Pick N Pull First Timer Questions

This may sound like heresy to some of you GRM faithful, but I've got a confession to make: I have never been to a junkyard.

Looking to potentially change that tomorrow, as we're forecast for temps in the mid 50s and I've got nothing better to do with my day. Camaro needs a new lid for the center console and I've got a whole laundry list of things I could use for the Jeep. Thinking I'm gonna hit up Baughman's U Pull It in York, PA unless anyone has any better suggestions in the area.

As a junkyard virgin, I've got a couple of stupid questions and would like to solicit any pro tips the hive can offer as well. So...

1) Do the yards generally let you drive around or are you stuck going it on foot? I certainly don't mind walking, and I'm not looking for anything super big or heavy, however a few of the items on the list are a bit on the large/awkward side and I have a hard time seeing my clumsy ass carrying an armload of parts along with a tool box.

2) Their website states no jacks or jackstands. Say I want to harvest a pair of leaf springs off an S10, or coil springs off a ZJ - how do I accomplish this? Are the cars already up on blocks with the suspensions left dangling?

3) Planning to bring full set of sockets, socket wrench, breaker bar, adjustable wrench, vice grips, screw drivers, BFH...Anything else, particularly non-obvious tools or items, that might come in handy?

Its awesome. Your head is going to explode!
1. All walking
2. A jack is not a jackstand and you should never be under a car w/o a jackstand.
All the cars are on jackstands. They dont want you to move them with a jack and then have it drop on you.
If the situation requires a stand to be moved, contact the front office and they will assist. Yes, walk to the office or find a "yard guy."

Not sure how the yards are where you are, but in my part of the world...

Furious_E wrote: 1) Do the yards generally let you drive around or are you stuck going it on foot? I certainly don't mind walking, and I'm not looking for anything super big or heavy, however a few of the items on the list are a bit on the large/awkward side and I have a hard time seeing my clumsy ass carrying an armload of parts along with a tool box.

We walk, some have their tool kits on dollies or wagons or some other wheeled contraption. The yards have flat carts like you see at Home Depot, or wheelbarrows, or shopping carts.

Furious_E wrote: 2) Their website states no jacks or jackstands. Say I want to harvest a pair of leaf springs off an S10, or coil springs off a ZJ - how do I accomplish this? Are the cars already up on blocks with the suspensions left dangling?

Cars are usually up on blocks to allow access underneath. Could be metal jack stands made of pipe and plate or old wheels welded together.

Furious_E wrote: 3) Planning to bring full set of sockets, socket wrench, breaker bar, adjustable wrench, vice grips, screw drivers, BFH...Anything else, particularly non-obvious tools or items, that might come in handy?

Try to bring only the tools you know you'll need for what you're looking to pull, the rest leave in the car if you can so you're not lugging it around. If you have a friend this is easier so you can have someone babysit the car while the other runs for tools. Gloves. Sunscreen and a hat. Sawzall or metal snips or both. I bring Allen wrenches and something to cut wiring too (metal snips can do this as well.) Grab floor mats from cars to lay on.

Bring a jug of water and hand cleaner, maybe something to sit on or change into (or coveralls) if you care about your car.

Unrelated; I got stuck once and didn't have my bfh on me and nobody to watch the part/run for tools. Used a brake drum as an improvised hammer. Sometimes people are nice enough to let you borrow tools, and I try to be neighborly as well, but I don't count on it.

1. Generally its a walk. but usually there are wheelbarrows and/or carts.
2. the cars are usually up in the air on a set of welded together rims. if not sometimes there is a yard worker around with machines to wrangle the cars into a better position.
3. if you sunburn easily a hat is your best friend

Bring a disposable dust mask. Interiors that got rained in are foul.

Walk, expect puddles and mud this time of year, wear boots with good ankle support.

They provide wheelbarrows, sometimes rent for a buck or two, sometimes free.

Cars typically sit on 3 or 4 junkyard jackstands (2 wheels welded together) sitting under the body/frame, odds are you won't need to move them. Sometimes you can cheat with the provided monster size A frame engine hoists.

Standard rusty E36 M3can tools are all you should need, a can of PB blaster comes in handy, hornet killer in the summer. Bring hand cleaner, most places have bathrooms with running water you can use. Something to lay on is good too, though in a pinch you can yank the back seat cushion from a clean looking car. Cordless power tools are permitted, I once even saw a guy bring one of those little harbor freight cube generators to run corded tools.

Good advice guys, thanks! If anyone is looking for a particular part, I'd be more than happy to add it to the list - I can pull it and ship at cost.

If you find an Audi 80/90/Cabriolet I'd take the side view mirror harnesses (actually just put up a want ad in the classifieds)

If you see any 1st gen Lexus LS400s with red sway bars, grab them, lots of money right there.

Bring an old rug or chunk of carpet to lay on.

My main problem in you-pull-it yards is that is so easy to get distracted from why you came there in the first place...too much to look at!

Watch out for landmines (turds). Not even kidding.

Spoolpigeon wrote: Watch out for landmines (turds). Not even kidding.

Have never found a landmine but last time I found an unopened pack of ramen in an engine bay.

You guys must go to high end junkyards. The ones I go to all the cars are sitting in the mud and they hoist them up if you want something underneath (or roll them over).

Be careful of the ripoff joints like we have in northern Kentucky.... I went to "besslers" I think it's called twice and each time it was the same story, I'd ask how much they'd charge me for something and they would tell me. Then when I brought the part to them,after spending a half hour or hour getting it off,they said, "oh, we didn't know you meant that part." Then they would Jack up the price. So after they pulled that carp the second time I just tossed the part back to them and told them to screw off.

In reply to chandlerGTi:

I haven't seen a place like that in years, at least one that lets the general public wander the yard.

Any of you guys play "coolest thing in a trunk"? Great game, pretty self explanation...you never know what you will find in a cars trunk. Oh 5 bonus points if you find hypodermic needles.

All I have to say is battery powered sawzall, some good sheers and just enough tools but not too many that everyone asks to borrow your E36 M3 but then again you don't want to be that guy who has to borrow all those little tools you forgot. Make a list of what you need so you don't forget something and at some junkyards they have computers you can use to print of a receipt of where all the cars your looking for are, they aren't always sorted the way you would hope, ie grand Cherokees scattered over a decent sized parking lot. But some at least sort them into clumps by import, gm ford and dodge.

Have fun, I'm sure you will but try not to catch anything you can't wash off with Ajax.

In the yard in Woodstock Illinois I saw some Mexican guys with a car lifted with a bumper jack and a couple of silvered 2x4s. They were both under a 90 Toyota of some sort. An inch of slip either way and their heads would have been crushed underneath. I didn't stick around to see the outcome.

In other words, don't do that.

Spoolpigeon wrote: Watch out for landmines (turds). Not even kidding.

I just wanted to note that he is not talking about dog poopies....

Most should have engine hoists if needed. Dropping (literally) the drivetrain out of a Corvair gets pretty exciting.

Pick and pulls are a great source of extra bolts, nuts etc. Make sure there is extra space in your toolbox for them to "fall" into.

I used to hit Pull A Part very often. I bought one of these and fabricated an aluminum shelf that I could lock on top. That way I could throw my tools in there and not have to worry about them disappearing. I have hauled out complete rear end assemblies on my setup.

chiodos wrote: Any of you guys play "coolest thing in a trunk"? Great game, pretty self explanation...you never know what you will find in a cars trunk. Oh 5 bonus points if you find hypodermic needles.

Not this but similar. A few years ago on a trip with my sis-in-law we found a couple of primo CD's left in our rental car. They got passed back and forth at Xmas as a running joke. Last summer SWMBO found CD's at the LKQ and it was game-on part II. Now we go looking for whatever we needed and foul/scary CD's.

Another junkyard trick is to do the work on their donor car first before tackling yours. Want to see how to remove a certain part? For example, want to practice removing a trim piece so you don't break yours? Practice first.

I'm scared to ask just what kind of poopies are in question here

This is a great thread, thanks. I too have yet to venture into a pick apart yard. Some quick local searches show some Saab content so this year may be the year for me.

aircooled wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: Watch out for landmines (turds). Not even kidding.

I just wanted to note that he is not talking about dog poopies.... Most should have engine hoists if needed. Dropping (literally) the drivetrain out of a Corvair gets pretty exciting. Pick and pulls are a great source of extra bolts, nuts etc. Make sure there is extra space in your toolbox for them to "fall" into.

There are 2 junk yards near me worth going to. Both have a single port-o-john at the entrance and I guess some folks just don't want to walk all the way back or leave their tools unattended. Pretty much every time I've been to either one I've seen a big mud monkey on the ground between cars.

Be very careful if the car is set on "jackstands", usually two steel rims welded together. The cars are rarely/ never set on jack points, usually gas tanks and other soft objects. Give the car a good look over and shake before crawling other.

Many yards also have large A- frame chain hoists for pulling engines. These can lift an end of a car, so you can better position the stands.

Well the trip was a success. Grabbed a 97+ Cherokee center console (cupholders ftw) and a pair of leaf springs from a blazer that look to be in fantastic shape. Newish looking u bolts makes me think they may have been replaced at some point. Gonna use those to make a bastard pack.

Would have liked to have grabbed a few more things, but the springs were a bitch to get off and I was running low on time. Really should have brought the deep well impact sockets rather than regular ol' shallow ones, which weren't deep enough for either the u bolts or eye bolts. A sawzall (if I owned one) would have made it about a 2 min job. Oh sell, gives me an excuse to go back soon.

No luck on the mirror harness, DuckTape&Bondo

Anyways, thanks for the advice guys, really had a blast!

plance1 wrote: Be careful of the ripoff joints like we have in northern Kentucky.... I went to "besslers" I think it's called twice and each time it was the same story, I'd ask how much they'd charge me for something and they would tell me. Then when I brought the part to them,after spending a half hour or hour getting it off,they said, "oh, we didn't know you meant that part." Then they would Jack up the price. So after they pulled that carp the second time I just tossed the part back to them and told them to screw off.

They pulled that crap on me as well. It only took me one trip to never go back though, I called ahead and got a price, verified the price up front when I got there, wanted $20 more when I went back to the office to pay for it, which was more than it cost new at a dealer. Wasted an entire day.