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Concerning the rods Jim Solo talks about.......could you elaborate? What are "fire pit pipes".

My Dad and Granddad called them "Hobo Irons", but there basically just makeshift pot/pan holders made from old black iron pipe or even angle iron.

You take two of them whatever length you have for fire ring size and lay them across the fire pit.
You lay them side by side at one end and spread them out in an ever widening V to accommodate different sizes of pots/pans.
Old timers/Native people would just leave a set at long established campsites rather than haul them around.
You could buy some hi-tensile stainless tubing, say the length of a canoes thwarts and use an old tent pole bag and some Bungee Bobs' to attach.

If you wanted to get all McGyver, you could get two different sizes of tubing and make telescoping ones like my fire pit grate.
Maybe a short length of chain/thin cable on one end to keep them as a unit.
Old school grate for the ultimate old school cooking method. ;)