Planning my first trip to the junk yard and have questions

[mattman4x4]

Hi, I am pretty new to the site and I need a few parts for my 73. Since I am on a budget My Father-in-law, suggested I go to a pull it your self junk yard. Can you get decent parts for reasonable prices? Also are there any tips or tricks on what to look for and avoid? Now my shopping list is the following: 1. Steering wheel (must- current one is shot) 2. 8 lug rim for a spare tire (must) 3. Cruse control (would be awesome) 4. Tilt column (would be really nice) 5. Heater defrost controls for dash with A/C (would be nice planning on putting AC in at some point) 6. Black dash gauge bezel (mine is all cracked and shot) 7. original style jack and tire iron( my truck dose not have one) 8. origional style grill Thanks for any feedback! You all are great

 

[neverendingproject]

1. Steering wheel (must- current one is shot) 10 bucks I would get a 89-93 style out of a truck, they look really nice

2. 8 lug rim for a spare tire (must) 20 bucks

3. Cruse control (would be awesome) 30 if you can find one

4. Tilt column (would be really nice) 40-60 depending

5. Heater defrost controls for dash with A/C (would be nice planning on putting AC in at some point) 5-10 bucks

6. Black dash gauge bezel (mine is all cracked and shot) 10-20 bucks

7. original style jack and tire iron( my truck dose not have one) prolly free

8. origional style grill if you can find one in one piece ~30 bucks

*note this is general. prices might go up or down depending on the yard. from what ive learned at my uncles JY this is about what they will charge.

 

[sinner4]

Steering wheel, ya the 89-93 does look good, I have a 2nd gen Camaro wheel on my 83, a little smaller diameter. $20 off ebay

Tilt for the same truck ran me $75 and I had to pull at the yard. $125 if they pulled.

Cruse, now that is some work. I have never have been able to find a truck with one intacked. Good luck on that.

Dash for a 73 is going to be hard to get one that is in fair shape.

The ac heater controls shouldnt be that much.

Grill, go billit or a tube grill, My 79 and 83 are both ready to go. If you want an origional looking one, a repop is the way to go.

All my trips to the local yard usually ends up being worse parts than what I allready have.

Good luck on the parts.

 

[neverendingproject]

yeah, i would consider ebay and parts store before going to the yard. A lot of times, the yard doesnt know if the product works or not. the quality versus $$$ is one3 to consider.

 

[K5er4Life]

One thing is for sure where I live, I can get 14 bolts all day long for a 100 bucks. Its best to go on half off days, they usually stack up cars and trucks for the rush of people. You can probably forget about interior pieces, very rarely do you see anything in good shape for interior.

 

[73k5blazer]

Cruise control varies alot through the years, '84 and up is electronic requiring the ECM. '89-91 up is even more electronic (requirng the VSS module on the back of the speedo). '83 and down is old style speedocable driven unit, with big vaccum lines, but varies slightly through the years. Make sure to pull a whole system out from the same truck.

If you plan on putting a factory AC unit it, you need a lot of parts. The opening in the firewall is different, so you'll be patching one giant hole and cutting another. You'll need the under dash heat box,the engine heater box, and all the other common parts (condensor, compressor, brackets, lines, etc). You'll need all the under dash duct work, the passenger side dash face plate is different (has vent outlets),and the IP panel dash gauge is different (has vent outlets). Oh, BTW, watch those dash/gauge panels, the 73-80 are interchangable, in '81 when the dash pad changed, it protrudes out a little more, so the dash/gauge panel has a contour to match, and then in '84 they put the wiper switch on the stalk and moved up the headlight switch higher. So '73-80, '81-83, and 84-91 are the different style years.

Original grilles for '73-74 are hard to come by in decent shape. No one makes a repro for the '73-74 style, which makes decent used ones in high demand. 75-80 will fit with the right brackets. I got lucky and got a NOS chrome 73 grille off ebay, paid for it ($210), but it's sweet.

 

[dubbyx]

*note this is general. prices might go up or down depending on the yard. from what ive learned at my uncles JY this is about what they will charge.

You're uncle is nicer than they are here. The smaller/more insignificant a part the more you get charged. Sucks at pull-it places here, and you have to talk them into letting you pull your own parts first.


My suggestion on your trip would be to call around and see what place has the stuff that's an absolute necessity, at the best price, or at the very least is the most willing to help you over the phone. Go out there, get the parts you discussed and look around the yard to see the quality/quantity of stuff they have available.

Don't plan on getting everything the same day because often you'll have to move from truck to truck to get the best parts. It gets to be a PITA and you don't often get the best stuff you could have. My kids have worn out 3 sets of retractable rear seatbelts besides the ones that originally came in my truck. We do the junkyard thing a lot, which gets us better deals because we have built a relationship with the guys at the counter.

 

[echos]

I am in b-more md, let me know when you are ready to go, I know a couple yards which have been good for chevy parts.

 

[dyeager535]

Cruise control varies alot through the years, '84 and up is electronic requiring the ECM. '89-91 up is even more electronic (requirng the VSS module on the back of the speedo). '83 and down is old style speedocable driven unit, with big vaccum lines, but varies slightly through the years. Make sure to pull a whole system out from the same truck.

Original grilles for '73-74 are hard to come by in decent shape. No one makes a repro for the '73-74 style, which makes decent used ones in high demand. 75-80 will fit with the right brackets. I got lucky and got a NOS chrome 73 grille off ebay, paid for it ($210), but it's sweet.

Electronic cruise (all years) used VSS. Difference is your '90-91 that doesn't get VSS off the back of the speedo (no cable, so the speed data came from the DRAC for cruise) and all previous that were cable drive/VSS off the back of the speedometer. Just clearing that up.

For grilles, I picked one up from certi-fit (SP?) for about $20. That was for an '80's style grille. Pretty good construction, had to do a bit of work with an exacto knife for the bowtie, but for the cost of a brand new piece, it was worth it IMO.

 

[1-ton]

The junk yards here in Las Vegas suck! There are practicly no full-size truck parts in pick-your-own-parts junk yards here. They are all located in junkyards that specialize in full-size trucks only, and those guys are d!cks. If you wanted to buy a truck steering wheel here in Vegas, the buttholes here would say "only if you buy the whole steering column", and if you tried to buy a steering column they would say "only if you buy the steering box to go with it". If you stand your ground, and say "NO", they could care less if the part sat in their yard for ever, as long as they get to treat you like sh!t they are happy.