactly what I needed to unclog my auger. Great video!

[@tarb1320]

This video helped a lot, but I wont lie, it was still a PITA.

[@jcims]

I feel like this is something that some basic engineering could get around. For example, there's no reason the auger tube has to be one piece...there is no pressure under normal operation so you could easily run a split tube that you can pull apart if it gets jammed. I have a Pitt Boss that's equally frustrating with the same problem...it needs a method to drain the hopper all the way down to the auger, not 3" above it where you're just more exposed to the problem or have to spend 30 minutes burning off the rest.

[@susansmith3398]

Mine is jammed up, but from humidity in Florida! Can't leave any wood chips in it at all! Good thing we got the pellet release door, to empty after each use.

[@samuelbaldwin4570]

Thanks. This worked perfect.

[@bromusboy]

Thx for the video; auger was jammed and now back in business (FYI - when the auger was jammed, the auger motor was tripping the GFCI)

[@dusting00]

Where is your power cable at in this video?

[@paulwebber3512]

Very helpful video, thanks

[@iustus3tp3cattor]

This worked. The clip to the auger and came off somehow and that made it impossible for the auger to rotate and feed pellets into the smoke box.

[@rgs461]

Or you can just pick it from the handle on the basket side and slam it a few times on the ground. Worked for me.

[@gonzo060717]

I have a pro series 22. The hooper doesn’t just slide out. You have to unscrew the bottom of the hooper due to the power cord connection. Would’ve been nice to know that before. Took me 30 minutes to figure out why it wasn’t just sliding out like he says in the video.

[@R3troZone]

This is all well and good as long as the pellets cooperate. I can't get my auger to turn even with a wrench.

[@TraegerGrills]

Hey there, please give us a call at 1-800-TRAEGER, one of our team members would be happy to walk you through some easy troubleshooting steps. 👍

[@patrickevans3457]

It would be great if you could get into the auger housing from the other side. If you could remove the firebox area

[@davejoseph5615]

On the Renegade Pro you also have to take the grating off the bottom of the hopper before the hopper can be removed.

[@scottroyle2902]

Same thing on the junior I have. And I guess I should have removed the pellets as well first.

[@danielz.7931]

Yeah. Useless for my Pro Series 34. Why did you close the housing behind the controller? Now it's a pain in the a... to remove the hopper!

[@silverstake88]

The Traeger pellet bin I have doesn't have screws on the outside of the box. How to remove?

[@southernbenz2098]

You could have told us that the power cord is also attached up through there, and needs to be disconnected from the grommet. I definitely just ripped it right out of the motor. Thanks for nothing.

[@TraegerGrills]

Hey there, we’re really sorry about this, we would like to help. Please send us an email at [e-mail], we’ll have one of our in-house team members reach out to you.

[@poonsweat]

Sounds like you just don’t pay attention and fucked your shit up being wreck less.

[@kidagave1]

You’re a dik

[@larryle9389]

Forget it finally got it out. The auger was seized inside and the shaft at the top of the auger where it bolts to the motor was getting bent out of shaped from using the pipe wrench. Ended up finding a bolt to put in the shaft before using the pipe wrench.

[@MrBocamo]

My grill has a perforated metal plate under the hopper, because the power cord is grommeted to it I needed to remove those 6 screws. Also the lower screw on the control panel was frozen and the Phillips head stripped out. Consider using a Phillips/hex instead. Also, if the screen in the hopper were easier to remove, all of this would have avoided.

[@franklauriekranitsky2782]

Why would you not clean the auger before reassembly? Looked rusty in a few areas!

[@Amy-ot3ue]

I have the tailgater it worked the first 2 times. Now the hopper jams every hour and I’ve fought the temp gauge too often. Called, went through a FaceTime repair and it hasn’t fixed anything! I wasted money not just on the smoker but replacements parts for a practically new unit and it’s still a lemon!

[@MaxTheGlue]

Make a video for the SILVERSTONE, There is 2 screws that Ste not easy to table out.

[@sharkanalyst]

Dear Traeger. Good news: I cleared my jammed auger. Bad news: Now my wife says I can't buy a new Trager. 😥 Thanks a lot.

[@ipaharpoon]

I own a Eastwood and my sheer pin broke off, into multiple pieces. I received a replacement from Traeger. It worked for about 3 minutes, but broke apart again shortly after putting the grill back together. Any idea why this would happen? Any particular instructions on how to replace? Any chance I could grab measurements for the pin/nut so I don't have to wait a week plus each time for a replacement?

[@martingeronilla8855]

My traeger was missing the sheer pin screw can I use a cotter pin instead

[@larryle9389]

Follow the direction and still can’t get the auger out. Seems like the auger is seized inside. Any other tips on how to get the auger out??

[@larryle9389]

Yes I did. The problem that I was having was when I tried using the pipe wrench, the shaft was getting deformed as to where the screw holes did not lined up and the pipe wrench wasn't catching. The trick is after you removed the motor from the auger, find a bolt that will fit almost perfectly into the the where the motor came out from. Put the bolt in and use the pipe wrench. Beside doing that, I also got a coat hanger and dug out as much of the wood pellet as I can too. Hope this help and good luck!!

[@reaton31]

for the newbies, you should remind to empty the hopper before you remove. lol

[@Allanator]

Seems like a lot of work and inconvenience. thanks for the video on how to fix it.

[@thomaspetersen9402]

Why would the auger jam if the grill hasn’t been used? Any help would be appreciated

[@TraegerGrills]

Hey Thomas, we are more than happy to look into what's going on with your grill, just give us a call at 1-800-TRAEGER, one of our team members will get you squared away. 🙌

[@Dan-vb3ju]

I have a question. After I took out the auger shaft and reassembled it all back everything seems to work ok now. Is there supposto be some play at the end of the shaft where it connects to the motor shaft?Also the motor at the end of the shaft just free floats I don't see anywhere where it would mount.Does anything seem weird here?

[@TraegerGrills]

Hey Dan, please give us a call at 1-800-TRAEGER, one of our team members would be happy to walk through this with you, and get you squared away. 👍

[@billross3002]

Good video for those models that disassemble like the one shown. Augers for the smaller TFT17LLA jamb as well and this video isn't the least bit helpful.

[@IsaacGerken-n1m]

Beware the Kirkland brand pellets! They are too large and create a lot of dust that will get damp and seize up the auger! Did anyone else have trouble with Kirkland pellets from Costco?

[@jojocrutch]

We switch to them and now the auger is jammed! Back to the Traeger brand.

[@contrafax]

how do you remove the auger on a scout grill?

[@homegrownfishing9548]

My traeger will only work on high any ideas? The auger is clean nothing in the way.

[@Stoviecakes]

I’ve had nothing but issues with this grill since day one. From Traeger not even providing the correct parts upon purchase all the way to every other issue imaginable.I spent more time trying to get this grill to work than actual grilling. I truly regret this purchase

[@TraegerGrills]

Hi Stovie, we're really sorry that you've had these problems, we can help. Please send us an email at [e-mail] and add "TIER 3 ESCALATIONS", to the subject line, we'll have one of our in-house team members reach out to you.

[@manbearpig5907]

Lol On my old 075 you don't have to remove the hopper to service it. Makes it much easier

[@Anthony-em5pv]

how do i do this with my ranger

[@gfabian7063]

Honestly, if I'd have known the poor design of these things prior to my purchase, I would not have bought one. The fact that you have to go to this level of disassembly to clear out the auger is ridiculous. Traeger should have had a mode where you can run the auger without turning on the pot heater. And from the first model, they should have included a hopper cleanout door. This is like having to take the engine out of your car in order to change the spark plugs.

[@mikedobbins9188]

My grill hopper looks nothing like this and the 4 screws does not remove it.

[@gratefultammy]

Look for more KZbin videos with your model # .

[@TheNab89]

Mine is sooooo caked in wet expanded pellets that the auger is almost glued inside. No wrench or vice grips or anything is helping, theres metal shavings coming off now. Thats how bad it is. Anyone tried burning it out? Cuz im at my wits end here. Edit: Read one of the comments on here and used a nail and put it through the hole that holds the motor to the auger and used the wrench to bite and it finally loosened up. This was really annoying to just clear a jam.

[@JeffD726]

Just a heads up: please don’t “already do” something. For the folks who are MECHANICAL DECLINED AS HELL.... like myself. I can’t figure out how to pull the auger out! You said you removed it and I can’t figure out how to do that but more importantly can see the screw that’s supposed to come off to pull the giant screw looking auger out in the first place! 😔

[@salmonsavages]

Twist

[@russknight6211]

Ok, so I followed this to a T, and now the disply says "Err".... WTF

[@apexpredator40]

My auger shaft sheared

[@rstevenhanson]

There's not an easier way? Blow it out? Burn it out?

[@chasingtail2]

Fucking pellets stored inside the house and it fucking jams on me. Why the fuck

[@kolotoure14]

How the fuck do you remove the hopper on first Gen timberline

[@TraegerGrills]

Hey there, we would be happy to walk you through the process, just give us a call at 1-800-TRAEGER, one of our team members will get you squared away. 👍

[@denisevickery6798]

Are you kidding me!!! Why don't you build these so this doesn't happen?

[@kenteaff1340]

I've had my smoker for 5 years and this has never happened to me. They're built extremely well. The pellets are susceptible to getting wet and turning into goo, but again, I've never experienced this. I suppose if you leave the lid open during a rainstorm, the pellets could get wet. Have you written to Toyota and GM and asked them why they don't build their cars so nothing breaks? Or HP or Dell to find out why their laptops aren't built so that nothing breaks?

[@becker22surfer]

If I have to do all this after 1 burn I’m returning it to Home Depot and getting my $ back. These things are trash

[@robrose9519]

Wish id just stayed with charcoal.

[@lindamorgey6736]

Woodglut plans are amazing!

[@connercheser4168]

Buying a traeger over one of the other brands was the biggest mistake I’ve made. Their customer service is lacking and they don’t stand behind their product. Do yourself a favor and buy a green mountain or pit boss

[@johnnywoodby5600]

The metal cover that is pulled off in the video is a fucking hoax. You need to have needle nose or wire cutter the get the seal from the power cord out of the metal so you can actually take it off. The seal prevents you from removing the big metal shit and makes you pull on the engine and all that shit. Be careful and I still haven’t gotten the seal unstuck and pretty sure I bent the auger and engine and shit so it easy as pie

[@billcutting3420]

I filed a lawsuit cause I’m pretty much blind and ur buttons don’t have braille… I’ll settle out of court tho

[@mysimplepod1351]

1 start out of five. This product is a poor design.

[@anthonysammartino9172]

Why would you not start with saying “Empty the hopper”? Also are you just stoned or what?

[@c9inglul129]

I mean, the video did say to take the pellets out.

[@anthonysammartino9172]

@@c9inglul129 I don't think so. But the point is moot now.

[@edwardgutierrez3323]

You pay almost $1800 plus on a timberline 1300 treager to have this happen not once not twice not three times an still happening augar jam an what nobody knows anything but to take it apart..I am sick of it going to SELL it!!!!!!! Briquettes are the best!!!!!