A great week

**landmine** · 04-27-2012, 04:48 PM

Here goes my first post in this section
Had a good week

Monday i got to take all i wanted from an old house, got a pickup bed full. Mostly light iron, but 10 electric motors, a 6ft plow and bunches of old stuff.
Monday night i loaded up all my saved up alum, and #1 steel. Piled in the motors.
Tuesday morning went into yard payday almost 400 bucks. Paid my brother for his contributions (alum)
Wednesday afternoon, i headed over to a guys house where he had a bunch of steel pipe 3" around and almost 40 ft long. Chopped it to fit in my bed. Then i headed across the street to a clean out property(where the street sweeper is) to break down a large trailer (14ft long). It had 2 aluminum I beams with large axles at each end. Several hours removing bolts to get it all apart.
Brought it home, cleaned the alum and loaded the truck up with pipe, axles, alum I beams and batteries.
thursday, went into yard got $200, i was surprised when they paid .60c/lb for the painted alum i beams.
Today i got a call about the 6 foot plow i posted on CL, sold it and a 6 ft plow blade i had saved cause it was like new for $160. Then i got a call about a greyhound bus 60's vintage, mine if i want it. Still figuring that one out

There you go, just wanted to share since i like reading this section so much

**miked** · 04-27-2012, 04:57 PM

Do you have a space you could drag the bus to? Don't know what a big wrecker would charge. Since you are not broke down along the road you should get a better price. Mike.

**ScrapperNJ26** · 04-27-2012, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by miked

Do you have a space you could drag the bus to? Don't know what a big wrecker would charge. Since you are not broke down along the road you should get a better price. Mike.

On the low end $125/hr for a wrecker. Usually not charged by the mile.
Joe

**landmine** · 04-27-2012, 05:36 PM

I dont have space to store it, Homeowner said i could cut in place if needed,
The amount of rust that would fall off the bus would leave me cleaning the road behind the bus. It is in ROUGH condition.

I could get a dumpster and just cut small enough pieces to load into the dumpster, maybe use the tree's around it and a chainfall to lift?

**corycouch** · 04-27-2012, 05:46 PM

congrats on a great week, take the bus especially since you can cut it on site. ive got a post on here about it but we got a call for a bus a few weeks ago and the guy had cut the middle out, all that was left was the front and the back, we made really good money on it and the middle was where all the gravy was and we didnt even get that part. we done it on the 1/3 meaning we got 2/3s, sounds like yours is free even better

**thortek** · 04-27-2012, 07:29 PM

FYI the rental places here only charge for one day if you pick up sat morn and return on Monday. Rent a back hoe with a grapple and get the dumpster. Save your back.

**landmine** · 04-28-2012, 04:42 PM

I only think the bus will weigh 10k max x 260 a ton =$1000 roughly. Rental is 200-300 bucks.

corycouch , i cant find your post on the bus, did you break it down?

Thinking about chopping as much as i can with a sawzall and angle grinder. Then i will get regulators and torch up the thick parts. All the light iron will go into the dumpster and i will load my truck with the engine/trans and some frame. This should be the cheapest way, but then a mine excavator with a claw would make quick work of this
Decisions decisions

**corycouch** · 04-28-2012, 05:14 PM

i had to look to find it myself but i finally found it
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...oow?highlight=
i remember for sure the radiator was $118 by itself, ripped it out with the excavator, i agree with thortek, ive never rented a dumpster but you should be able to rent an excavator and a dumpster for 500 or so for a couple days. like i said my bus was missing the middle, the way you see the pic is the way it was, probably 30 feet or so of empty space just the front and the back. they give me a good price at the yard for not breaking it down but i really dont remember what it was but i do remember it was a compromise between steel and breakage. not sure at all but it seemed like our part was around 1100. i got a good idea what the middle looked like and the easy money was there, seems like there was 4 rows of brass pipes im assuming went to the heaters under the seats that would have went the full lenght of the bus, plus the whole bottom was aluminum plate for luggage with aluminum braces and an alumunim top over teh storage section, it was east to see how it was built the way the guy cut it in half. if i ever get a chance to do another bus ill take it for sure and do a better job of breaking it down, all my days run together but best i remember that house had been sold and we had to have the bus moved quickly

EDIT i just went back and read your post again i missed the part about 10000 lbs, man i wish i could find those tickets but im sure we had way more than that with just the front and the rear, we used a 9000lb winch and an excavator to load the sections an d i found this on yahooo
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...7054031AAU6P9Q

**landmine** · 04-28-2012, 07:00 PM

Thanks
By dumpster, i mean i will have a yard drop off one, then they pick it up, weigh it and pay me for weight.No rental fees. Its is the way i deal with all light iron.

And the interior has been stripped, it is full o crap now, mostly furniture.
I cant wait to own an excavator, But i was thinking for cheaper rental, maybe asking a local landscaper about renting/borrowing a bobcat? Wont be as helpful without the thumb, but will still lift and crush plenty.

**eesakiwi** · 04-29-2012, 10:05 PM

Dumpsters.... Gee, sort out what its gonna cost first.

The 'Drop off fee', the 'Pick up fee', the 'Transport costs' & the 'Rental' & the 'Out of town extras' & 'Truck fee' & 'Overtime' & 'Labor hire' & 'Sorting' they tack onto it.

I suggested to someone getting a scrapbin, "But get the costs first".

They didn't, they got screwed.
3 ton+ = $95.....

**landmine** · 04-30-2012, 08:28 AM

Wait you guys really cannot get dumpsters dropped off to you for nothing?

I get paid for it the same as if i was to drive over the scale, i get a slip and then get paid for the weight, the new guy i am going to try out has a scale on his truck, so i will watch it all happen right in front of me.

Again there are NO fees associated with me getting a dumpster, just paid for the weight i put in

**freonjoe** · 04-30-2012, 08:33 AM

My yard doesn't charge me for dropping off and picking up bins either. Doesn't matter if I need a dumpster bin or a 40 yarder.

**landmine** · 05-10-2012, 06:41 PM

Ok i know this is the wrong section for maximizing scrap, but i want to keep some of the details together about the bus
I have a local tow guy coming to look at the bus and sweeper this week, looking for the estimate to haul both to the yard for me. He told me that he is a "preferred" customer at the yard, meaning he should not get deducted for tires.

Spent some time inside the bus today, it smell like **** in there and i crushed several animal remains just walking around.
Good news is i found the heater core 12"x6"x3" estimated. Also has copper pipe running the length of the bus, started cutting it but the sawzall died a couple cuts in.
Went to work on the engine compartment, got a HUGE battery and 6 or so battery cables, seemed to have spares laying all over the place.
Found all sorts of copper lines from the air compressor, a fuel line and a slave line. Also discovered the radiator, has copper pipe running to it instead of hose, will probably have to cut the rear of the bus to get it out.