Junkyard finds

[plinker]

Went to the local scrap/salvage/junkyard & steel supply place and foundA ridgid No.22 2.5" pipe vise the screw was frozen, but now spins smooth thanks to some oil.
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Bench-Yoke-Vise/EN/index.htm

I also found a speedaire air compressor pump that seems to be ok, a 1/4 drive 1/2 c-man socket,8" diamond adj. wrench, a armstrong double open-end wrench 5/16 on each end? has special stamped on it. and a few other misc. things all for 5$

on previous trips I've found;

Craftsman oiless 12gal air compressor (that needed 2 head bolts) 6$
Vintage H.K. porter 36" bolt cutters (needs new head)
Craftsman 9/16 combo wrench
Craftsman 5/16 12pt socket
Craftsman vintage pump type pliers
Proto 3/8x7/16 double open-end wrench
diamond 12" adj. wrench

I find it amazing that people throw away good stuff.

[Uncle Buck]

Funny, I found my pipe vise in a scrap pile too!

[wrenchr]

I find wrenchs all the time, for some reason I find craftsman 5/8 wrenchs most of the time.

[beardking]

I find wrenchs all the time, for some reason I find craftsman 5/8 wrenchs most of the time.


That's where it went. Can I have it back please? :lol_hitti

[rsanter]

one time I found a rigid pipe threader when I was dropping off some metal scrap.

still have it even though I have never used it (I have a complete set CMAN version I use when I need it)

one time I found one of those yellow paint and solvent storage cabinets at the curb for trash pickup day. I saved the city the trouble and picked it up for them.

another time I actually found a pile of firewood set out for trash pickup. about half a pickup load and it was dry split stuff.....

bob

[Uncle Buck]

one time I found a rigid pipe threader when I was dropping off some metal scrap.

still have it even though I have never used it (I have a complete set CMAN version I use when I need it)

one time I found one of those yellow paint and solvent storage cabinets at the curb for trash pickup day. I saved the city the trouble and picked it up for them.

another time I actually found a pile of firewood set out for trash pickup. about half a pickup load and it was dry split stuff.....

bob

A kindred spirit! :thumbup:

[billymade]

Those yellow paint/solvent storage cabinets are EXPENSIVE; gotta love FREE! They seem to be around $500-$1000 depending on the size!

[jimvannoy]

A kindred spirit! :thumbup:


Back 15-20 years ago when we lived in a neighborhood we use to drive around on "trash" night and get all kinds of stuff. Got a big TV adjusted the picture and sold it for 100 bucks, got all kinds of wood chairs, toys, file cabinets, tackle boxes, fishing poles, fans, etc, etc. One time we found 2 trash cans full to the top with toys and cassette tapes. All in perfect shape.

[Uncle Buck]

Back 15-20 years ago when we lived in a neighborhood we use to drive around on "trash" night and get all kinds of stuff. Got a big TV adjusted the picture and sold it for 100 bucks, got all kinds of wood chairs, toys, file cabinets, tackle boxes, fishing poles, fans, etc, etc. One time we found 2 trash cans full to the top with toys and cassette tapes. All in perfect shape.

I drive my wife nuts doing my dumpster dives, I have the little ones in training! :lol_hitti

[jimvannoy]

I drive my wife nuts doing my dumpster dives, I have the little ones in training! :lol_hitti


I am always looking for boxes to pack stuff I sell and ship it. We go to the local Dollar General store a lot to get them and the dumpster is almost always full of stuff from the store. Books and magazines, a case of some sort of food or cleaning stuff that 1 can or container got broken open and leaked on the other items in the box, seasonal stuff that did not sell, etc. We usually come home with a full load.

[Moose-LandTran]

A good friend of mine used to run a scrapyard. he has all kinds of tool he found in wrencked cars. cantilever tool boxes full of tools, Snap-on sets, shiny barely-used weedwhackers (two!) untold amounts of power tools. some incredible finds.

i, on the other hand, have never had so much luck. best i've had so far was a Snap-on pick my mum found in the road. it's currently being the handbrake lever for an old 500SEC.

[5wndwcpe]

Back 15-20 years ago when we lived in a neighborhood we use to drive around on "trash" night and get all kinds of stuff. Got a big TV adjusted the picture and sold it for 100 bucks, got all kinds of wood chairs, toys, file cabinets, tackle boxes, fishing poles, fans, etc, etc. One time we found 2 trash cans full to the top with toys and cassette tapes. All in perfect shape.


"When we lived in a neighborhood....." Now that there's funny.

[JeepsAreBuilt]

Years ago, my car broke a camshaft and I was stranded on the freeway. I walked about 2 miles to a phone.. but on the way, I walked along the freeway and found a snap-on long handle 7/16" wrench. I wasnt looking for stuff.. just saw it. Also found a broken cell phone and a empty wallet with a photo.

[Kevin54]

I walked about 2 miles to a phone.. but on the way, I walked along the freeway and found a snap-on long handle 7/16" wrench. I wasnt looking for stuff.. just saw it. Also found a broken cell phone and a empty wallet with a photo.

I live out in the country, and while mowing the side ditch along the house I came upon something laying in the grass. Let's just say it was about 10" long, shaped like a bullet, and buzzed if it had batteries. :wtf: I ran over it and know it didn't have batteries. But WTH would a woman drive down the road, pull the batteries and say, WTF...just pitch it out the window:headscrat

[Mike83]

I found a 3/4" / 7/16" open end Blue Point wrench at the junkyard for $2. The date stamp was like 1962 or something...back when they were made in the USA (Milwaukee or Chicago I think). Pretty cool!

[Brandon_Lutz]

After Katrina hit, my uncle was doing some contract work down in New Orleans. Happened to pass by a school that got tore up on the way home one evening. Well the Gym was being torn down and there were two of those huge fans you often find in Gyms laying on a pile of rubble behind what was left of the building.

Ole Uncle stopped by and talked to a few people and discovered they were going to throw them away. 50 bucks later my uncle had possession of two 10' by 10't fans with the motors and all.

We took them out of the mangled boxes and built new ones around them, put em on casters, and now we have some nice shop fans. My uncle kept one and my father has the other. Pretty good deal if you ask me :)

[wilbilt]

Years ago, my car broke a camshaft and I was stranded on the freeway. I walked about 2 miles to a phone.. but on the way, I walked along the freeway and found a snap-on long handle 7/16" wrench. I wasnt looking for stuff.. just saw it. Also found a broken cell phone and a empty wallet with a photo.

The Snap-On wrench and the empty wallet obviously belonged to the same person...:lol_hitti

[annoyingrob]

I found an older vintage craftsman 1/2" ratchet, and a 36" 1/2" breaker bar in the junkyard once.

Use them both all the time :)

[wrenchr]

I live out in the country, and while mowing the side ditch along the house I came upon something laying in the grass. Let's just say it was about 10" long, shaped like a bullet, and buzzed if it had batteries. :wtf: I ran over it and know it didn't have batteries. But WTH would a woman drive down the road, pull the batteries and say, WTF...just pitch it out the window:headscrat

Maybe she got a newer more powerfull toy!!:lol_hitti More speeds!!

[Moose-LandTran]

The Snap-On wrench and the empty wallet obviously belonged to the same person...:lol_hitti

Hahaha, aint that the truth.

[Uncle Buck]

I used to work at a place where an old mechanic was constantly having to fight with young construction stiffs grabbing his SO tools from his box and failing to return them.

One day the owner of the place sent the old mechanic to a town an hr or so away to pick something up. As the old guy is pulling into the town many miles from his home shop he spies a wrench lying along side the road, being the sharp fellow he was he did a u and went back and retrieved the wrench.

When he picked it up he saw his own name etched on the wrench! :wtf:

TRUE STORY! :beer:

[Moose-LandTran]

damn, talk about lucky.

a while back, i lost my favourite John Deere cap. was pretty pissed/upset about it. it was a present from my ex and means a lot to me. a few weeks later i was walking home, spied something green covered in leaves and crap, at the edge of the kerb and thought to myself "please be a John Deere cap.." as luck would have it, it was. took it home, stuck it in the sink full of hot soapy water, brushed it clean, dried it on the radiator and put it on!

big relief, still the only cap i wear.

[beardking]

I live out in the country, and while mowing the side ditch along the house I came upon something laying in the grass. Let's just say it was about 10" long, shaped like a bullet, and buzzed if it had batteries. :wtf: I ran over it and know it didn't have batteries. But WTH would a woman drive down the road, pull the batteries and say, WTF...just pitch it out the window:headscrat

When I was a kid (10 or 12), I lived right off the highway heading out of the little town I lived in. I was out mowing the front yard and found this polaroid sitting in the grass. That was my introduction to amature porn. :beer: Needless to say, I kept that hidden for a while. :shocking:

[Major Ramifications]

Wait, you mean that you can go to the scrap yard and BUY stuff? How do they sell it, by weight? Do they let you walk around and shop?

[Uncle Buck]

Wait, you mean that you can go to the scrap yard and BUY stuff? How do they sell it, by weight? Do they let you walk around and shop?

Used to be not so much anymore though. :(

[jimvannoy]

I have you all beat. I was scuba diving in Florida and saw this wallet floating around in front of me. I grabbed it and opened it up and find out it's mine!

[Moose-LandTran]

I have you all beat. I was scuba diving in Florida and saw this wallet floating around in front of me. I grabbed it and opened it up and find out it's mine!

Seriously?

[jimvannoy]

Seriously?

Yep seriously.

[Uncle Buck]

I have you all beat. I was scuba diving in Florida and saw this wallet floating around in front of me. I grabbed it and opened it up and find out it's mine!

I assume it fell out of the boat or something, so spill the beans with the rest of the story! :headscrat

[jimvannoy]

I assume it fell out of the boat or something, so spill the beans with the rest of the story! :headscrat


I lost it the day before. I was diving in shorts and not a wet suit because the water was warm. Went diving and forgot to take it out of my pocket. Found it the next day on another dive.

[Deafautotech]

I lost it the day before. I was diving in shorts and not a wet suit because the water was warm. Went diving and forgot to take it out of my pocket. Found it the next day on another dive.

Oh Sh!t!!! that are lucky! i am advanced certified Scuba diver which i can dive to 120 feet deep of sea level. i am enjoy the scuba diving but i am easy breathing too fast (6'4" 300 lbs)... sometime i am try to breath little slow but problems is current that make me work harder.... :wtf:

[george4]

Never found a tool worth anything.
But as long as we are telling dive stories. I lost my hotel room key while diving in Maui, it had been in the pocket of my BC, the next day I found it at about 60 ft. I lost a knife while diving off Treasure Cay in the Bahamas, fell of the back of my console, the next year I found it in about 20 ft.:beer:

[Uncle Buck]

I lost it the day before. I was diving in shorts and not a wet suit because the water was warm. Went diving and forgot to take it out of my pocket. Found it the next day on another dive.

Truely remarkable! :shocking:

[jimvannoy]

Never found a tool worth anything.
But as long as we are telling dive stories. I lost my hotel room key while diving in Maui, it had been in the pocket of my BC, the next day I found it at about 60 ft. I lost a knife while diving off Treasure Cay in the Bahamas, fell of the back of my console, the next year I found it in about 20 ft.:beer:


I was diving in Maui and ruptured my ear drum. I was at about 60 or 70 ft and had a bad pain in my ear I could not equalize. All of the sudden it went pop and felt great about then I saw blood in the water around me. We had just seen a big shark a few minutes before that too. I got out of the water quick that day.

[jimvannoy]

Oh Sh!t!!! that are lucky! i am advanced certified Scuba diver which i can dive to 120 feet deep of sea level. i am enjoy the scuba diving but i am easy breathing too fast (6'4" 300 lbs)... sometime i am try to breath little slow but problems is current that make me work harder.... :wtf:


I use to do a lot of cave diving in Florida springs. One time we were deep in a cave at about 170 feet using mixed gas. We found a small air pocket and took out our regulators to talk and said lets turn off our lights and see how dark it is. Well we did and I could not see my had pressed against my mask. It was totally black. We turned our lights back on and started swimming the way we thought was out, after a few minutes we stopped and looked at each other pointed one way then the other and kind of did a shrug. After a few more minutes of swimming I started to get worried. We were running low on gas and really needed to go. We kept swimming and finally way up ahead I started to see a faint light. We made it out ok. That was the one time we did not use a safety line. I always used them after that.

[Uncle Buck]

I was diving in Maui and ruptured my ear drum. I was at about 60 or 70 ft and had a bad pain in my ear I could not equalize. All of the sudden it went pop and felt great about then I saw blood in the water around me. We had just seen a big shark a few minutes before that too. I got out of the water quick that day.

I use to do a lot of cave diving in Florida springs. One time we were deep in a cave at about 170 feet using mixed gas. We found a small air pocket and took out our regulators to talk and said lets turn off our lights and see how dark it is. Well we did and I could not see my had pressed against my mask. It was totally black. We turned our lights back on and started swimming the way we thought was out, after a few minutes we stopped and looked at each other pointed one way then the other and kind of did a shrug. After a few more minutes of swimming I started to get worried. We were running low on gas and really needed to go. We kept swimming and finally way up ahead I started to see a faint light. We made it out ok. That was the one time we did not use a safety line. I always used them after that.

Man, after reading about you swimming with sharks and becoming disoriented spelunking you make me feel like half a man! :wtf:

[lbgradwell]

Man, after reading about you swimming with sharks and becoming disoriented spelunking you make me feel like half a man! :wtf:

Andy has the other half... 6'4" 300 lbs. Damn!

[Moose-LandTran]

Andy has the other half... 6'4" 300 lbs. Damn!

I have a friend about the same size. he makes me (5'10" 147lb) feel tiny. to make me feel better i stand next to my 4'11" 90lb colleague. works every time.

[SCguy]

Its not exactly looking for tools but me and a friend ride around town dumpster diving for Pepsi and Coke caps. The major places are trashcans at the football field. I drive through parking lots and am always on the look for them. LOL

RD

[Moose-LandTran]

i once saw a gearbox (looked similar to the Getrag in my old bmw) laying in the hard shoulder of a motorway. how it got there, i have no idea.

in retrospect, i really should've stopped and picked it up.

[64merc]

Its not exactly looking for tools but me and a friend ride around town dumpster diving for Pepsi and Coke caps. The major places are trashcans at the football field. I drive through parking lots and am always on the look for them. LOL

RD

Do you collect them, or are they worth money??

[Moose-LandTran]

I think some places give you money for recycling them.

[jimvannoy]

Man, after reading about you swimming with sharks and becoming disoriented spelunking you make me feel like half a man! :wtf:



I won't even go into my stories about flying aerobatics then.......:beer:

[engnerdan]

I found a hammer on the side of the road when I was about 12, but have not seen much except a grease gun the other day (I passed assuming it was a cheap-o off a semi). But my dad has found all kinds of crap on the side of the road, he once found a whole tool box, then one day on the way back from taking my mom to the doctor he quickly slammed on the brakes and pulled over. What was sitting on the top of a pile of snow was a top of the like craftsman digital voltmeter, he cleaned it up and still uses it.

-Dan

[rsanter]

a friend and I were driving around running 'errands' one day and he made me pull over to get a broken ladder. I thought he was nuts.
we stopped in at the big box store and they gave him a new one.
it was a WERNER fiberglass with lifetime warranty. looks like it fell off a work truck and the lower leg was broken.
they exchanged it no problem

bob

[SCguy]

Do you collect them, or are they worth money??

No but they have codes on them which lead to free stuff when entered on their websites; gift cards, free Cokes, free music, whatever.

RD

[Need4racin]

Old thread, but I was searching on junkyards and found it.

Anyway I found 2 $1 bills in a old clear beer bottle in an e-series van. Smashed the bottled and took the $2 and used it to pay towards the p-steering pump I got.

[jjkrjh]

Found a small Blue Point ball pien hammer in a school playground. Snap-on pilot bearing puller with one broken jaw on the side of the road. An 1 1/8' combination wrench at a stop sign(china's best). And some rusty craftsman sockets in the boneyards.

The best quanity wise find was at the truck dealer that I worked at. We had an old twin post hydro. lift for the medium and heavy trucks. The lift was from the 50's. The cylinder's were in a pit below floor level that would fill with hydro, fluid to almost floor level. They finally decided to pump the pit out and get the cylinders repacked. When they pumped it out there was probably 200-300lbs of tools in the bottom. Most were rusted very badly from the water in the bottom. There was enough tools to fill a toolbox. All of the tools were split up between everybody that worked there.

[russlaferrera]

Andy has the other half... 6'4" 300 lbs. Damn!

That poses another question. What would a shark think if he saw Andy? "Wow he's a big one. I think he will whip my fins off."

Or "that's too much meat for one shark."

[Elky]

When i was taking the carpet out of my 1963 Fairlane squire i found a pair of snap-on pliers and a full bottle of window cleaner.

thats the extend of my finds

now what i have lost in junk yards and inside body panels is another story

[NOMAD]

I used to spend about every other weekend at the 'yards. I still go but not as much.
I've found a 18mm gearwrench (my set went 17 to 19 I think) pliers, hammer, few sockets, breaker bar, screwdrivers. All of these are in my 'yard bag of "tools I won't mind losing".

What i did find and didn;t take advantage of was a stack of old newspapers in the back of a volvo. They were all of the Apollo moon landing or JFK or Iraq war etc. I lugged them around then got tired, distracted and left them. I thought about it later and probably could have made money selling them.

[Frank]

Driving down the highway one day doing 70mph when I see this glint of chrome bounce out from under an RV several yards ahead of me. It hit my front valence so I stopped to check on the damage. I then walked back several yards to pick up the piece.

It was a chrome box shape tail pipe extension exactly like from my car.

The most puzzleing thing of all was that it WAS from my car! I slipped it back on and tightened the screws and drove off.

To this day it puzzles me. How did it get in front of me, hit by another vehicle and then I hit it too?

[eschoendorff]

Driving down the highway one day doing 70mph when I see this glint of chrome bounce out from under an RV several yards ahead of me. It hit my front valence so I stopped to check on the damage. I then walked back several yards to pick up the piece.

It was a chrome box shape tail pipe extension exactly like from my car.

The most puzzleing thing of all was that it WAS from my car! I slipped it back on and tightened the screws and drove off.

To this day it puzzles me. How did it get in front of me, hit by another vehicle and then I hit it too?

Whoa... hope you bought a lottery ticket that day!

[Nuit Damnant]

Well, just the other day a friend and I stopped to investigate some shiny stuff at the side of the road, a 6" chrome drop hitch. Still had the wrapping on it. Used it later that day.

About 2 years ago a shop up the way was closing. An old shop. They were loading a 73 valiant onto a flatbed, I asked. They were scrapping it! Scrap yard was gonna give them 400, I gave them 6 and they delivered it to my house. Factory 318 with air. All complete. pretty solid, just about 6 different colors, needs some lower rear qtrs, and the tranny was in the trunk. Got a rebuilt 225 slant six too. They had that in the trunk of a crown vic going to scrap. I traded them a blown up GM 3.8L to replace the weight. Gave the car to my dad for Christmas that year (he's the mopar nut, I'm really a ford guy). Getting restored now :) I always go with friends to the pick n pull yard, I look for tools while they look for parts. Great stuff.