I believe it should remain stationary.

The washers are really knurled nuts. There should be two washers. One to fasten against the handle, and provide a bearing surface for the counterweight loop, and the other one to fasten against the rod. I leave ample room for the counterweight to hang free. If you tighten the washer closest to the handle tightly, it should prevent the handle from moving in and tightening against the counterweight loop.

If you have only one washer, give Virco a call. I'm sure they will be only too happy to send you another.

Thanks spambdamned,

I have two washers, but when I tighten the handle it also moves the washer closer to the weight. I didn't tighten it all the way today and it was fine. But I'm not too comfortable having a handle that isn't snug. Wonder why yours doesn't do the same thing.

Sue

I used a pair of pliers to grip the outer washer and tightened the handle against it. This more or less locks the handle and washer in place and they don't move after that (unless you really put a lot of force on the handle, which is not necessary).

Thanks Spam.

Sue

So I tryed to rotisserie two chickens at one time. Certainly the rod is long enough. Both chickens however came out under cooked after about an hour of cooking. Anyone have this experiecne. My husband says that the grill can not be on while the back heater is on. Is that true

You may want to allow a bit longer cooking time for a chicken. I run it for one 4.5 lb chicken for about 1 hour 15 minutes. It's a good idea to check the breast and thigh meat temperatures with a good meat thermometer before stopping the cooking process. I generally consider chicken done when the breast is at 170F, although it's probably safer to bring it to 180 or even 185.

Laura,

I didn't look it up myslf, but recall someone quoting the manual that the rotisserie should not be used at the same time as the other burners.

Sue

I haven't seen the Virco rotisserie but if it is like the one I use on my Weber grill the counterweight turns with the spit, the idea being that it balances the spit by being opposite the heaviest part of the food. I just let the spit turn itself to it's resting point and then position the counterweight at 12 o'clock extenting the weight up until the spit is balanced.

dwagner,

That makes sense to me. The Virco manual isn't clear on this point. Generally I try to center the food on the spit (usually a chicken) and haven't had a problem with an unbalanced load. Was the procedure you recommend detailed in the instructions that came with your rotisserie?

Gee, I hate it when manual instructions aren't clear. My experience is the same as dwagner with the additional observation that as the food cooks, the balance may change (due to a loss of moisture), and halfway through it's not a bad idea to rebalance the counterweight (usually moving it closer to the spit). Will leaving the lid open for the last 10-15 mins, with the back burner on high, help to crisp up the skin of the chicken?

I'm not really into reading manuals but I liked the simple physics challenge of figuring out the rotisserie. I found chickens the most challenging to balance and keep in balance.

The Virco rotisserie spit spikes are big enough to grasp the chicken by both ends very securely. I center the bird with the breast closest to the spit, and that seems to balance well enough.

A turkey is more difficult and I can see how the counterweight could be helpful there. Now I understand why the counterweight loop has an oval loop - so you can move the weight in and out as needed to balance the load. Duh!

I hope Cookingvrc comes back to read the rest of this and adjust the counterweight properly, not as I first advised.

Spam, been following the thread. Have now spun chickens both ways and to be honest, I can't tell if the thing is out of balance or not. Maybe I've had dumb luck with fully balanced loads.

There was a time when the spit squeeked every other rotation or so, but that hasn't happened in a while. Is that how one can tell if the load is unbalanced-a squeeky noise?

Sue

Mine squeeks too. I don't think it has anything to do with balance. It's just metal on metal. I lubed the left end bearing surface with some FDA approved grease, that worked for a while until I washed it off. Any sort of oil or grease would probably be fine, since food does not directly contact that area of the spit.

If the food is well balanced, then the counterweight should probably be released to swing freely. Otherwise it might put the spit out of balance ;-).