Farm Metal Dump Madness

Went out to my new project (old farm dump site) for the first time today. It's breathtaking. Granted, I'm pretty novice at the scrap thing, but this land is stocked with iron and steel and I think it would be considered a good find for just about anybody in the business.

I drove the truck out there this morning at 7:30 a.m. and by 3:00 I had gathered and ran two loads of 2,560lbs each. I honestly can't even tell that I have been to the site becuase there is so much stuff out there.



I have a few pictures of the site itself, but I haven't uploaded them yet. Judging by the two loads of 2,560lbs that I hauled today, I would estimate that there is something like 18,000lbs of steel out there. Actually, there's probably a lot more than that, but I don't want to think so optimistically. haha.

Want advice: I don't know if there's a trick to taking apart old farm equipment. I am facing probably 8-12 very heavy pieces of equipment (I'd estimate between 1,500 - 7,000lbs+ each). I do not own a torch, but will buy one with the money I made today on the job. Does anyone know what size tanks I should get? I assume I will need an Oxy + Cetalyne torch (spelling?). How much does the gas cost and how much will I burn? Will I be able to cut through thick stuff like 1/2" thick I-beams?

I'm really thankful to have a job like this. Landscaping isn't exactly blowing up the bank right now. Haha. Wish you all the best.

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Are the I beams in decent shape? If so it's likely you can sell them for more than scrap value.

Not a clue on oxyacetylene tanks. Haven't needed a torch yet, but would like to own one someday.

A torch is a great investment, especially if you land a job like this where it will easily pay itself off. I don't know about prices, but 1/2" I-beam is nothing for a torch.. When needed the guys at work cut thru 6" of steel. Good luck

Thanks for the input. I thought about the worth of the I beams as well, but many of them have welding marks all over the place and some have holes cut in them. The ends are cut at slants and some still have pipe and other beams attached to them. I have found two really nice, good condition beams, and I plan to keep them for personal use. I figured I would only get $10.50 or something for one of these beams, and if it could be used in a shed structure or bridge over a creek it would be much more valuable for me there.

I really wish that 10ft auger sticking out the top of my truck was still good... haha... too bad it was snapped off in the middle. There was another 4ft section of it with no tip. I wonder how long it was originally?

So, the two schools of thought suggest either propane or oxyacetlyene... I will have to do some research on this. Thanks for the input and I will let you know how it goes. It's raining where I am, so I will try to get my hands on a torch while it is still soaking wet and get out there to start cutting this stuff up. Probably need a couple fire extinguishers out there as well.

The reason burners use oxyacetylene over propane, is bc oxy burns hotter.. this results in faster burning and its probably alot easier to burn thru steel.

Found this on Wiki:


"A common propane/air flame burns at about 2,000 °C (3,630 °F), a propane/oxygen flame burns at about 2,500 °C (4,530 °F), and an acetylene/oxygen flame burns at about 3,500 °C (6,330 °F)."

1,800 more degrees with the acetylene.

Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

Yeah go ahead and Buy Acetylene Its not my money I could care Less.

Maybe you may want to look at this.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/me...als-d_860.html

According to Idaho Scrapper's facts either torch would melt any metal on that list, with the exception of a rare few. I guess it comes down to cost and speed. How fast is the Propane and how much does it cost? That is a question I will have to research.

Propane is cheaper to operate but uses slightly more 02. We made the switch from acetylene over a year ago and have saved quite a bit of money. We are also an hour drive away from acetylene exchange and propane is available 5 minutes away. There is nothing I have found that propane can't do compared to acetylene other than save you money in the long run.
Anyone have one of those gasoline cutting torches? Looks impressive but you'd have to have a major job to justify the price : $1600 US version, $600 Chinese.

Just got back from the welding store and they recommended acetylene for the type of cutting I would be doing. The guy didn't even mention propane, and I don't know if they service it. After having talked to a few welders I am leaning toward the acetylene becuase everyone has recommended it over and over. I see where you're coming from with the propane costs, but the fact that none of my friends have ever used it is making me lean toward acetylene. I can get a complete torch kit with nozzle, hose, cart, and two tanks, for $730. There were a couple people on Craigslist selling complete kits for $250, but the guy at the welding store said they won't fill 80cu ft tanks unless they are registered with a bill of sale. It is actually illegal for them to fill anything that big unless they sold it to me. I don't understand exactly how this works, but I guess it makes sense since the tanks are filled with highly combustible, explosive material.

2 more loads and you will have paid for the torch. Sounds like you are going to need one to do the job.

Propane would be the cheaper way to go, I've used it before in a shop setting but I don't think it would be good as a portable unit unless you could mount it permanently in the bed of a truck and have enough hose to reach your material.
That price seems very high to me but I must say I haven't prices a new setup in a long time. The way I got mine is at auction, I bought the regulators hose and handles and tips for $150 then leased the tanks $110 for 10 yr lease.

Still working on the farm dump job site. I took one load of 4,500lbs iron/steel this morning on the truck and trailer. That was a good one, but steel went down a bit over the weekend and I used a bit of O2 and Acetylene getting the machines apart. I have one ton on my dually right now and need to go get the torch tanks refilled and drop this load at the yard in the morning. Tomorrow should be warmer. Still have 75% of the metal remaining to cut up and get rid of. Found an electrical transformer box today and have that in the back of the truck. It's about 45lbs, and it appears to be full of wire. I hope that I can get some copper out of it. I also found a milk tank filling machine (very neat gadget), but a mouse was living in it and I couldn't bring myself to recycle it. It was only about 90lbs of steel, so I figured I could leave it as a house for the rodents.

My tractor's lift arm is having a hard time with this heavy stuff. I bent it a bit today, and I also lifted the front of the tractor at least a dozen times trying to move these combines and seed spreaders. Cutting everything is such an important part of the process, but it takes forever because most of this stuff is connected by super duty steel plates and rods. The sheer volume of these old machines is mind bending. I have never seen anything of this type of construction before. The Cats and Fuchs of the past 20 years don't hold a candle to the Fox brand equipment out here. This stuff is so heavy duty... it's unreal. One machine had six 1.25" steel rods connecting it, plus a hollow 9" steel axel tube made of 1/2" steel, and 1/2" steel plating over the front. It's virtually a military tank; you could literally shoot it with a common machinegun and unless you hit a chain or tire it would just keep going forever.

X2- Love the truck! I'm a Dodge nut myself, particularly the 72-93 bodystyle...... won't get into that and hijack your thread but I love your farm cleanup project. My neighbor has a large granary operation and has at least an acre of old junk equipment, trucks etc. laying around I talked to him about it, figured he would go for it they are so busy and its got to be in their way as its between the house and the new HUGE barn they just had built. I know he'd let me use his skidsteer to load my gooseneck with stuff and they have scales, I coulda weighed the load and paid him a very fair price for it. But no, his response was 'well we have been working on it a little bit at a time here and there'

Funny story from yesterday at the scrap yard:

First off, thanks for the compliments about the Dodge. I have put a lot of time and money into her. Right now, however, she is at my neighbor's house being worked on. Get this: I pull up to the scrap yard yesterday morning to do a small load. We had cut up a bunch of discs and a grater box and it was stacked up pretty high in the bed (see pic). It looked ridiculous, and you can't really get a good profile from the pic since the tree is in the background and it kind of blends together. Anyway, I pull up and the line at the yard is 7 trucks long just waiting to get INSIDE the yard, not to mention everybody already in there waiting for the scale. I look over the fence and see that inside they are loading up 18-wheelers and hauling off iron. The yard looks neater than usual becuase they have been separating everything and waiting for this pickup. So... I decided to turn off my engine. Here's where the fun started....

About twenty minutes later the line moved, and I stuck the key in the ignition and pushed the dash starter button. Nothing. Not even a "click". I knew right away that the battery hadn't been getting power for a couple days. I thought the gauge was broken again, but no, it just wasn't getting any power from the alternator. So, I get a jump from a guy behind me and, because he's a nice guy, I let him have my spot in exchange for the jump. He makes some joke about the size of my load sticking up out of my bed and zooms into the yard. Well, after him, they stop the line again for another round of two tractor trailers. So, since I can't shut the engine off, I wait for another 45 minutes while these guys load up and weigh out. The engine idling sucks down probably two or more gallons of gas in this time, and I suddenly find that my 3/8ths of a tank is now a 0/8ths of a tank. I get onto the scale and tell the foreman of the yard, "Hey, I've got a problem. I've waited on idle for 1.5 hours. I have a dead battery, bad alternator, no gas, and I am already weighed in. Do you have any gas?" He laughs and says he will try to find something.

I pull up to the Fuchs unloading arm and get the truck cleaned off. I put the tailgate back on, hop in, and tach it down to the roundabout at the end of the yard. I come up short, throw it in reverse, and start back toward the scale. I can SEE the scale in front of me, just 150 yards away... and she dies. I end up sitting there for an hour. The foreman goes up to a junk car, rams a spike into the gas tank, and gives me the two gallons that spews into his dirty 5-gallon bucket. I cut off the bottom of a water bottle and me and my old man dump it into the Dodge. Even with this gas, the battery is still dead and not getting power. I get two jumps, but the truck keeps cutting off because there is no electricity running to the engine.

I lose steam and call my mechanic, who speeds up 30 minutes later in some woman's yellow Z3 BMW. Hilarious seeing this thing in the scrap yard.... He brings me 5 gallons of gas and a self-contained battery charger. I put the battery charger under my hood, strap it down, and get her going. Then, as my mechanic pulls out of the lot, the tractor trailers come back and make another round... so I'm idling... again... in line... again... and it's 1:45 p.m. and I have been sitting in the cutting section of the yard for three hours or more (see picture)... Finally I got out of there. Small load for this type of job, but a full one: 2,100lbs.

Long story short: Truck is down for the first time in 5 or 6 months. Rain and snow today, so no metal work. Might strip a few wires or try to go over there and hustle up my mechanic. No one knows what is shorting that Dodge's electric system. I replaced the alternator yesterday and that did nothing. I bypassed the regulator... nothing. I replaced the old, burnt-out light switch... nothing. Any ideas?

**** man hate to hear about you crappy day.When i know there going to be busy i always have a full tank lol.I have a 1994 Dodge 2500 5.9l Cummins with a sling in the rear

Originally Posted by Focker

**** man hate to hear about you crappy day.When i know there going to be busy i always have a full tank lol.I have a 1994 Dodge 2500 5.9l Cummins with a sling in the rear

My truck I built from the ground up nearly... Had a 77 Dodge W200 crew cab short bed 4x4 3/4 ton 360 auto. Took it all apart, stretched the frame to long bed, put a '92 Intercooled Cummins in it with an A518 auto, Rockwell T221 divorced T-case, one ton Dana 61 front and 71 rear axles with 3.07 gears, all 81-93 sheet metal, 92 dash, leather captain's chairs up front, leather bench in rear, custom center console, custom overhead console, rear heat and a/c all custom, new carpet, and its loaded with every option available. And man is it great on fuel! 22' long bumper to bumper! It gets 18-20 empty no trailer and 16 with loaded 24' gooseneck! Will idle on nearly fumes. Love it! Its a one of a kind...... I've had well over a dozen 70's Dodge trucks and 2 first gen Cummins trucks and 2 second gen Cummins trucks. When I built this one I knew exactly what I wanted and its all that and more

Sorry to hijack. Any luck with the truck Wells?