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i used a big fish hook with about 3 ft of steel cable . then rope through the pully to a cleat on the wall.no counterweight on mine. i would never trust any kind of flammible/meltable rope close to the lid. rosanna

Good point Rosanna I don't tie rope directly to the lid of the kilns either. One has to assume some intelligence in someone capable of installing and using a kiln safely.
That was one of the unexplained installation issues with most lid lifting systems nobody previously mentioned.
Another one besides figuring out how to safely attach a lifter to a kiln lid is determining if it will lift evenly and not warp or put strain on the lid or its hinge system.
Each kiln is different and it is up to each kiln owner to hire an expert electrician and kiln installer.

This has been a big help everyone, Thank You.

Reminds me of the young gentleman who tied up a coleman lantern with a poly rope hanging in his canvas tent. He was compelled to leave the island the next day, after the fire.

OK, got the counter weight figured out, how about, how do I replace the kiln brick? Can I replace the brick with out having to taking the steel band off, along with everything else?

no. try rotating everything like i said. rosanna

Conceptually rotating the lid sounds good, but the GM1414 has elements in the lid, and the element leads feed from the right side of the lid. Rotating them would have them on the left side.

Ed

Could I just rotate the steel band, heat it up then tighten and redrill it after I replace the bad crumbling brick?

the lid has 8 sides. when i say rotate i mean justrotate one sides worth. thet puts the screws for the handle/hinge/prop in fresh places. you could try and replace the bad brick or just cement in a piece of brick deep enough to have the screws in new stuff. what does scutt say?

It's not even sided, it's something like 26 X 44, so the only choice is 180 degrees.

Robin - If you replace the bricks, you don't need to rotate the steel band. But what you do need to do is follow Skutt's directions for replacing the steel band, which involves tightening the band (holding the threaded piece welded to the band with pliers to keep it from breaking off), then heating the band with a torch, tightening some more and repeating until the band is as tight as you can make it, then repeating the tighening every once in a while.

Ed

oh. nevermind.