A rare opportunity

Well here it is, my brother came up to me a few months ago and said "hey there is an old tractor trailer behind moms...want to scrap it?" I asked to see it first before agreeing to anything. So he took me where it was and in a swamp sits a derelict international truck and about 100 feet away (on solid ground) a giant double axle tanker. I look at him turning slowly and say " Uh dude...that thing has to weigh at least 20,000 lbs, you have a plan to get it out?" His answer was to cut it up and try dragging it out in pieces. This thing is at least 300 feet from where we can park the truck, and surrounded by woods. So we clearly will have to cut it up. He called me today to say our mothers neighbor owns the property and gave us full permission to get it out and thinks its great we are cleaning up the woods. I guess if anybody wants to put any input in here feel free. We obviously will have to get torches (after making sure no flammable liquids are inside) but its also on a bit of a hill and sunk in a good 3 feet at parts from sitting for the past 60 years or so. We are not a large company, we do not have access to huge machinery, although any input here would be great.
Thanks everyone.
(p.s. we will have a fire extinguisher handy)

be very careful with that tanker, and do your homework! I've read of tanks blowing, not from gas or liquid, but from a few vapors stuck inside a silty residue in the corner of a tank

(a fire extinguisher won't help after it's blown sky high)
It also won't do much good in a dry grass fire over a large area

There is a giant valve on top that is open, so Im thinking it is safe. But thank you.

fill it with water first for safety, and then use a demo saw.

Do you know if the tanker is steel or aluminum?

What I would do if I was you is call around to the scrap yards in your area and ask them what they're paying per ton for the truck and tanker if you cut it up or if you haul it in whole.

Then I would call a wrecker service and ask them to look at it and give me an estimate to wench it out of the swamp and haul it to the nearest scrap yard that is paying the most for the truck whole.

If you can make a couple hundred bucks making a phone call and not having to cut the truck up you are better off to go that route.

Without the proper equipment you will never be able to move that truck even if you cut it into pieces. With out a tractor with some kind of boom to lift the pieces you will never be able to move them because they will be to heavy to pick up and carry by hand. You will never be able to move the engine and transmission either not to mention the cab.

The truck itself is a lost cause, im less intersted in it, besides someone removed the engine and other goodies. Fairly certain its steel.

Torch it into managable pieces and then borrow or rent a skidsteer to haul them out.

Borrowing others equipment is the quickest way to losing money. When you break someones equipment and have to repair it (if it can be repaired) you just lost most if not all of your profit.

Renting a skid loader will likely cost you as much as a wrecker service will charge you to haul the truck and trailer in whole. Add on top of that oxygen and propane (if you have a torch), your time, gas to haul the scrap and you won't make any more money cutting up the truck than if you just made a call and had it hauled in for you.

Make money with your brain, not your back.

maybe cut a path through the woods? (use it as fire wood)...or get chains and a winch...use the trees to drag it forward..I guess I would have to see the location to make an educated suggestion..maybe cut the cab off the truck...split the frame and drag it on skids?...as for the tanker...remove the tank...cut the frame in two and drag it on skids...either way...its going to take alot of sweat and blood..good luck buddy! :)

I wouldn't use a cutting torch on it. Not because of safety hazards, but because of Profit Margins. I have been slowly cutting on a 35ft reefer trailer for about six months; in my spare time. The cost of the gas/oxygen is really going to eat into your profit. I have found that renting a gas powered metal cut-off saw is the way to go. The Metal Blades are relatively inexpensive and much more efficient. As for dragging it out of the woods a four wheel drive truck and a good bit of logging chain is a must. Cut your way into the woods, moving the wood aside for later processing into firewood. Being that it is stuck in 3ft of mud, a come-a-long and some chain or braided steel wire will help, a wench would be best, but a come-a-long (lever-hoist) is cheap to purchase and easy to use. All of this being said, I have not seen the truck or it's location, so I am blind to the specifics. Also, check the tire rims, a lot of times they are pure aluminum.

I hope some of this will help you. if not, well i tried. LoL. Happy Scrapping!!! , Be safe and BE PROFITABLE !!!


EDIT: Look into renting moving dollies. If you can find a couple of moving dollies with wide rubber tires or skids this will help you in moving some of the larger pieces. Also, one of the reasons I suggest using a come-a-long (lever-hoist), make sure to cut any trees about 3ft to 4ft off the ground, that way you have an anchor point for the winch/come-a-long. Sorry for the edit, just an after thought.

If it is empty, make sure to open all the valves on the tanker to vent it out of any remaining vapors. And I'm sure I don't need to say this but I will.... Don't go inside the tank for any reason. Sounds like a lot of work, but great find.

If it's that close to your house, and you haven't really known about it until recently, I would just go and use it as a side project. Cut off anything you can at first that is manageable to carry by hand or wagon. Then you can work on cutting up larger pieces when you have spare time.

I have run extension cords a few hundred feet before to use my angle grinder to cut up some storm drains that had been buried in a privately owned landfill for 30 years. Start a slice hole with a grinder and then use a sawzall when you can the most. Saves you a lot of discs.

I personally don't have access to any heavy machinery, and don't like to pay out to someone else when I could just do it myself, even if it takes longer to do. I just cut it up a I can and go from there.

When you have a lot of time on your hands, a little hard work for a little bit of metal can't hurt anything.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KeyCityRecycling

Do you know if the tanker is steel or aluminum?

What I would do if I was you is call around to the scrap yards in your area and ask them what they're paying per ton for the truck and tanker if you cut it up or if you haul it in whole.

Then I would call a wrecker service and ask them to look at it and give me an estimate to wench it out of the swamp and haul it to the nearest scrap yard that is paying the most for the truck whole.

If you can make a couple hundred bucks making a phone call and not having to cut the truck up you are better off to go that route.

Without the proper equipment you will never be able to move that truck even if you cut it into pieces. With out a tractor with some kind of boom to lift the pieces you will never be able to move them because they will be to heavy to pick up and carry by hand. You will never be able to move the engine and transmission either not to mention the cab.

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A wrecker for that would be a rough estimate $200-$250 an hour, if not more.........as long as there is solid ground so they can put the pads out.

Just like Scrapper said, a heavy duty wrecker is the answer. He should be able to do it in less than a couple hours, maybe a little less money than Scrapper said. They've pulled my loaded concrete truck out of a couple of jams bfor.