Buying automotive scrap

**Breakage** · 02-11-2020, 08:08 AM

Have you considered buying cores? That might open things up for you. Even non-working units can do well to a bulk buyer, one of whom may still be active on the forums.

**hobo finds** · 02-11-2020, 05:26 PM

I think 60 40 is fair, do you separate the material or just turn it all in as it is? If he has to pay to dispose of this in the trash or have his employees do it at a scrap yard,your service has a value! Tell him the other guy gives you a deal on oil changes and tires! I would not lower the percentages

**ggariepy** · 02-19-2020, 01:53 PM

I do separate the materials as I load them onto the truck, roughly in the reverse order that I know I'm going to unload them at the yard with weights taken in between. All of the sheetmetal/shred goes to the back of the truck, heavy melt next, automotive castings after that, then all of the nonferrous stuff and aluminum breakage separately.

I'm probably pushing my half ton 2011 Ram a little too hard doing this, being that I'm putting roughly 1500 pounds in it at a time for a bigger load. The max payload on it is supposed to be about 1,570lbs; I know I get pretty close and sometimes a little bit over. I'm not riding on the stops with the springs fully compressed, but she sags a tad bit in the back when the brake rotors go on. Mind you, this is a crew cab, so I'm doing this with a 5'7" box!

I have concluded that I am wasting my time with this other shop and I'm going to cut bait unless he calls me. 60/40 is more than fair considering the wear and tear on 52-year-old me and a 9 year old pickup truck. I'm happy to do the work, it keeps me moving, and I like to work hard (complete opposite from when I was a kid, lol) but I'm not going to negotiate against myself.

As far as doing this for a secondary income is concerned, well, it isn't that. At best, most days curb shopping is a minimum wage gig, and more often not once you really consider the cost of fuel. Like some others have said, I do enjoy it, but it doesn't make a lot of financial sense so I limit it to one or two days a week at most, and some weeks not at all. I'd happily buy two loads of scrap a week if I could figure it out.

To the other software dev who wrote in, sometimes I wonder if I'm nuts for messing with scrap metal and should be doing side dev work instead. Hard to do with a day job though.

Thanks for all the responses, guys, happy scrapping!

**matador** · 02-19-2020, 07:40 PM

1500 pounds for a truck like that should be fine. Heck, out here in Wyoming, overloading is a way of life. I feel like I may be the only guy to not do it. I used to haul 1500# loads in the back of a longbed Dakota. Heck, one of the neighbors had a 100 gallon diesel tank in the back of a rear wheel drive Tacoma. That was absolutely stupid and insane, but that truck still runs

If you think you're pushing her too much, save up for a little trailer to pull around. I bought two trailers last year, and I swear, I keep thinking of more uses for them than I ever imagined....