Love this job! (with pics)

Here is my load for the day... being the yards are closed on weekends, I loaded the gooseneck until the springs flattened, and brought it home then grabbed the other truck and trailer and went and got it loaded. There's still enough to load both trailers again at this location :cool:
Attachment 80

Looks might be deceiving; there is a 4x4 frame w/suspension and axles on bottom, with another frame with front suspension and cab stacked on top, then a truck bed thrown on back of that frame, the bed is full of stuff cleaned out from the barn and weeds and truck parts, and a transmission and transfer case in the very front of it. By the way it pulled I would say about 6k lbs. of load. The other trailer is a 12' single axle, we put 3 small block Chevy engines on it, a transfer case, an old garden tractor, a big old a/c unit and a bunch of TV antenna tower sections. There's still enough pieces to make another complete truck, and enough extra stuff to stuff both trailers again, I am pretty sure.

Thank the good lord for a tractor with front end loader that they have on site :)

The loose core items and non ferrous stuff that I got just in this first load is enough to fill two wheelbarrows. Even more to come I believe, plus a lot of core parts and non ferrous to swipe from the loaded trailers tomorrow, huge radiator(s) in the a/c unit, a brass radiator on the truck, and some core items, plus a brand new never used Edelbrock high rise intake to pull off one of the engines. I kinda feel bad throwing the engines away but I don't know that I want to sit on them forever either. The garden tractor is an old Sears that is somewhat collectable, the engine is said to be in running condition and I have use for the engine so i'll pull it and sell some parts from the tractor or sell it whole (garden tractors is one of my hobbies).

On the way to get the first load I dropped off my trash at the landfill including 5 TV carcasses I had stripped. I noticed someone dumped a diasassembled TV into the dumpster and left the big copper coil on the back of the tube, and the big copper wire that holds the tube into the housing, all that laying in the open in the dumpster. I was in the process of pulling those parts off and a county employee yelled at me and told me I wasn't allowed to take anything from the dumpster. I was kinda pissed off that we PAY to dump stuff there and they act like they are all about recycling, yet are throwing away precious metals and not letting someone recycle them, instead they will bury it in the ground. Not the biggest deal but it really aggravated me. Oh well at least he let me throw 5 TV tubes in the dumpster LOL

More pics to come maybe tomorrow and for sure after I get the next loads (probably Tuesday night or wednesday)

Wow, exactly how many trucks were used to make your truck? Cool picture. Thanks

Hehehe well parts were taken from at least 10 trucks, probably a few more... Its a one of a kind configuration they never made from the factory. Custom built to MY specifications :) Just haven't had time or money to get it painted yet....

**** that truck of yours is long and also i need that white bed.

It is 22' long :D Dream on, that's by far the nicest bed I've ever seen and I totally lucked into it and got a heck of a deal on it! There isn't one spot of rust not even on the fender lips, no mud anywhere, one small ding, not a square inch is bent or beat, it is 98% flawless! I was ecstatic to stumble upon it and I traded a rusty 70's shortbed for it (not bad rusted, but needed a some work), which was the original bed to my truck...

Some more pics of the loot..... Attachment 81Attachment 82Attachment 83
The large radiator was from the big a/c unit on the small trailer.... I rolled the garden tractor off last night so the small trailer was actually loaded pretty full, its a 70's Sears that is said to run with gas and a battery.... If I get it going I will probably keep it as a yard tug... I have lots of garden tractors but one is parts tractor, two need restored (flood damage), and the other is my main work horse and always has attachments on the rear so i don't have a hitch free to pull a trailer or cart.

Some guys I know came over and bought some parts today... I'm gonna make out like a bandit on this deal.....

Very Nice. How did you stumble upon this find?

Connections man, all about the connections...... friend of a friend deal... just gotta get everyone you know to get the word out..... i paid him some cash for this whole mess of junk, and they helped load with tractor and loader. In fact I did hardly any work at all, the tractor did almost all of it I just hooked chains and drove out there and back..... so far I have made bank on this deal and I still have another load or two to get!

Yeah i have a 1994 dodge 2500 that the guy was going to put a dually rear end under it.He put the dually bed on it but it still has the 3/4 rearend so it looks silly.I have had it for almost 3 years now and it still looks like it did when i bought it.I cant find a decent white bed to save my life lol.Everytime it is a colored one lol.So keep a look out for me.

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Originally Posted by Focker

Yeah i have a 1994 dodge 2500 that the guy was going to put a dually rear end under it.He put the dually bed on it but it still has the 3/4 rearend so it looks silly.I have had it for almost 3 years now and it still looks like it did when i bought it.I cant find a decent white bed to save my life lol.Everytime it is a colored one lol.So keep a look out for me.

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How about you get the rear end to match the bed? That would be the way I went. More like an upgrade, with a nice heavy duty differential, to haul heaver loads,

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Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

White is one of the easiest colors to paint.

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Yeah But i am not trying to get into all of that really.thats even more stuff you have to do lol.

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Originally Posted by injunjoe

How about you get the rear end to match the bed? That would be the way I went. More like an upgrade, with a nice heavy duty differential, to haul heaver loads,

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yeah but it will still be a 3/4 up front so kinda defeats the purpose to me.If i was to do that i would just buy a dually.

Blue you have wore off on me now i am looking for a 32 ft gooseneck so i can haul 2 cars at a time.Wont be long just have to find one lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Focker

Yeah But i am not trying to get into all of that really.thats even more stuff you have to do lol.


yeah but it will still be a 3/4 up front so kinda defeats the purpose to me.If i was to do that i would just buy a dually.

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You Focker's seem difficult to help.

Not diffcult just telling my opinion on it lol

Hey focker, i know of a Dana 80 dually rear for your truck if interested, he's in Madison.... my bed wouldnt' do you any good anyway, wrong body style...

Also, keep in mind you will lose a lot of maneuverability with that 32' trailer. I'd love to have one too, but a lot of times its hard enough to get the 24' backed right up to a car... Think rollback wrecker with a wheel lift on back, also referred to as a stinger. Or get a skidsteer or tractor that has enough lifting capacity to stack one car on top of another on your trailer haha....

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Originally Posted by Bigblue12v

Also, keep in mind you will lose a lot of maneuverability with that 32' trailer. I'd love to have one too, but a lot of times its hard enough to get the 24' backed right up to a car... Think rollback wrecker with a wheel lift on back, also referred to as a stinger. Or get a skidsteer or tractor that has enough lifting capacity to stack one car on top of another on your trailer haha....

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Yeah but you and me are different.I wont lose anything with it why because at the auction can move around in there just fine and they will load them.I want one just to be able to haul 2 at a time back to the shop and unload them.then when i buy say from a person i will just use my sling on my dodge which i can get right to a car with it.then take it to the shop strip it down load 2 on the trailer and haul them both in.See what i am saying?

yeah your bed is a d style bed and not a 1994 and up bed right?But hey i dont care lol.

Yes... well yea I guess you'd have all your bases covered.... i needa find an auction that sells junkers. One somewhat local auction (1 hr away) don't seem to have any cheap junkers, just cheap used cars (not cheap enough to junk)

Crap, forgot to get pics of the last two loads, took two trucks and both trailers out last night and hauled it all in today..... had a 4x4 frame w/axles and two cabs on big trailer and had the 12' trailer stuffed to the gills 6' high...

How much do they sale for there?You can give up to $500-$600 for some cars and still make money.like grand prix's and stuff that weigh about 3500 pounds atleast.

Hey Focker, what all do you strip from cars?
The competition is pretty fierce here and I try to do what I can to make a deal on a car when I buy them, but I'd probably never give $500 for a grand prix, much less 600! I can't work that cheap... I grab aluminum wheels, cats, and whatever else is easy to grab, aluminum or brass copper lines, brass radiators (alum. hardly worth the mess) battery cables, batteries, and about any core items that are an easy grab or worth the effort. Some guys I know of strip the entire car, all the wiring harnesses, etc. I don't really wanna spend a whole day stripping them though. I spend maybe an hour tops on them usually and I make out like a bandit. It would be hard to make myself spend a good bit more money on the car, then force myself to spend half a day stripping it to get my money back out of it. I can't make a huge mess at my property and I like to stay somewhat clean LOL. Like I tell everyone I don't operate a salvage yard here, so I only get what is worth my time and trouble and doesn't take a ton of room to store. I have enough room but I don't want my trailer tied up with a car for a day or two. I want to get what I need and get it gone. I have unloaded cars in my driveway to go get more on the weekend when the yard was closed, then take them all in on Monday. I would prefer to do that more often VS. having one car on the trailer all weekend... I have no problem rolling them off and hauling them later, that just means I'm staying busy :) My rig and tools etc all are paid for, I don't believe in owing anything to anyone, and its a pretty cheap setup, but I just don't want to work for a few bucks. I will drive an hour away to get a car though. My truck and trailer weigh 10k lbs empty and truck will get 16 mpg on highway with trailer and I buy fuel at 2.95 a gallon so driving 40-50 miles for a car isn't the end of the world to me if its the right deal. I've found that not all loads will be local buys, but a little driving never hurt and it doesn't cut too deep into my profit (not as bad as paying too much for a car does).... I've really gotten into the core parts lately, there's several (i mean, gobs) of places here that buy cores, they travel all over buying truckloads of core parts, and a small timer can take in stuff and they are glad to buy it from you.

Last week I put an ad in the paper, it came out this past Thursday. There's about a half dozen other ads in there for buying junk cars, but one guy has two ads in the paper in two seperate spots, that's what really sold me on it, was knowing it was worth his money to put in two ads. But I haven't gotten any calls on it yet. $190 for a month of advertising. We will see how it works. Thought about yard signs. I am on craigslist multiple times a day trying to find deals, you have to jump on them fast or you miss out.

I think so far I'm about 50/50 on getting business from word of mouth and from craigslist. The biggest thing is being able to drop what your doing to go pick one up and being the first one there with cash in hand.

The cars at that auction pretty much guaranteed all run and drive, they do a 'drive through auction" where they have a building with doors on both ends, the auction assistants drive the vehicles in, they auction it off, drive it out, and roll the next one in and so forth. Rarely do they have anything thats wrecked, non running, etc. although I have seen a couple that drove in and had to be pushed out LOL. Usually any running vehicle with a title brings more at the auction than I would give for scrap... and I have to drive an hour away and spend a few hours sitting there watching everything go through... entertaining but not time or cost effective really.

Yeah i understand what your saying yeah you cant drive far and pay alot for a car.the auction is maybe 15-20 minutes from my house.Let me show you how the said grand prix giving $580 for it would still be a decent profit.
3500 LBSx $.1375=481.25
Converter-$114
$ aluminum wheels=$60
Total=655.25 so $75 profit.Yeah not going to get rich but still a decent profit when you have no money coming in see what i am saying.Yeah also you have the battery,battery cables and a few other misc items but you see what i am saying.

I avg. paying about $10per hundred pound for cars[10cent pound]
I look at the data tag and base it on that, as well as look to make sure the car is whole, and how the tires are.
At the price of new tires now, it is easy to sell a fairly good set of used tires.
AL rims are nice to find.
I avg about 20lbs of wires per car.
If it has AL intake or any other "quick grab pcs", I snatch them too.
Of course Batts, Rads, Etc.
I may spend as much as 4 hrs stripping what I do, BUT, I avg about $200 profit per car.
Not bad for a half day work!

Focker, we are only getting .12/lb for cars here... so at your figures I wouldn't make squat. The way I see it, if I break even on the scrap weight vs. what I paid for it, I'm ok as long as I got converter and wheels. The worse thing is when you drive 30-40 miles and pick it up and the converter is gone already :(

Yeah blue i am basing it off of my prices you could do a figure on your price.
For car converter and al wheels would get 594 out of a 3500 pound car

Yea.... I've been trying to figure out how to get more business / stay busy / make more money..... which means I've been having to really look close at my costs and what I've been making off of cars, so I know top dollar I can pay for 'em. The problem is most of the ones I'm finding are 30-40 miles away, which isn't a big problem except the prices......

yeah hard to travel far and still make money.Unless you had 2 of them close and could haul to at a time.

Ya... I've been looking into other yards in the areas of the areas of the vehicles I find, so I could travel to that area, pickup a car, strip what I need to from it, then drop it off at a yard near there, then go get another one or two cars in the area on that same day, so I eliminate all the travel. Getting everyone coordinated so I can pickup the vehicles on the same day and during the day is difficult though.....

yeah i know tell me about it.well i went to the auction today thnking my 475 would do this other guy in and he bid 500 for say a taurus after everything you are making maybe $25-$35 a car.I was like dammit lol

Haha well anything that runs or is an easy fix they are gonna try to fix and resell..... I saw a newer (like 99-01-ish) Taurus go through the auction at Austin a couple weeks ago, it was pouring oil so fast it left an easy 2 quarts on the floor of the auction barn just driving it in, shutting it off, then driving out after bidding. Still brought over $1000. I couldn't believe it......