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Unbox and check the assembly

Build the cart and unpack

The manual's set-up steps (pages 8 and 9).

  1. Set the cart box aside and build the cart first, with the 2 locking casters at the front.
  2. Lock both front casters. They mark the front.
  3. Cut the carton bands and lift off the top and sides of the grill's carton.
  4. Take the parts packed inside the dome out. The manual: the ceramic is breakable.

What is in the box. The grill and, in its own box, the steel cart with 4 casters (2 locking) and the two slatted side shelves. Inside the grill: the firebox in eight pieces (6 walls, the base and the stainless ring), the cast-iron fire grate, the slide-out ash drawer, the Divide & Conquer rack with two half-moon grates, two heat deflectors and the accessory rack, the Kontrol Tower top vent, the ash tool, the grill gripper and the hinge disengagement kit (the manual, 20 parts). The stand-alone BJ24NRHC has 4 ceramic feet instead of the cart and shelves. No cover.

Lift the grill into the cart

Kamado Joe gives 184.8 kg (407.4 lb) for the grill with its cart. "Due to the weight of this grill, we highly recommend two people," says the manual.

  1. Check all band and hinge nuts are snug before lifting (the Classic II's 2025 manual).
  2. Lift with two or more people, in gloves.
  3. Hold it by the bottom and the front lower vent opening.
  4. Never lift by the side-shelf tabs, the handle, the hinge or the bands.
  5. Lower it into the cart with the draft door facing the front, over the two locking casters.

Fit the inside parts

The order from the manual's drawings (pages 10 and 11) and Kamado Joe's unboxing video.

  1. Slide in the ash drawer, its handle lined up with the lower vent opening.
  2. Set the firebox base in, its opening lined up with the ash-drawer handle.
  3. Lay the cast-iron fire grate in, ribs side down.
  4. Stand the 6 walls on the base, then pull each one in under the stainless ring, using the hole in each wall.
  5. Stand the Divide & Conquer rack on the ring.
  6. Fit the Kontrol Tower and remove its tape.

Then hang the side shelves on their brackets and register the grill. The stand-alone version goes on its 4 ceramic feet instead: 2 at the front, 2 at the back (the manual, p. 12).