If you own a Traeger smoker grill, chances are you put it together yourself — using the hardware kit provided by Traeger. To save money, the majority of the nuts, bolts, screws, and washers in a Traeger hardware kit are made of zinc. However, Traeger grills are designed for outdoor use… and it’s my preference to use stainless steel hardware on anything that lives outside. Is there anything wrong with keeping the zinc hardware on your Traeger? No… but if you live in a humid environment, and/or with enough time, the zinc hardware will eventually start to rust.

To help other fans of stainless steel hardware for your Traeger, I’ve created a shared spreadsheet as a type of “shopping list” for those who want to hit the local hardware store and swap out the zinc hardware for stainless. Just print out the list, take it to the stainless steel section of hardware aisle, and grab the correct number of each part.

The best time to do this is when you first assemble your grill (or even better, after you order it and while you’re waiting for it to arrive). But it’s still possible to replace the zinc hardware on your Traeger grill after it’s assembled — provided you’re careful and think through the possible consequence of removing any given piece of hardware. If you go this route, I recommend replacing only one piece of zinc hardware at a time. And regardless of how you do it, you assume all risks associated with the project.

If you have additional zinc to stainless hardware cross reference info for any Traeger grills that aren’t included in the spreadsheet, please contact me and I’ll be glad to add it.

Currently, the spreadsheet includes zinc to stainless hardware cross reference info for the following Traeger models:

• Traeger BBQ 400 (Select)

Use the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet to select different models.

You can launch the spreadsheet inside Google Drive from this link.