Scraping Irrigation Pivot Systems - Tumbleweed

Time to finish this story. Final tally for this project: $ 140 in diesel for truck, $ 40.00 for diesel for skid steer, roughly $ 100.00 for oxygen and propane, wear and tear on equipment and tools equals about $ 100. Hauling it to the scrap yard will be three trips at about $ 50 per trip. Eight tons of ferrous @ $ 70.00 a ton equals $ 560. 41 hours to complete including hauling it home. Was it worth it, roughly a dollar an hour profit means cheap entertainment, greater education, and more opportunities. This does not include the non ferrous which should come out to about $ 120. Even when scrap prices rebound it will only be $ 3.00 per hour. If you take one on, I recommend your charge for your time.

Picture of the field when the project was completed.

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...psl2ucgeng.jpg

One of three loads of pipe taken from the project.

http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/...pshmgi5oe7.jpg

With less than three hours left on this project I got a call from the owner of the first farm that I scraped. They had a grass fire blow through the property taking down the barn and several other out buildings. I just cannot get away from water and fire.

I hope you keep the motors and wire for further breakdown in slow times. $120 for all that non ferrous seems slim to me.

I wonder how much it costs to put one in (maybe Yunkman or others knows?)?? With that knowledge, maybe there's a ratio to figure out how much to charge to take one out. Then again, it probably depends on how badly they want it gone???

The last one I had put in was a little over 30 grand for the pivot plus another 15 grand for the pumping engine and underground pipe. Prices are probably higher by now as it's been a few years.

Pfarmer- So what do you think would be a fair price for the landowner (either removing one just to farm without it or making room to install maybe a larger, more modern rig) to get an old one removed (and the scrapper keeping the metal)??

That's tough for me to put a price on. Since I scrap, I can remove one myself and wouldn't pay someone else to do it. They are pretty big and heavy, but prices are low, so it's not something to make much taking down for free.

I guess I'll have to think of it as doing one for someone else. I would probably charge around $1000 to pay for labor and equipment moving and let the scrap pay the profit. Not many people around here would pay that much to have one removed as there are still lots of guys who would jump on it as a free project.

I know there's a lot of bartering that goes on but typically a lot (or most) of say vehicle/machinery repair is done by a per hour labor charge. But when it comes to scrap, especially in a rural setting, the scrap is supposed to pay a guy for doing the job (even if it adds up to $3 an hour labor according to P76's math). I may not mind dinking around in my garage watching tv while I scrap a bit and maybe making $3 an hour but what I'm doing is nothing in comparison to the work P76 did taking that rig down and apart and no where as dangerous or have potentially liability issues (such as the potential fire risk he faced). I think those guys down Pnut's way are selling themselves short.

Either that or its Hobson's Choice

Pnut, Patriot, anyone else with center pivot experience: Are the newer ones made out of aluminum? Or are most of them just galvanized steel? Any significant parts in stainless?

Dumb question, but I have never seen any up close except for blasting by on the highway!!

Jon.

I have never seen an aluminum pivot, but I've heard they exist. They are all galvanized around here. I have put down many 20 foot sticks of 6 inch aluminum pipe to run temporary lines to towable units though. There's not a lot of stainless in the ones I see either.

I have scrapped center pivots. Here is how I have done mine. Leave center pivoting point anchored down and pipe attached. Go to first tower from center out, if you have loader capable of lifting a heavy round bale (tracked skidsteer I saw in Patriot76 photos will work) lift outside of first tower(set of wheels) use ladder and cut top of tower. do not cut pipe or sucker rods yet. After cutting tops of tower ,go to ground and cut tower from wheel set. lower loader and move to next tower out, and repeat. what you will end up with is system intact except for tower uprights and wheelset and axles. After all towers are down you can reach everything from ground to finish torching into lengths you desire. Most of our old pivot systems here are mostly zimmatic or built about the same. ours have (4) 5/16'' thick angle iron uprights for towers. 6 7/8'' ID thin walled pipe. Pariot76 had a different style. Had pivot down and field cleared in a day and 1/2.But I had all the pipe sold before I even started( worked deal with guy that wanted the pipe that he cut pipe himself) pipe was all cut and gone first day with check in hand for the pipe 45 cents per foot and he used his own torch and fuel and hauled off on his trailer. Shorter pieces of pipe I sell to a guy that puts up storage buildings. (barriers along front of building). Sucker rod sold to build corrals and feed bunks. Tires and wheels did some horse trading. electric motors and wire sold as such. To recap, first day 3 guys, 2 on torch 1 loader, pivot on the ground and cut in pieces and pipe hauled off. Second day 2 guys finished loading and hauling offsite. On my first one I thought about pulling it over, but I knew if I did I would bend a lot of steel that I could sell if kept in good shape.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DakotaRog

I wonder how much it costs to put one in (maybe Yunkman or others knows?)?? With that knowledge, maybe there's a ratio to figure out how much to charge to take one out. Then again, it probably depends on how badly they want it gone???

---

To my limited knowledge of the internal dealings, the installations that I'm aware of are accomplished by the dealer companies who sell the pivots as a turn-key purchase. I've not heard of subcontractors taking on the jobs. And a big YES to galvanized pipe here. Alumigator is also a product of a Nebraska based pivot manufacturer....thus Aluminum piping etc. I've not scrapped any pivots and might just stay fore-warned due to the mastercraftsman P76's final update. I've got 10-30 years on most of you guys here and I'm not referring to experience/knowledge.....it's more like arthritis and lead in the unmentionable..!!

Thank you to all that posted here. It was a very educational experience for this greenhorn. First I want to emphasize my exaggerated conservative estimate of the profit and loss. It did not include the better than scrap value I plan to get nor the fact I can afford to hang onto it for an extended amount of time. It was the worst case scenario.

If scrap prices were good I would not hesitate to take on another project like this. Strategy would be to cut in the winter with snow on the ground, saves about ten hours of time preventing the chance of fire. Second hauling directly to the scrap yard instead of my place would reduce the fuel costs by half. Third I would expect the farmer to provide the fuel for the skid steer. Lastly I would ask for $ 400 for my time and expense. I know that this type of project could be completed in less than 4 days including hauling the loads. In ideal conditions I would venture to guess it could completed in less than three days by one individual and the right equipment.

This irrigation system was not galvanized. This system was placed in service in the late 1960's and the reason the wall thickness was different than the estimate from the company was the hard water had dissolved some of the pipe over the years. NebraskaG is correct, the method I used destroyed some pipe.

For those that want to tackle a galvanized system, beware of the cyanide gas that is produced when cutting with a torch. I am not an expert but have been told by many that when cyanide enters the lungs it is there for the rest of your life.

The system that replaced this one cost $ 70,000 to install and be operational. I have not seen the aluminum systems but was told such a system would run in the neighborhood of $ 130,000 with all the bells and whistles. I do not know if this is a system for a quarter, half, or full section.

Quote:

---

For those that want to tackle a galvanized system, beware of the cyanide gas that is produced when cutting with a torch. I am not an expert but have been told by many that when cyanide enters the lungs it is there for the rest of your life.

---

Different forms of cyanide are all around us and in a lot of stuff we eat and scrap. Some of the different forms all have different names and uses but cyanide gas was used in WW2. Read up on it before you start in torching things that might have it.
Facts about Cyanide | Homeland Security News

Nebraska.....good thoughts there. If saving the pipe is key, then that's a good method to use.

Another interesting note on these. The pivots I have use tires that look like the one Patriot took down. Mine are actually recaps of semi truck tires that have the old tread ground off and are capped with a tractor tire style tread. Seems like it would be a blast to put those tires back on a Kenworth and go muddin'.

Patriot....your 1/4 mile pivot would be a quarter section rig for 160 acres. I have one like that and the others are half the length and cover 40 acres.