I know they all can't be saved but ...........

Went by an area scrap yard today so I pulled in. Farmall H chassis including motor. Farmall 504? chassis. IH 4 bottom (510?). 1960 vintage JD 3pt chisel plow. JD 3 pt 3 bottom plow. Mount for JD 10 mower. I know some things just outlast their usefulness but I hate to imagine what went for scrap. Used to be I never saw much farm equipment go in there but anymore...........

Local jockey is in contact with local scrap yards and they call him before crushing ag equipment if feasible. He pays them a little above scrap value and walks away with tractors, combines, plows, disks, balers, etc..

Granted I am not there 24/7 but I doubt much of any high demand iron goes through there. I guess that I have been around long enough to remember when some of this stuff was more critical to farm with.

Sadly for some things there is no other market (you could not give it away)

Who ever brought the H in could have given even just the hulk to me. Same with the JD 3 bottom plow. I always come across the fools who think the other way in that what they have is worth its weight in gold. Then an even bigger fool pays it because he's got to have it now.

I saw a nice Oliver 550 rot for years, at least 10. The guy eventually passed, and his kid scrapped it, it was scrap by then. He had a price, about $5K, and he would not come down. Several folks tried to buy it, but he thought every one was trying to cheat him.

Seems those things should be in a salvage yard, before going to a scrap yard. Problem is, I don't know of a general farm equipment salvage place around here? Is there one between you and me? A friend in Waterloo went up north to get an H block I was able to arrange for him through contacts on this site.

The Mennonites salvage select pieces such as JD small square balers, plows, JD and IH tractors, plus JD and NH forage harvesters. There used to be general farm equipment salvage yards around but most of those died off 15-20 years ago. In most cases that I am aware of the owners got too old or died off. It would probably be a tough go to start from scratch today as it may take a long time to recover the initial purchase price of a piece. Around here you would have to be super selective as to what you bought as there is probably no market for parts for a given machine. To answer your question I don't know of a general yard between you and me. "Unkle" Bill Knapp over in Livonia used to do a lot of different things and there were a couple places NW of Ithaca. I did some quick figuring on the H in the junk yard and for their purchase rate a fellow just could not come out on it. A recent auction had running H's at 700 and 800 dollars respectively.

Why would he give it to you when he can sell it to the scrap yard? Just wondering.

I was not being serious about that. I was just responding to the comment about sometimes you could not give something away.

Watched a guy cut up a TR70 New Holland Combine for scrap saying it was junk. Pretty decent machine I ran it a little. Only problem with it I ever saw was a farmer who couldn't do maintenance.

You wouldn?t believe what comes in the scrap yard around here but most of the people won?t sell the dang stuff and then they finally die and the kids don?t want it and don?t care and then it? goes to scrap I see it all the time around here

There is several ways to look at this.

The major one is these old tractors do not have the value they once did. You can buy good running tractors for under $1000. So the market for used parts is dropping like a rock. To have value they have to be rare/different. A regular letter series IH or JD just are not real valuable anymore. So if you think there are a lot of the non running tractors going for scrap now wait until the next time scrap goes sky high.

Another one is the idiots you find when dealing with lower priced stuff. An example; A good friend bought a running IH "M" with about new rear tires on it for $1200. He just wanted the tires and rims. He had a tractor that need them. He put the old tires/rims on the IH "M" just to sell. The sheet metal was just fair and the tires held air only but the tractor ran well. He advertised it for $750 and was willing to take less than that within reason. He had all these fellows come and look at it and waste time bad mouthing the tractor just to drive the price down. He was not trying to get restored price out of it. He got tired of it and cut it up for scrap and got $450 without any issue, haul it to town and drive home with a check.

I have a shed full of useable JD parts. I told the boys if it is still full when I die, to load it up in roll off and be done with it. I do not even try to sell much of it anymore. I use some things and offer some other stuff to friends. I am tired of people wanting used parts price but new warranty on a fifth year old part.

So I can easily see more of these lower value farm tractors and implements getting scraped.

The tongue on my brothers New Holland haybine broke. He scrapped it. He got about 1/3 of what it was worth. No hassles.

I understand not wanting to deal with belligerent morons but I will plea with guys such as yourself to consider the auction. There are guys such as myself who are always going to need to lean on parts and equipment sources other than the dealer to make a living. Once the auctioneer says sold then that is the end of it. Whatever was on the pallet at the consignment sale is it and nothing more. No complaining or beefing.

Salvage yard YES, Scrap yard BIG NO. Big difference there. I am looking for machinery for rebuilding as what I am looking for has not been built for 60 years possibly 70 years but most was sent to scrap yard and not salvage yard. To get one usuable hay rake I have used parts from a half a dozen rakes but then parts not used on one will have repaired a half a dozen others. Any body around western Ohio have any steel wheel hay rakes or steel wheel mowers setting in scrap isle they want to get rid of?

(So if you think there are a lot of the non running tractors going for scrap now wait until the next time scrap goes sky high)

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I'm still saving up cash to buy my first tractor. Here's hoping those scrap prices stay low enough while I sock away my pennies.