U-Pick yards, do you "shop" there, and what's up with people?

I spent yesterday afternoon going to the local "U-Pick" yard getting a throttle cable and pedal for the '36. I know some guys who think these are the greatest places on earth to get stuff, but honestly, I've not had a good experience.

I did get the cable, but I spent, counting drive time and wandering around to find a cable I thought would work, and could get relatively easily, about 2 1/2 hours. It cost 15 bucks, counting the 2 bucks to go in. If I count my time, I could have just bought one and had it shipped to me from the comfort of my keyboard.

In addition, as I was leaving, I was peering under a 3/4 ton Chev pickup, thinking about the pitman arm I need for the Diamond T project, when some guy walked up to me and says, "Hey, gimme a prybar so's I can get this door open" What am I, tool rental? And, what happened to "Excuse me, but..." and then asking?

I had sworn I wouldn't go back last summer, after spending 2 hours waiting for someone to hack to immovable bolts holding the lower control arms on a Caprice rear axle I wanted. "No Torches" policy, so after making a trip to the counter to ask, went back out and waited, and waited, and waited in 100+ degree heat. Made three more trips back to the counter to let them know I was still waiting, and on the last one, was told by the disinterested counter person that they don't cut stuff after 1 pm. Didn't matter I'd first asked before 11, and made multiple requests for the work. "Oh, I guess we forgot".

I'm a thrifty person, and it's also aggravating to me to see stuff ruined that MAY have been useful, evidently by someones attempt to get to something they wanted, or just took apart (with a hammer) to see what was inside. Every small block engine I looked at had the valve covers off.

I guess I just find the entire experience sort of depressing, which is odd since I have a good friend who has a recycling yard just down the road from the U pick place, and I like going there. It's organized, tidy, efficiant, and consequently more expensive, but it's the same business.

The place just creeps me out, I guess.

 

Sounds like the place that I go to. Most of the time the issue is getting off a stuck bolt, but with no power tools or torches available then what. I sourced a nice chevy truck box at the yard and trying to get the box bolts off was impossible. I would like a yard where at least they could bring the vehicle to an area where you could get power to at least operate some power tools. No customer service at alot of these places, how they stay in business is I cant understand.

 

You can bring a generator and power tools in the upull it yards here. No torches or whinners.

 

LOL, what's a "whinner"? Like, "Whin ya gonna gimmer a pry bar so's I can get this door open?", or do mean some one who whines 'cause they don't like going to a dirty, disorganized, business that charges you to do your own work when you could have bought whatever it was you wanted cheaper, easier, and done something else in the meantime?

 

If you didn't have experiences like this, you wouldn't have stories to tell later Its kinda like going into the Marine Corps, when you're in boot camp you're thinkin "this frikkiin' ****s" but once you get out, you look back and laugh about it.

 

I like it because of the cheap prices. It probably isn't worth it if you go there to pick up something inexpensive and common that you can buy somewhere else easier (like sheet metal screws, for instance.) But for some things it is a great resource.

The counter people are usually busy but friendly. They get to me when my turn comes around. If they hired more people to reduce the wait time, things would cost more.

Another great resource is s**** metal yards. Our local s**** metal guy doesn't sell car parts, he sells metal by the pound. I got all 6 fuel injectors for my Chevy 3800 engine for $7.50! They were $70.00 each brand new. It was a good deal for him and me.

He didn't have any staff to pamper me or bring me torches, though. I may not go back because of the poor customer service.

If you have the money to have people wait on you, I don't blame you for not going back. I'd go to that other junk yard too if I were in your position. But for those who have trouble s****ing up a spare $10.00, it's great.

Some people hire others to build thier entire cars! I'll bet those people wouldn't bother with either one of the junk yards we frequent. They would be apauled at the dust, mud, and the guy they saw ******* on a car.

Enjoy your delux junk yard. You've earned it and you deserve it. Just do yourself and everyone a favor and don't go back to the other one. It's benieth you. Now stop your *****ing and be thankfull that you can afford better.

 

Why not buy a cordless sawzall and cut the bolts off? I live in the south now so i dont usually have this problem. But when i did live in Ohio i hated going to the junk yards. Everything was always froze up and rusty. Down here everything comes off like it was put on yesterday. Oh i love it.

 

mine.. this was just a local yard that just crushed out everything.
I needed the spindles off a 54 chev 4 door sedan.
the price I was quoted for them pulled seemed like a good deal, and I wouldn't have to do it myself.
I mentioned that I just needed the spindle , so if they wanted they could save the a arms.

here is how they pulled them:
they forked the car through the doors and 1/4 ers with the loader to bring it up near the torch. they then cut the a arms in hald, cut the steering links, and got me my spindles.
then they took the car back and dumped it on its side, and then smashed it into the car next to it when they set it back down.
they pretty much destroyed all that was left of the car just to get $50 for a couple spindles....

 

It's the thrill of the hunt.

I've never heard of any help whatsover from staff at those places, a 2 hr wait for nothing sounds about par for the course LOL

I know what you mean about frustrating, I'd been trying to get a brake pedal/booster/mc ***embly , and the dash has to be more or less already removed to get at that dumb thing.

After all the effort and mistakes iwth junkyard/used ***emblies I would have been better off just getting a new universal pedal from the beginning, which is what I ended up doing, although it has its own problems.

half price day brings out the real jokers

and yes, there are a lot of guys that look fresh out of prison there with the manners you'd expect

It's a wierd experience at the one I go to in sun valley. First you get the kids selling pirated dvds in the parking lot. If you see another white guy inside, it's like you ran into a cousin you haven't seen in years, you feel obligated to talk to him. Most of the time it's nearly silentand no one talks to anybody else.

I've 'rented' tools from other guys for a dollar or two. I've also loaned a few and told a few no, you can't borrow my Snap On screwdriver to use as a pry bar, much to their chagrin.

Usually the guys that have asked to borrow something have been kinda jerks about it , now that you mention it.

Betweeen the hits and misses I'm probably about even, and certainly some stuff you just can't get anywhere else.

It's dirty and hot and exhausting and frequently unrewarding, but I can't help myself, i still love going!

EDIT: I priced just the booster/MC from a full service yard that I was interested in, and it was approx $150. For $200 shipped I ended up getting the universal pedal/new 8" booster and matching 1 1/8" MC.

those parts at the pickapart on half price day were under $50 including a prop valve. Half price day is the day to go, but get there at opening.

also the Primo yard is the ****! Totally worth the extra money for the h***le it saved me on the electric fan I wanted.

EDIT: why do guys always piss on the cars? !? There are portojohns right there.

EDIT: I second bringing a list of needed parts. Some stuff I'm just always on the hunt for if I ever run into it, like the elusive Ford Ranger rear swaybar, or a 8" 5 lug maverick rear end. Also, I've leraned the hard way to bring water and a good hat

 

Ask any male dog - they'll tell ya why.

 

You take the good with the bad. Those places are a goldmine if your parts are there. But you gotta have serious for***ude to get anything bigger than an accessory.

The real problem I've seen/heard is about 2 years ago those places were full of good stuff and rotated frequently. Then s**** soared and supply dwindled. Now those places are fairly picked over due to slower inventory rotation.

Here's a tip. Look thru anything with evidence of window tint. One out of four will still have amp cables. Which will also involve a fine strand power wire, ranging from 8ga to 0ga, running the length of the car.

Some of those wires can be smaller internally than you'd expect, but sometimes they're really nice cables. Last time I got serious about building inventory it cost $3 for a milk crate stuffed with 8 cars worth of wire. If you've ever bought that stuff new, quite a discount. Great for driver quality battery cables and electrical accessory install. Beware though, they consider a $5 bosch style relay the same as a $45 OEM fan relay, and correspondingly want more than new.

Those places are far easier if you fit the part. Embrace your inner dirtball, cause appearing to be well prepared.....that's a ***** magnet

 

I love my yards. We have 2 that are great. They will let you go look as long as you tell them first. They know me as "39 ford guy". At one yard you have to watch out for "Taco". Taco is the guy that comes with the wrecker to lift the vehicle in the air and help you torch off the parts. He's an awesome guy, but he loves that blue wrench. I've learned to tell him specifically what I am after and how I'd like him to get there, because he'll just start cutting away until he gets what he wants. I usually go out and do all I can with my tools, then let Taco come do the rest.
The junkyard is one of my favorite places in the world. I go there sometimes just to wander around and clear my mind...

 

To make it really worth your time, you need to go there with an entire list of needed parts, rather than just one part on the list. Then again, how many times did you spend the better part of your day (starting at 3:00 am) at a car swap meet to come up empty handed? Or walk a cruise night to only be floored by only 3 or 4 cars? "wasted time" is part of building a Hot Rod.
If you have a "friend" in another yard you should be shopping there exclusively for not only price, but for the simple fact that he can yank a part for you (from your wish list) when it first comes in and give you a call: "Hey, I've got that 9 in posi you've been waiting for", etc.

 

Not far from me is a yard run by a grumpy old guy and his twin sons. One twin is OK to get on with and the other is like his father. Never know which twin your bargaining with until they start talking. If a part seems to expensive for a customer the old guy just throws it away right infront of you. No cars older than 1970 so i guess it,s an O/T junkyard.

 

Dunno if they have "pick up your parts" out here in OZ land. Ones back in Cal. were interesting, at least you could spend a couple of hours finding out what new stuff they had, problem is that they had an impound yard next door across the chainlink fence that had the really nice old stuff. It was interesting.

Now AZ. had only a few of the upick places which I never visited, since DVAP and HVAP were the places to be for the oldies.

Most of the time the prices were ok at those upickem places.

 

The one near me is usually full of non-english speaking customers, so customer service doesn't matter, as long as the parts are cheap.
The best part about the one I go to, is there's a large sign with all the prices on it. I needed a mirror for my wifes late model....$13. any mirror I broght up whether it was power, broken, whatever was $13. Nice to know that before you go start pulling. Both times I've gone in for a mirror, there's been one laying on the seat, because someone pulled it to get to something else. They've even been the right color!

 

One full service yard nearby wanted $50 for a steel wheel.
The two pick-your-part yards get $5 for wheels.

 

I would find another U-Pick yard. Places like that with ****py at***ude towards customers don't deserve business. They get that at***ude when they know they're the only place in town for you to get your parts, or they know that you can't afford to go elsewhere.

Either way, treating customers like that means that they think you're a piece of S@#!, and you either take it up the a-hole or you don't get it. If you like doing business with those kinds of folks, then I guess you don't mind a little

Now, should they be hiring extra people to make things faster and pull parts? Well, no, then it wouldn't be a U-Pull yard. But they could explain with a smile what your options are if you're new.

The u-pull in my town is the same way. staff is a bunch of jerks who won't even tell or provide a list of what cars are in the yard before you pay your entry fee. So I drive 30 miles to a small town where they know that $10 is better than $0 and appreciate my business.

 

I agree sometimes it is more of a h***le than it is really worth- I usually don't get too much from the pull-a-parts, but I do like to walk through there and see what "treasures" are around and maybe dream of some new projects.

It is kind of like a time to chill out for me. (mainly b/c my wife refuses to go )

 

I can't go to the U pullits in Omaha,I can't speak spanish.

 

The u-pull it I go to isn't like any of the ones you guys describe. Walk in, go to the front desk, and tell the guy you're there are going to look for (insert obscure old part here). He'll say to go ahead and look. There aren't many people there, but when I have encountered others, they are usually cordial. In fact, I can't think of a bad experience I had with any person there. The guys that runs it let me borrow a few tools one time, even though he was reluctant, and he was pleasantly surprised when I returned them in the same condition I got them. I guess people have ripped him off. His prices are more than fair, and if they're a bit on the high side, which isn't often, he's open to negotiations. It's a shame they don't have more stuff I need.

 

Then play stupid like you don't speak either. They're just ringing up your flat rate box of **** and don't need you to tell them that's an alternator and steering wheel. The register display says everything you need to know, there's no peso conversion. It's wal mart with junk cars.

 

Brian, I go to the same place. If you drive junk for a daily like me you can get some good deals there, but the guys up front are a joke. They used to have cars for sale inside, next to the cars was a pallet of aluminum rims on a pallet. So I look at the wheels for a sec. The manager comes out telling me to get away from the wheels, that I got no business being back there, just being a real jerk. Don't know if they had a "special" shipment hidden inside the stack of wheels or what.

Last summer I saw a pickup jalopy in the parking lot over there, was that you?

 

Always have fun and end up with odds and ends when i go out to the u-pull it places. Once went out with a sawzall and a drill and took a quarter panel off a car. When i got up to the counter the guy said they don't have a price for those, guessing no one had taken one off before, so i thought i got a freebie. But he ended up charging me for a fender which was $15 so really not that bad. And as far as running into non-english speaking individuals i have translating friends/family that can speak spanish/puerto rican/mexican/tagalog/french/german/italian all a cell phone call away.

 

In a self service yard you have to expect to find desirable items destroyed because some clown wanted a 2.00 part out of it. I went to one where a lot of tail lights were broken just so some lazy *** could take out the bulbs. And yea one happened to be the one I wanted.
Around here it is stop by the office, ask about what you are interested in, don't wag a big tool box. Some are better on prices than others. I'm on good terms with the operators of most of them and usually get a fair price on what I want. Two of them are lots that crush everything on a regular rotation and if you see it you had better get it then because it will be gone next time. The good thing is that they have the best prices.

 

My pickup is getting to be somewhat of a jalopy, but I don't think we are talking about the same truck! The two times I've been there, I've been driving the wagon.

Yeah, you know the place too! When I got disgusted and left over the rear axle deal, I drove to the yard on Crosstown, and got a Caprice wagon rear, turned out to be a posi, they loaded it, were cordial, and yes it was twice what the u pull price was, but it was still a deal, and I didn't waste all morning.

I'm not opposed to the u pick places, and would use this one more if they were more, can I say business-like? I DO embrace my inner dirt bag, don't mind getting dirty, but I don't like being treated like a dirt bag, and if I get treated poorly, then I can only ***ume they treat everyone that way.

 

I go to a self service yard in Binghamton called Gary's U-Pull-It. It's got a rather boring inventory these days (not surprising), but an oldie still shows up there once in a while--last fall, I pulled some parts off a '59 Chevy pickup that was dropped off there. About ten years ago, I even found a pair of Fenton headers on a 235 powered '61 Impala, which I purchased for the outrageous sum of $18.00 plus tax.

 

sounds like the one i stopped going to

 

I say if ya don't like the place don't go. I can't remember the lat time I went to a "junk yard" to get anything. Usually the stuff you need will no doubt fail like the part you're replacing. But, before everyone jumps my **** like I just buy new, no, not unless it's for my daily. I'd rather swap meet, buy off of here, deal with friends, or salvage before they get to those places. Like the core of the original complaint, my time is precious and I have none to waste on **** like that.

 

Been going to "automotive component recycling establishments" for over 35 years. Seen all sorts of ******-ike behavior, on both sides of the fence. Learned real quick as a kid that my a***ude could factor into the price.

My current gripe with the local u-pick, part of a national chain where you both Pick and Pull your own part, is that in their effort to go green (which is good), they drain all fluids, (again, good) but to do it fast they have a spring loaded spike that punctures oil pans with a 1/2 inch hole. OK, I will patch a tin oil pan or A/T ****** pan, but our local DFs shoot holes in MANUAL transmissions! Thats' right, they bust every case in order to drain them quickly, relegating every one to worthlessness. Not that it happened to me, but I heard of a guy who dropped one out last summer on a drizzly half-price Wednesday, only to find that when he got it out from under the car and was putting it in his wheelbarrow, that it had a freshly cracked hole in the bottom of the case. Further inspection of every other trans in the yard verified this practice. My friend felt pretty stupid, but then after thinking about it, not as stupid as the dim bulb manager who says "drain 'em all the same way"