Nice video. Thanks for sharing!
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Nice video. Thanks for sharing!
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Still at it after all this time:
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Thanks for video update. If you aren't doing so already, wear a mask with all of that mold and stink in the last trailer.
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Did you finish?
did you finish the last trailer?
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My suggestion would be this:
Always charge for the dismantling and removal of all trailers. Yes, you can make money of the scrap metal, but the metal is only a SMALL part, compared to the whole enchilada!
Our scrap yards here will NOT take mobile homes, because they have more wood and insulation, then metal. However, you charge them say 3 to 400$, that will or should cover taking the entire thing (minus the metal) to the landfil, and then the rest to the scrap yard.
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I remove aluminum siding and roofing with a long handled shovel, get in behind near the screw or nail and pry up with a jerking motion ti may take a couple of tries before the sheet comes loose, try not to get under the nail or screw head close is good the sheet will tear the hole larger.
Your going to find that over the years with hot and cold weather the nail or screw hole has already enlarged with contraction and expansion.
Aluminum reefer trailers and bus's are another story, usually there is no power to run a compressor, welder or plasma. I once wrecked out 30 electric trolley bus's. I used a portable welder soaking the rods in water made them last longer. Anyhow you run the welder at high amperage then drag the rod over the sheets, it makes nasty looking cuts but it makes short order of the task at hand.
The last trailers I did were aluminum reefers with aluminum studs and floors, some of the floor panels turned out to be magnesium, used an air chisel to knock of the rivet heads. You need a good chisel one with a 2" stroke with a good wallop.
After processing the many thousands of rivets hooked a chain onto the trailer then gave ti a few shakes suing the truck as a tow vehicle pretty soon the trailer walls and roof were in a better working position on the ground.
I hate working on scrap from heights, one time i was cutting a large boom free, It's like playing pool you look at the table then figure out your shot. Only I figure wrong the piece i cut fell towards me and i knew I was going with the piece just cut, the only thing i could think was to through the lit torch as fa away as i could then fell backwards and landed on the lattice work of the crane boom with my one leg now caught between the lattice I laid there upside down watching the large bit of scrap I had just cut free sliding down t he boom towards me.
The gods must have something really nasty in mind for me my time comes, the piece I had cut got hung up on a large rivet just as it touched home on my leg. Not so much a scratch, I was sick to my stomach and done for the rest of the day.
Regards
Gustavus
Last edited by gustavus; 09-05-2011 at 01:47 PM.
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Wow ! What a story, Gustavus....got my heart rate up a bit there!! Great advice about trailers and other big things...I would have never thought of pulling them down so you don't have to work from heights so much...good tip. So glad you joined us. Your expertise and experience is priceless.
for your toilets look and see if you have a used construction store they will buy your good lumber and other construction derby that is in good shape. at lest they do down here in arizona.
thats great. did u cut the metal into managable sizes. over here u get less if its not in 4x2 pieces.
here #1 is 5 foot by 18 inches and number 2 is 3 foot by 18 inches...we as scrappers all know it can be bigger..if they can fit 5 foot steel in a melter why cant it all be 5 foot...seriously do they want us to believe they melt number 1 and number 2 steel in different melters lol...seems highly unlikely
Looks like you are getting the hang of it. I usually charge $800 to tear down a trailer. Our county will not issue a moving permit for any trailer built before 78, we have like 1500 of them (most occupied) so tear downs come around often. The labor is horrendous any way you look at it. I have torn down entire parks and here is my method with a 3 person crew. 1-empty them out,furniture,cabinets,carpet (if possible),paneling 2-remove windows (bust glass in dumpster..safety,safety) 3-skin aluminum sheets (or galvanized on older trailers) 4-remove insulation (fold and stack,or stuff in large lawn/leaf bags) and put it on CL for sale,cheap..it will sell.Harvest wiring 5-cripple the shell by removing 2" by 3" studs (or 2' by 4" if you are lucky)..knock them out with short 3lb sledge,bundle and sell on CL for cheap,again they will sell. 6-knock over, once it is wobbly 3 people can push it over 7-Harvest roof metal and trusses 8-cut decking and sell 9-chop up frame.3 day job!!
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