Took a while for an Investment in a Tool to Pay Off but It Did, in Spades.

I know this is a long winded post but I never learned the Readers Digest version of telling a story. I started scrapping September 2014. I'm 61. Too young to retired, lucky enough that I don't any longer have to work at a traditional job so I drive a school bus, raise honeybees, selling 'finds' on CraigsList & eBay, work on remodeling my house and now scrapping.

I already had the van (about 18 years now) and had the car trailer with a 3,000 lb. winch I installed on the front and removable side boards.

I might mention I'm also a 'right tool for the job' kinda guy. I don't rush out and buy anything but after needing something a couple times I write it down on my notepad and it usually shows up in my inventory. I have a nice but small shop with the requisite tools from table & radial arm saws to plasma cutter, oxcy/acet and a mig welder with a lot of hand tools.

I found out right away that having a tool in my shop is not the same as having a tool on 'the job' so I've acquired a lot of duplicate tools in my van. I might mention I installed a deep cycle RV battery on an isolated circuit with a 1500 watt inverter so I can run a corded sawz-all, grinder etc. and charge my rechargeable battery for my inexpensive Harbor Freight (a little plug for them) cordless drill.

Anywho, the 1st engine block I ran into I managed by myself to get it onto my hand truck and up the car ramps with the help of the winch but instantly was born the idea of a side crane. So a HF 1,000 lb. capacity truck bed crane $125 (one which mounted to a stand tied into the trailer frame I made from recycled steel) was researched. HF cranes only come with an inadequate hand crank (which clearly states over & over its not for lifting) so I knew I'd put an electric winch on it. I installed a HF 2,500 lb capacity remote control winch $49.99 and was off to the races.

I've not had too much call for it over the winter, only a couple more engine blocks and was wondering if I'd overspent/built but two weeks ago an A/C company gave me 44 heat pump compressors (about 65 pounds each). They helped load them by hand but taking them off (I was by myself) was a breeze using the crane. I was able to hook onto each ones hook, lift it off the trailer and swing it onto my work table where I drilled & drained and then lift & swing onto my pickup bed which has a slick bed liner so I could easily then slide each to the front. What would have been a heavy tedious back straining job turned easy.

A couple days later I got a call (I took photos this time) for some scrap along with a very heavy cast iron bathtub the fella says took 3 people to get it out of the house, not wanting to beat the walls of his house apart.

He was concerned how I'd get it on by myself, his living rural a few miles out of town and no one being home when I planned to visit. I told him not to worry as I have a winch & crane and something would work out. Popped the tub up with the crane without a quiver and then the BBQ/Smoker combo. Bonus! I really liked the high end inflatable wheels on the BBQ so while I had it up in the air I plugged in my sawzall and cut of the legs holding them in place as they did not WANT to easily come off at all. But come off they did and easily I might add.

Sometimes an investment just takes time to pay off.

Surprise 2nd bonus!! Not shown but worth mention was an old heavy duty winch mounting bumper with a fairlead to a winch still attached but no winch. I texted the donor as to what truck it fit but he had no idea. I removed the fairlead, took some photos and measurements and posted on CraigsList for $75 yesterday 4-18-15. Someone from about 150 miles away called last night and drove over early this morning to buy it. I didn't have change for his 4 $20's so he offered me $70. As we were 1 block from Safeway I said no, we'll go to Safeway. He handed me the $80 and said thanks, its just what I needed.

I almost didn't go on this scrap call as it's a bit out in the country and just a little farther than I like to drive but there is another fella just a bit closer on the same road who'd called a month ago with what he thought would be maybe 5 loads. Now that I've seen it (I stopped on my way back to town) it looks more like 6-7 loads of a lot of old heavy machinery & a lot of aluminum, some copper & stainless and he wants to do one a month He lives in Seattle about 150 miles away and plans on retiring to the property in about 3 years. A contract buyer reneged on the purchase 6 years ago and the fella foreclosed. All this stuff has just been lying in the fields scattered everywhere. I wasn't too crazy about the area because there's a very STEEP, LONG GRADE on the road but both places were about 1/2 mile short of the very long, steep grade I thought I'd have to climb on my way out. He'll be there to help with his tractor & loader each time as some of the engines came from big CATS and similar. He'll come over on a weekend, haul stuff to a collection area and then call me to come load, one at a time. He has no interest in the stuff other than getting it off his property after 6 years. Said to bring the wife & his wife would fix lunch! All in all a great day I almost didn't go on.

Update 4/21/15. The bottom 3 photos are photos from today, my very real 1st backbreakers I've loaded since I started (except a couple smaller engine blocks). These are thick cast iron & steel transmissions from wind machines and two people would have a hard time lifting them. The crane did it with NO problem. Drug em to me, picked em up, swung em in and used crane to help place them. Heaviest load to date as well, When everything was loaded (I still had quite a bit of room on my trailer though) I weighed in/out at just under 5,000 lbs. material and right at my trailer max.