Another "Waste" thread--good parts scrapped for no good reason...:(

[diesel4me]

"Friend" of mine pissed me off monday...he has a ramp truck,and has been making money by scrapping anything he can get free or cheap lately...his co-worker tells me that on monday morning,he came into the shop with a '78 K20 pickup on the truck--no bed,cab rotten,but it had a sweet running 350 -4 bbl engine,a TH350 tranny,and either a NP-205 or NP-203 T-case....and lying on the rear frame rails,sat a DANA 60!!..evidently the PO decided the truck was not worth finishing,and he sold it for scrap to him for 250 bucks!................................................................................................. He hauled it right to the scrapyard,and got maybe 500 bucks for everything!...I told him before,if he ever came across any GM parts I could either use or sell,to TELL me,but no...someone here I'm sure could have used that Dana 60,and though I'm not really in need of one,I would have jumped at the chance to get the 350,dana 60 axle and the 8 lug rear in the truck and the tranny for my Suburban,if I were able too....or at least SELL them for him online,and get a cut of the profit,instead of getting 20 cents a pound for it....(I bet the guy he deals with at the scrapyard was happy to see a dana 60 getting cashed in for peanuts,you KNOW it'll be up for sale by now for 500+ bucks)................................................................................................Sometimes,people just SUCK.......he did give me a bunch of firewood yesterday,but I'd rather have that truck in my yard,even if all I did was cut off the good parts and scrap the rest...it was a shortbed 3/4 ton too,and the frame was mint,I was told.........you cant find a decent running carbed chevy V8 around here for less than 500 bucks either....

 

[YZEATER]

that sucks.

 

[diesel4me]

Agreed!...just because the guy doesn't want to bother posting an ad on Craigslist or deal with potential strokers,doesn't mean I would not!...he could have got 500 easy for that dana 60 I bet,and the engine and other drivetrain parts were well worth that too,or I may have used them and gave him an equal amount of "junk" in weight if he had not been so impatient........................................................................................................I have all day to sit at the computer and deal with potential buyers,and it would have been nice to make some money for a change....I realize he cant store stuff where he works out of,or leave his truck tied up,with a load on it,but geez.........................................................................I see him "save" cars and trucks with no titles,rusted too badly to bother fixing and re-selling,but he does anyway,then ends up losing money in the end--then he scraps ones with much potential or no rust just because he is in a hurry all the time,or has no place to store it awhile.....just dont understand some people,I told him I have plenty of room if he needs to dump something off in my yard and try to save or sell it...this was about the third truck I've seen him haul to the crusher that was well worth triple in parts what he got at the scrapyard for it too....just gets me angry,knowing how hard its getting to find older parts and see them get scrapped even when nothing is wrong with them...

 

[super k]

I seriously doubt he got anywhere near $500 out of that. Unless he threw a bunch of other stuff on there,I doubt he got much more than what he paid plus fuel cost. Just seems stupid "if" you think about it,which it doesn't appear he did.

 

[diesel4me]

Scrap cars are up to $ 210 a ton here now,so it doesn't take much of one to bring 500 bucks at the scale...most GM trucks of that vintage weigh close to 4500 lbs empty,even a half ton,so add in a 500 lb Dana 60,and I bet he got 600 or close to it as scrap.......the engine alone was worth that ,any junkyard here that gets a 350 carbed chevy engine that runs decent wants at least that for it now...and whats a 4x4 TH350 in good condition worth today??...they aren't exactly common around here either any more...certainly more than 10 cents a pound roughly!....

 

[454Sub]

Man, we are only getting 140$ a ton here. But that does suck bad, I have been scouring for a Dana 60 lately, as I have been considering a 5speed swap and I highly doubt my 10bt will take dropped clutches and the sort of abuse I probably would give it.

And something that alot of people dont realize anymore, TH400 and TH350 cases are not near as common as they were 5 or 10 years ago. Getting harder and harder to find. They only made so many of them.

 

[driney]

The scrapyard here doesn't even take a second look at what they are scrapping. Everything goes into the pile no matter what it might be worth to someone else. If you are there and see something you want to make an offer on they will consider it if they aren't too busy, but with the volume they do parts aren't around for long.

 

[diesel4me]

Its getting that way here too,though the particular yard the guy scrapped the truck at usually keeps things like a running carbed 350 or a dana 60,knowing they are in high demand and can bring a high price.......................................................................................................but sometimes they do just stuff everything "old" into the crusher and dont care,because they are a high volume scrap facility,and they no longer let anyone roam the yard looking for "bargains"...you must be right there when the stuff arrives ,or else lose out,or be forced to pay a kings ransom for it if your lucky enough to find it was put aside.....................................................................................................4x4 trannys are getting kind of scarce here,especially older TH350's and 400's that WORK and dont need a complete rebuild....a local tranny shop has bought several 700r4 cores I talked my friend into not dissasembling and scrapping the cases,for 50-75 bucks,when they needed one to rebuild,when a customers truck had a busted up bellhousing casting--most trucks around here were automatics too,so finding a SM465 setup,thats not beat to death is not easy,only a few DPW trucks or hard core construction company trucks had manual trannies,and they got beat bad by the employees....so converting a truck to a manual usually is easiest here if you just buy another complete truck with one in it so you can get everything to do it at once... .................................................................................................tranny shop said they called several junkyards and none had a 700r4 already out of the vehicle,or they said "we sell all the cores to core suppliers now,and we rather not sell ANY automatics to walk in customers --too many hassles with comebacks and unsatisfied customers,since many non running vehicles they get cannot be test driven,they must take the persons word who scrapped it it "was working fine till the engine blew".....so even if they HAVE one,they still may not SELL it to you!...only if you sign a "no refund" type of sales slip maybe...

 

[rdn2blazer]

Scrap yard I haul my steel to has different price for scrap steel, and "good" steel, ya get more for the good steel. Don't remember the price per lb though. And that friend is no friend! Need a stern talking to lol!

 

[diesel4me]

Same here--if you haul in a load of "mixed" metals or its all "light iron" and not #1 steel,you'll be lucky to get 100 bucks a ton,especially if your not a regular customer,they screw a lot of average joes hauling stuff in only rarely,or the tweakers who are likely hauling in stolen goods...they know they'll take whatever they offer,just to be RID of it!....scrap vehicles are not bringing 210 and up a ton,sometimes if its a vehicle they know will be desireable to sell parts from,they will offer a set price like 600 bucks,instead of scrap price for it..................................................................................................What sucks is the scrap yard and the adjacent junkyard are owned by the same people,but they dont always put the "desireable" vehicles (to ME!) like the old GM trucks in the salvage yard,instead they just crush them instantly...I watched a 80's P-30 with an aluminum body & a 454 that ran nice get squashed the other day,I felt it was a big waste,I'd bet they could have sold the engine & Th400 for at least 500 bucks...the scrapyard is so "busy" they cant save anything really,even if they put it aside it'd be junk after having to move it around several times daily....and they seem to rather crush everything while scrap prices are high,and to discourage any "pickers" from snooping around that are in the yard unloading their trucks....now that money is king,they dont seem to care as much if a few big blocks or other "desireable" items get crushed--its ALL "junk" to them!...

 

[thatK30guy]

You know you can go to that scrap yard and buy that D60 for scrap price. Just because the yard has the axle now doesn't mean they're gonna sell it for $500 or more. They don't care what the item is. They will sell it back out to anyone who wants it for the scrap price of the tonnage cost of the day. You might be able to pick it up for $50 or so. Go check it out.

 

[diesel4me]

Nope!..maybe if I were a good friend of the owner or a regular customer he would give me a deal,(IF they even kept it,and most likely they did,they aren't stupid,knowing a dana 60 or a carbed 350 is hard to find here now and not cheap if you do score one)...but I sincerely doubt it...the scrapyard and salvage yard are right next door to each other,but are separate entities...my bet is they either stashed it away for sale later at the going rate--or it all went right into the scrapyard,where its no longer allowed to go scrounging ,and most things that enter the gates there get shoved into a crusher instantly,they are too busy and high volume to let anything sit more than a few hours,if you see something there, chances are good it'll be gone by the next day,if not right away.......................................................................................................I also dont even have 50 bucks to spend even if they would be willing to part with it if they kept it--I've tried buying a truck and some parts before there and they crushed them before I returned from my bank to get the cash too,and they acted like it was quite amusing to see the pissed off look on my face when I learned I was too late ..........................................................................................................Just ticks me off,when I could have traded my friend some other junk I have in the yard that would have weighed the same or more for the drivetrain and axles off that truck--hell,I would have gave him my 81 G-10 van in trade if I had too,its getting to the point it'll need too much work to put back in use now anyway...the truck was a rare shortbed 3/4 ton too,with a nice frame,no rust or damage...even if all I did was list it on craigslist for him and sell it all,or kept what I needed,it would have been better than just seeing it go to waste...or make the greedy salvage yard owner a bundle of cash after paying practically nothing for it....once it enters their gate,it goes from 10-20 cents a pound,to hundreds of bucks instantly.....................................Oh well,its water under the bridge now--just sucks when you have no money,and had a chance to get things you need or want in trade for something you no longer use!....with my current situation at home I shouldn't even be considering taking on any more iron or projects anyway--but I'd like to get the Suburban useable so it can at least be used to plow the yard or sold,it'll be worth more useable than "needing work"....

 

[YZEATER]

you need to offer your friend a finders fee, and have him see you before he takes in in for scrap.

i quit go to junk yards all together. they want an arm and a leg for everything and anything and don't care, cause it'll just get scrapped either way.

i'm in pretty good with my local scrap yard, but it's hard to buy anything from them. i take them all my scrap. it's less then a mile away. they know what a dana 60 is and other valuable parts.

the ony way i get the good stuff to sell or keep is to just buy my own parts trucks and trucks then scrap them out myself. it's the only way.