Heavy Equipment Going for Scrap - Missed Opportunity for More Profit

I'm amazed at the amount of heavy equipment I see headed for scrap - road graders, tractors and accessories, bulldozers, fork lifts, heavy trucks - you name it. Even with these relatively high scrap iron prices, I'm betting lots of this could be going for much more as reusable parts.

Allow an old-timer to regress a bit. Back when Iron was around $30 a ton I got a call about a road grader. Said I could have it. When I got to the place, the old guy had forgotten he had told his neighbor about it. Neighbor was all set to cut if up for scrap. I asked him how much he thought he'd get for it and I asked him if $100 would do the trick and save hiim some trouble. I paid the hundred not knowing for sure that I could do better but my gut feeling told me there was some valuable stuff there.



Turns out I was right. Drive train - basically the whole back half of the grader went to a dealer in Yuba City, CA for around $1500 as I recall. Blade fetched another $800. Some hydraulics brought another couple of hundred and the rest was scrapped.

I handled this with my 1947 GMC 2 ton truck and a cutting torch. I found a local guy who hauled roof trusses and paid him to lift parts on my truck. It was a slow go with that little 6 cylinder, but turned out to be a really good paying couple of days.

I'm sure prices for used heavy equipment parts has gone way up since then as have scrap iron. So give it some thought. You may be able to make much more than scrap.

I'm looking at a big dual engined generator tomorrow. Guy says it weighs 4 tons. If he'll take $6-700 for it, I might go for it or, who knows, maybe it's free. We didn't get that far yet

Good Luck

sadly, its getting tough to buy old beater work trucks or tractors around here...A lot of good old projects are worth more on the scale than fixed up and running.

But I agree, always consider resale value before scrap price. Even one or two pieces can make a huge difference.

I love "big bolt" trucks like your '47. Always wanted to have one as a toy!

biggest problem i have is finding someone with the money. and too many low ball offers. some of the folks i deal with seem to think the ad said i was paying them to take it off my hands.

i just the love the ones that want the fastest quad core money can buy with a lifetime replacement warranty all for $20.

and then ask if i can finance it for em.

Originally Posted by IronPirate

sadly, its getting tough to buy old beater work trucks or tractors around here...A lot of good old projects are worth more on the scale than fixed up and running.

But I agree, always consider resale value before scrap price. Even one or two pieces can make a huge difference.

I love "big bolt" trucks like your '47. Always wanted to have one as a toy!

Yes, really love that truck. Same old style as the 39s and 40s - separate fenders, with headlights on top. Still the old prewar body stampings I guess. I think they changed to the more roundy ones in 48 - never liked that style. I did modify a bit and put in a 2 speed rear end. helped a lot.

Originally Posted by rbrooks715

biggest problem i have is finding someone with the money. and too many low ball offers. some of the folks i deal with seem to think the ad said i was paying them to take it off my hands.

i just the love the ones that want the fastest quad core money can buy with a lifetime replacement warranty all for $20.

and then ask if i can finance it for em.

You're right it's hard. After 3 months I just sold a giant logging winch from turn of century for $350. I had it advertised on CL for 4 months. Bought if off a truck on the way to scrap yard for $50. I just knew a 150 year old piece of logging history like that was worth saving. I've got a lot of stuff on CL now and every week or so something sells. just takes a long time but now CL makes it easy to renew so not too tough. My problem here is that my town is 400 people. whole county is 20,000 so most buyers are out of area - so there's a drive problem. I sell lower than someone in urban areas for sure.

I'm amazed at the amount of heavy equipment I see headed for scrap - road graders, tractors and accessories, bulldozers, fork lifts, heavy trucks - you name it. Even with these relatively high scrap iron prices, I'm betting lots of this could be going for much more as reusable parts.

As I understand it, much of the reason for that is California's oppressive emissions laws. The older stuff doesn't run clean enough to be legal, so nobody can use it there. That kills not only the market for older iron, but also the market for parts for it...

Heavy Equipment Going for Scrap - Missed Opportunity for More Profit

For the best heavy equipment it is quite required to use online seller. Many companies offer online auction for all types used and new heavy equipments and machineries. Today the prices are gone up for heavy equipments in Japan.

it's true, u can find good and used machinery on the internet. You have to be careful though, when buying one and check if everything is working fine

Went to the scrap yard last week and the yard guys were telling me that a guy came in towing an Army deuce & 1/2 (you military people know what i'm talking about). He got scrap iron price for it. The owner of the yard went and got a battery, cranked it up and drove it down the road to his other yard. Amazing what is thrown out!

i always wanted one for scrapping ,and wheeling,plow truck lol there virtual indestructible