i went to the north las vegas pic-a-part today to try to get some steel wheels for my 56 today.. and it seems like every guy there just tears and rips useful parts to hell just so they can get to what they need.. some poor fella was looking for a door panel for a 90 model chevrolet (which should be a dime a dozen) and literally every single one of them was ripped in half, i ***ume so whoever was doing it could get the window regulator out... some people are just useless
oh and ps.. pretty much every single steel wheel that i could have used was welded to another and used as a jackstand... saw some pretty sweel chrome smoothies used in the same fashion... ****s.. but i guess its cheaper for them than buying jackstands
Your right. The Pick-A-Parts out here are the same way. People just rip sh!t apart and don't even buy it half the time. They just make messes and leave stuff everywhere.
Think back to the 50s and 60s when there was jalopy racing. Nobody gave a damn about the whole car let alone a wheel or a door.
I was in pull-a-part the other day, a kid asked me for a big screwdriver. Loaned him one. He tried to pry a windshield out of a late model Crown Vic.. ***CRACK*** I got my screwdriver back. He found a tire iron and I watched him ruin two more.
i guess the pic-a parts everywhere are the same. nothing makes my day like tripping over half of the part i needed. i did find a decent set of 14x7 reverse cragar ss "jackstands" propping up a grand marquis the other day, i'm pretty sure the jackstand welders do that **** on purpose.
The pick-a-part down the street from me either crushes the wheels or welds them together. I was unsucessful at catching a vehicle in the "incoming" section before they got to it, but after a few months I found some steel wheels in back seat of Galaxie.
You pull it junkyards have always been like that, as long as I can remember, bozos ruining a 50 dollar part to get off a 2 dollar part.
It happens all the time. The steel wheel jackstand is basic economics, I go around at closing time just shutting hoods and doors, we have lost more good engines with a-holes not shutting hoods. Our boss is a s**** metal guy and all he sees is s**** metal, we have to convince him not to crush everything that comes in. Biggest seller right now is Ford Explorer rear axle (mid-late 90's) most are posi with 3.23 to 4.11 gear, 3.73 and 3.55 most popular, have disc brakes, etc. all for $150.00.
hmmm... $150, eh? I might have to swing by the U-pull-it and get a few rear axles before they all get gone!
I havent bothered going to a pic apart yard in awhile. Usually I always need the one tool I always forget ,Luckilly Im done grabbing stuff for wife's van and moms car ,There good though Moms car was rebuilt using picapart parts last year ,It was 22 degrees ,But worth the trip,
My favorite pick-a-part is kinda bitter sweet to me.. I love going in there to just look at all of the 50's cars they have and dream.. But if you ask about a part for one of them they'll quote you some stupid crazy price on it.. You try to haggle with them and they won't budge.. Case in point; I was there one time looking for one part, walking around with the co-owner, when I tripped over a mess of weeds that was surprisingly solid. I saw a flash of chrome as i tried to regain my balance so I investigated. Turned out to be a 56 Cad front bumper in great shape. I asked the guy what he wanted for it (he didn't know he even had it 5 seconds ago) and he tells me $400 and wouldn't budge a bit. I decline obviously. Then he throws it right back down where I tripped over it. I put a couple of pics of the yard on here to show you guys.. This poor stuff rots away cuase these *****s think it's worth it's weight in gold and won't sell it.
Yep and usually they stick the 2.00 part in their pocket. I can't count how many tilt columns I have checked that were busted apart to get a switch out of them. Or tail lights smashed so someone could pocket the bulbs. I was driving down the side road next to a friend's wrecking yard one day about 10 years ago and here come a couple of parts flying over the fence and landing beside the road. I picked them up and took them around to him and told him that someone would probably be wondering why they couldn't find them beside the road later.
Be lucky you still have junkyards! Around here you're lucky to find anything older than 1980 in a junkyard and if you do find something older its either so picked over its useless, rotted into the ground, or the owner wants stupid money for it.
You obviously havent bought 50's caddy parts before because $400 for a 56 bumper in "great shape" is a good price (around here anyway)
No I haven't, and I wasn't looking for it in particular either, but that happened a year and a half ago and I offered the guy $300.. I went there the other day and it's still laying there rotting away..
I know what your saying about letting it rot away, that ****s, but it would sell for a good chunk of change if he advertised it(which doesnt seem like hes doing). Its a shame some people would rather let it rot into the ground until its worth nothing than sell it to someone who could use it for 100 buck less than asking price!
ps.. for anyone running a 5 on 5 bolt pattern, the wheels on a buick roadmaster are sweeeeet!! i found a set and thought i was in luck til i figured out the bolt pattern... wheels are 10 bucks each.. but the tires are 25 each even if they are shot.. so unless you are bringing some tire iorns and a strong work ethic you are paying 35 dollars for the set... thats ****tier than jose's little dodge truck suprise
I was looking for a steering column a while back at a local junk yard, every single one had the turn signal/wiper switch broken off and dangling by the wires. Buncha ****heads...
Foshezie, There is a bone yard in pahrump that would have your wheels it's called Two Brothers north end of town open 6 days a week talk to Oscar.
We had a place in the SFV called Marv's Chevy Only. All the parts had been taken off the cars and placed in bins. It cost more but the part was primo. Place like that were priced out of existence because people didn't want to pay the price, hence the pick-a-part.
I was looking for a dashpad once and wouldn't you know the one car that had the right one, in the right color looked as though it was removed by an angry gorilla. I always use the task of removing the part off the parts car as an opportunity to learn how it is atttached. I have damaged things, but never intentionally. If someone has tools with them but needs something specific I happen to have that they don't, I'll help a guy out. No prob. But those that show up with no tools in hand at all get no sympathy from me.
I have a 2001 Durango in my driveway that I've OFTEN thought would be a great place to do some "logging." As far as the junkyards go- Just remember that Karma can be a *****. I pulled the driver's fender from a '50 Chevy about this time a year ago, thinking the whole time that the grille I didn't need might be the thing to make someone's day. Left that grille as nice as I found it.
many moons ago, i was sweating my *** off trying to get a decent pair of FE exhaust manifolds for my '63 off in a small salvage yard; cussing, wrestling into and out of another Galaxie engine bay with a bent-in-half hood hanging on one hinge pummeling my skull every time i moved... when a guy sorta pushes me outta the way, says "here, son, lemme show ya how it's DONE" and proceeds to TIGHTEN the remaining bolts so they snap off in the heads. ***HOLE. NOW, if someone wants those HEADS, they're going to have to deal with removing several wrung off bolts...... "isn't that a whole lot easier, boy?"..... he chuckled as he handed me back my wrench and walked away. i don't know if the heads were primo or poop; but it wasn't up to me to trash them. i had another guy, a "professional" tow truck driver, pull a Falcon out of a field for me while i was at work and couldn't be there to help/supervise... he threw the tow hook under the oil pan to get the crossmember; got the drag link instead, and the hook went into the oil pan when he pulled it tight. then he *****es at ME when he has oil draining on his rollback deck... i shoulda learned my lesson when he hauled a '65 Merc for me and managed to break both front turn signal lenses, then claimed they were broken when he picked up the car. FROM MY WORK PLACE. where i kept an eye on it for WEEKS....
at one independant yard I frequent I would come across alot of vehicles that looked like they had been rolled. came to find out that the yard apes working there would hook a chain over the car or truck and roll it with the loader if they wanted to remove somthing underneath like a drive shaft or cat. converter. WE DONT NEED NO STINKIN JACK!!!!!
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