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Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
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skitter
07/28/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
Toolbox? I've got cargo shorts.
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Shnyzx
07/29/09

@skitter: Cargo Shorts? I junk naked and greased up
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skitter
07/29/09

@Shnyzx: You shouldn't grease, you want to stick to your tools like glue. Aluminum tape might be a good fit for you.
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DoctorNine's D9 Cat
07/27/09

In reply to Found Tools Are The Best!
When you fastidiously disassemble a car to rebuild it, invariably you will find a pocket knife or screwdriver. Almost every car will have a set of some kind of pliers too. I don't know why. I think it has some kind of relationship to the same thing with ticks on a dog.
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900pilot
07/27/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
Am I the only one here who goes with the "large box, few tools" approach? I always felt like the entrance fee to the boneyard was to cover all the parts you could fit in your toolbox, leaving one only to pay for the larger parts. A couple badges or pie plate hubcaps, perhaps a cigarette lighter or a few bulbs? Throw 'em in the box. If you want a radiator or a manifold, that's when it's time to go the the pay counter.

Yeah, I know it may be bad karma, but after one look at a DOTJ segment, you know it serves 'em right.
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable promoted this comment Edited by 900pilot at 07/27/09 4:36 AM 900pilot was starred 900pilot was unstarred

Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
07/27/09

@900pilot: No, not the only one- that's why I use a duffelbag- and my philosophy is much the same as yours- when the junkyard has a "charge 60% of the cost new, and tough titty if your part is defective" policy, along with a "no, I can't take 30, gotta get 50- but I'll crush it and get nothing" attitude, I say fuck them.
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Mad_Science
07/27/09

In reply to Found Tools Are The Best!
Found a boxcutter inside a (flat) tire when I was working as a tire monkey.

We pulled it out, replaced the blade and kept it as a shop tool.
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Turboner
07/26/09

In reply to Found Tools Are The Best!
This reminds me of all the fun "tools" we used to find while remodelling Motel 6's. You know, crack pipes, hypodermic needles, dildos, etc.
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Murilee Martin
07/27/09

@Turboner: You find those "tools" in towed cars at auctions, too. My favorite was the stretch limo with dozens of burned spoons and used needles, plus a big pile of shit in the back.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
The pull-a-part yards around here all have wheelbarrows so I usually end up bringing 40-80lbs. of tools. Even if I'm only looking for BMW or old Chevy stuff I always bring both metric and inch stuff, never know what you might find. Must have the 3lb. sledge (great for removing plastic body panels), and the 24" prybar.
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LTDScott
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
I usually bring a large assortment in my car's trunk, but only take an ammo box's worth into the yard.
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Patricktech
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
My toolbox has wheels, so there is no excuse for not schlepping it.
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Uncle Trash
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
Lately, when I chase down parts for my '88 Volvo 245, I skip the junkyard and look on CL to find the part. You just don't find many 240's in junkyards in the Northeast anymore.

Therefore, I just bring what's necessary for the given job. On a few occasions, I've had to borrow tools.

That being said, since acquiring the 240, my tools collection has steadily increased. I've found that I need a variety of different torx bit sizes etc.

When I drove Saab 900s, I could get most things out with the tools that came with the car. The Volvo, no so much.
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MushyHeirloom
07/26/09

@Uncle Trash: Not sure where the Torx bits go; my '89 244 seems mostly takeapartable with a large flathead, 8/10/13mm sockets, and a Phillips-head.

I haven't methodically disassembled the car, though, so I'm sure there's plenty of odd bits where Volvo didn't do things the logical way. I'm just blissfully ignorant of those bits.

The Mystique (Contour/Mondeo), though... holy Lord, the entire car was plastic and Torx. I'm not too sad to see it go (it's my grandfather's, and he's decided to donate it to charity because it's almost worthless and he doesn't need a third car).
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Edited by MushyHeirloom at 07/26/09 11:04 PM MushyHeirloom was starred MushyHeirloom was unstarred

Uncle Trash
07/26/09

@FP - missing Pete and the SHOwagon:

Well, I was thinking specifically of the rear seats in the wagon.

I've been in search of blue cloth seats for a while (not easy to find for a wagon).

Last weekend I drove from Somerville, MA to South of Hartford to get a set (CL find).

I ended up having to remove the cloth skin from the rear seat back (rather than take the whole thing) because someone had already removed the lever that enables the seat to go down.

Anyway.. when I reassembled the seat using my existing frame, I found that I need (I think) t40 and t30 torx bits. I had the t30, but not the t40.

You're right though. I'm trying to think of other parts that needed torx, but none come to mind easily. There may have been other bits that needed them when I disassembled the interior in pursuit of patching the floor rust.
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
07/26/09

In reply to Found Tools Are The Best!
Found tools are nice of course, but I much prefer "found" parts...
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
I wait until I've actually located the part in question, then shlep the bare minimum in a small duffel bag. If I guessed wrong on the size, or find I need something unusual, my local boneyard lets me borrow anything they don't have in their hand at the moment.
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MushyHeirloom
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
I'm more a big-toolbox kinda guy, but if I'm on a mission I don't take much that I don't need - sockets, vicegrips, a large flathead (minor prybar!) and a small Phillips, sometimes wire cutters or some such.

But the big 'box always belongs in the car, for a junkyard run.
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Edited by MushyHeirloom at 07/26/09 8:54 PM MushyHeirloom was starred MushyHeirloom was unstarred

I was drivin' that Model A
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
Mine can vary...from a Leatherman XTi to a near full-blown set of everything, but usually it's somewhere in-between. I do my best to go to the light side, as while weight on my right side helps me not walk as lopey as usual, heavy is heavy.
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abgwin
07/26/09

In reply to Found Tools Are The Best!
and just how many of those "lost tools" are really missing murder weapons from cold cases that will go forever unsolved?
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Novaload
07/26/09

In reply to Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?
My buddy would bring his work van, which had everything. Take the minimum, hike back if you must. Pry bar, mallet, chisel, screw drivers, pliers--the basics.
Take turns hiking back.
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