cheap hardware

It's always good to have a full supply of nuts/bolts/washers/screws/ etc. on hand for any project. Buying a whole bunch of these new can be cost prohibitive (not really bad, but bad enough for cheapos like me). So......what to do. Well, generally speaking, oem hardware is very high quality.

1. 5 gallon bucket
2. assorted junkyard tools
3. understanding junkyard owner (ask first as some may not care for this,or they may want to charge you more then it's worth.)

Now walk through the junkyard and strip every nut/bolt/screw/washer/etc. off of any car (make sure you only get metric or only standard-know your cars). Fill your bucket to the top! This is a great way to get misc. hardware on the cheap for those "darn it, i need a 9/16 washer" moments.

And, if you are real swift, you take a cordless impact wrench with you to really speed the job up.

I have drawers full of nuts and bolts I have saved over the years, and even though I use new bolts on my projects, this stash has saved me tons of times.

New bolts are not cheap. I'm using all grade 8 on my T (I like the color ) and just the other day I got a little bag and had $ 100 in there.

Good tip. What do you usually have to pay for a bucket?

Don

Uhhh...Joe, you may really have time for that second job.....


Tracy

tell me about it, i need some money so i can actually buy all this stuff i plan for.

sadly don, i can't lie, i have not actually done this, the local junkyard is not very understanding unless you speak spanish. it's a tip i got from a friend, i plan to try it on one of the yards in a nearby town eventually but they are getting more and more like the local one.

Joe....make sure you can get bolts other than metric these days...lol


Tracy

GM started using metric stuff about halfway through '78 Malibus and the like (Thanks GM!) that may help with what cars and trucks to strip clean.

my first car was an 88 buick regal, half was metric, half was standard, what a nightmare

First car I ran into with that half and half situation was my '84 Cougar. When I would work on it I had to take metric and SAE tools out with me because you never knew what was going to have one or the other.

Don

joehalford01 said:

tell me about it, i need some money so i can actually buy all this stuff i plan for.

sadly don, i can't lie, i have not actually done this, the local junkyard is not very understanding unless you speak spanish. it's a tip i got from a friend, i plan to try it on one of the yards in a nearby town eventually but they are getting more and more like the local one.

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joe, try economy auto wrecking here in hanford, they are pretty cool. good prices, and you can always get a few bucks knocked off if you come sweating you ass off. the owner doesnt like to venture out to the 50's cars, he says there are too many snakes.....(i still havent seen one) 2 weeks ago i got a rear bumper for my F100, and i also found an old superior steering wheel, about 5 or 6 stewart gauges, and a bunch of mics dash knobs and he only charged me for the bumper. all the other stuff, including the milkcrate i was carrying it all in was free. the hubcaps that are on my T, i got them for free there too. i know youre a good guy and youre local, otherwise i wouldnt devulge my stash! get out there, and dont forget sunblock!!!

awesome dude! thanks for pointing me in the right direction. all the junkyards i've been able to find around here are 1975 and up unless it's an obscure foreign car or a cadillac (thems cadillacs are good deals and always untouched ) I think you just made my plans for this weekend!

I always save all the bolts frm any teardown. I like Ford bolts on Fords and did you ever try and find a 1 3/4" long 3/8 bolt? Or the 1/4 and 5/16 pan bolts. well no darned Lawson or Dorfman looks right, only oem, or custom. And what about those odd pitch Metric bolts? Some of the finer ones I have only found on Mercedes and some Suzuki 4 wheelers. And what about JIS (Japenese Industrial Standard) That's the non american metric bolts with the 12, 14, 17 heads instead of the stupid American 13, 15, 18 heads, no bolt dealers I have found offer JIS bolts.

I have three buckets. one I toss anything SAE in to one with metric and one is toss any motorcycle stuff in to. one tip is I ALWAYS spin the nut on to the bolt since many many times you have one but not the other in your hand when yo uare digging through the bucket.

Maryland Metrics sells JIC (also ISO4017) bolts that have the "correct" sized heads on them.

http://sixmm.com

Must have missed this thread when it was originally introduced..... just to add my two cents here ...... I'm an autoglass installer who finds himself pulling glass at a couple of yards once a week. I have a rule: whatever piece of glass I remove,if I have to unscrew/unclip any mouldings or cowls or door panels to do so, I keep all screws/clips/plugs/washers etc because they're not going back on that particular wreck anyway. Already cleared that with the yards anyway. I don't pull off what isn't needed to be pulled off in order to remove the piece of glass. Ín my roller cabinet back at the shop I have about a dozen clear plastic "smallwares" containers. You find 'em at fishing tackle shops or craft shops. They're about a four or five dollar investment each, but trust me, I'm never lacking for a T-15 Torx screw, seat belt bolt, door panel plug, window crank horseshoe clip, trim panel cap, or anything else needed in my daily job or for someone else's vehicle. A guy can never have too many Phillips screws or flat washers either. Oh, just as a sidenote- - I also live by another rule ( also cleared by the yards ) : whatever else is in the scrapped vehicle that was left behind by the previous owner, AND after it was THOROUGHLY gone over by the salvage yard owner and staff, I can take whatever isn't bolted down. If it's lying on the floor or on a seat, it's fair game. Remember, the previous owner got rid of the car to the wrecking yard and had every opportunity to pick up whatever was theirs. The wrecking yard staff picks over and keeps whatever they want BEFORE the vehicle hits the yard. Today, other than a dozen Phillips screws, a couple of 10 millimeter bolts, and some door panel clips I also scored a ratcheting Phillips screwdriver, a set of earphones for my son's portable CD player (which, by the way, I found in a wreck last week, and it works !! ), a bottle of Polo Sport ( I'll wear any cologne as long as it's free), an unopened deck of cards, and a pack of gum. I thought twice and decided to toss the gum.

I have always been a hardware hoarder but recently I got tired of too much junk, didn't really need that gallon of 5/16 self locking nuts after all, or that other gallon of 5/16x1/2 bolts with threadlocker already on them. Nor a bucket of lag bolts, any soft carriage heads, plow bolts. I bet I pitched a couple hundred pounds of useless crap. I also buy all new grade 5 or 8 bolts for my build, and always a few extra. I probably have well over $100 worth on it by now. I still save most of the bolts from anything I take apart, factory bolts are good.

another way to do it... I used to own a specialty auto salvage co. Stripped out sports cars, muscle cars, ect. While tearing down the car i'd put every fastener / hardware from the car in a box, then put the box up on ebay for $25. Sold every box pretty fast, and I wasn't the only one doing it. It helps when building / restoring a car to have a box of fastners/ hardware spacifically for the car you are working on. All factory parts, not aftermarket, and alot easyier than spending all afternoon in a junkyard. So check ebay, it's worth the $25, for sure!

I worked at a fab shop in Atlanta and we built conveyor sections. I asked the assembly guys to put all the pre assembly bolts in a bucket for me instead of throwing them away. Haven't worked there in 15 years and still have over 15 buckets of really big to really small nut bolts washers etc. Owner said it was cheaper to throw away than resort them.

ANNAMEL said:

I worked at a fab shop in Atlanta and we built conveyor sections. I asked the assembly guys to put all the pre assembly bolts in a bucket for me instead of throwing them away. Haven't worked there in 15 years and still have over 15 buckets of really big to really small nut bolts washers etc. Owner said it was cheaper to throw away than resort them.

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DITTO!!

Also, did you know that structurally speaking a bolt cannot be reused!? We typically followed that practice, but the big players like Black & Veatch ($6 BILLION annual power plant engineering firm) actually include it in their specs that bolts for fit up cannot be reused.

Annamel-when you get the little Dodge TA reducers, pull the fill plugs and replace 'em with normal ones. The OEM plugs have magnetic ends on them. I always put them on my rear ends and trannys!

One time I had to take a door handle off a late 70s Monte Carlo and found over $15 in change in the door panel/arm rest. Handle was $5 so I figured that was an awesome deal, lol. And here in my neck of the woods I hit the farm and home stores for nuts n bolts. They go by the pound, even grade 8 stuff. Orchelen Farm n Home in Ar is my favorite.