wheel horse salvage

[jdog_kustoms 82]

im thinkin of starting a wheel horse salvage yard i know what you are thinkin tearin apart good tractors but some need to become parts to fix others wanted to see what your thought were if it would be a good or dumb idea was just talkin to a cub cadet salvage guy and he was tryin to talk me in to it and got me thinkin

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 132]

You may want to do it with more than just Wheel Horse since it's a limited and shrinking market. You'd probably need to buy out closing dealers like Dave's Tractor World does to get enough inventory to make money on (if you can find them).

[Kelly 1,028]

I've done it and do it on a reg. basis I try not to part out nice units no matter the brand, but I will tell you even in my spare time I make pretty good money at it, comb CL to buy cheap tractors I just picked up a Simplicity lastnight, for $150 it will part out very nice it has a 16hp Kohler and power steering, them two parts alone will bring $500-700 but you need to know what sells and what don't.

[Ken B 3,116]

I would agree that you'd probably fair better with a few other brands mixed in. I knew of a Cub dealer gone out of biz in New York who had a nice sized salvage yard chock full of mixed breeds, it was a very nice way too spend a Saturday slithering around the yard.

[rmaynard 14,898]

With you being so close to me, I think it's a good idea, since pick-up would be no problem The biggest drawback that I see is that large items are difficult to ship. I recently had to ship some snowblower top and side guides, chute, seat springs and steering parts. The total weight was 35 pounds, but the big difficulty was finding a big enough and strong enough carton to ship it. If you have to work a full time job as well as run the tractor salvage, just shipping alone can be very time consuming.

Pennsylvania has much more lenient zoning laws than Maryland, but I would also look into whether or not a salvage yard is allowed on your property. I wouldn't worry about taking good tractors and parting them. It's done all the time. That is what Joes' Outdoor Power Equipment does, and he seems to be quite successful.

My one suggestion would be, don't try to make a huge profit on each part. Some people selling parts are trying to get way too much. Think about what you would want to pay for the item yourself and if you can make a small profit at that price, sell it. Otherwise, you are going to be sitting on a lot of unsold parts.

Other than that, I don't see too many pitfalls in the idea.

Bob

[VinsRJ 721]

My question is what is your altimate goal? Are you doing it for the love of tractors or making money. Either way I agree with rmaynard, I think he covers both avenues quite well in his post.

[Matthew hurst 1]

I think it would be a great thing for you to do, and a good help to the Wheel horse... :thumbs:

[jdog_kustoms 82]

i would do it more for the love of tractors and helpin everyone out not to make a million dollars per part and i might mix it with maybe gravely

[SAM58 30]

The last two post has covered this idea well, being in Kentucky where anything WheelHorse is 6- 8 hours away. I would buy alot more parts if everyone would scrape the gold off of them first. Dave's tractor world has a good inventory with almost new prices, but some of the stuff will be unsalable in a few short years because of being out in the open, Well some parts are hard to find and take it or leave it.

If they lay around for an extended amount of time, the parts have less value.

Some try to recover the whole investment on used part on the first sale.

I am in the retail business and if you want to make money you have to move inventory. Every company does it, slow movers are put on sale, specials, ect...

Also storing metal parts out in the elements will eat your profits... Metal rust fast and loses value, fast.

I have Wheelhorse tractors because there will never be another machine like them.

I don't think one can make a living on just Wheelhorse parts unless you have tons of inventory at reasonable prices. In my opinion this is a hobby for 99% of the WH owners out there, and shopping around for parts is part of the fun....

If you are in it to make a profit, I think you are farting in the wind without a smell.

:thumbs:

[Kelly 1,028]

Well you can make a living on selling just tractor parts, Look at Joe's on ebay all he sells is tractor parts, I've been to his shop, and saw all the employees, and the very nice set up he has, I know a few other people that make a living selling parts.

[rickv1957 70]

I wonder how many people Joe has to make his operation work,several Iam sure,Rick

[VinsRJ 721]

Making a "Living" is not defined in anyway by money.... its defined by fulfillment and ultimately by over all health. Without each aspect in balance it doesn

[rickv1957 70]

And BTW anyone who indicates that they cannot live within $250K are the exact individuals you caused this economic mess we

[CasualObserver 3,406]

Please keep it on topic guys!

jdog, I agree with a lot of the advice you've been given already. There's money to be made in parting tractors if you do it smartly. Good luck if you choose to proceed. :thumbs:

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 132]

Please keep it on topic guys!

jdog, I agree with a lot of the advice you've been given already. There's money to be made in parting tractors if you do it smartly. Good luck if you choose to proceed.

Any chance of getting a "rants and raves" section? Those are always entertaining to read. There are a lot of rants on here anyways (not excluding my own).

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 132]

There was someone selling some micro fiche at one time which I believe was a complete set of part numbers for most all of the Wheel Horse models. That would be handy to have because I would think the majority of the time will probably be spent cataloging and identifying parts (and finding them later).

[SAM58 30]

GO jdog_kustoms,

anything to benifit the Hobby would be great!!

If you want to do, Just do it!

Everyone has different ideas, it's your idea make it work.

:D

[jdog_kustoms 82]

i might start slow im not lookin to make a living i work for the federal government as an ac mechanic so im not leavin there to sell parts but i love to work on tractors and meet people and make a smile on someones face not to become a millionair and with me hualin junk on the side (did this before gov. job) i find a lot of tractors and parts and instead of junkin them i thought id start partin them out ive junked stuff you guys would kill for i just wanted everyones opinion and i got it and learned alot reading them and for everyone on here you get a discount when i get this runnin compared to outsiders

[rmaynard 14,898]

Jordon,

I say go for it. Being just south of you, I can keep an eye out for things down this way, since it's a short driving distance.

Anonymous,

Maybe where you come from 100K is a necessity. Let me tell you that I have never earned anywhere near that amount in my whole life, and I will tell you that I have never wanted for anything.

Making a decent living is not all about the money.

Jason (Lord Hellmutt)

You may think this thread is going down hill. But I think just the opposite. Jordon is throwing the idea out there for people to respond to so he can make a decision. All input, good, bad or indifferent, will help him to make an informed decision.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Bob

[CasualObserver 3,406]

Jason (Lord Hellmutt)

You may think this thread is going down hill. But I think just the opposite. Jordon is throwing the idea out there for people to respond to so he can make a decision. All input, good, bad or indifferent, will help him to make an informed decision.

Not at all... You misunderstand the picture. I don't think it's going downhill... but some people are sending it off on tangents that have no bearing on the original post... thus the "derailed" train. This is not a forum to discuss the what constitutes a making a living, the color of the sky or the meaning of life... jdog started a topic about kicking around the idea of a GT salvage yard type thing. Side-job or full time job.... doesn't matter. That's what the topic is about. So rather than point out that anyone in particular is 'hijacking' a thread, or wait for name calling, hurt pride and reports from other members on this thread getting out of hand... I'm merely 'trying' to keep it on topic.

Back to jdog... I like the idea and wish there were more of them across the country. Maybe people would quit hauling them in for scrap if there were more options for disposal of the un-wanteds.

[SAM58 30]

DITTO's to...

rmaynard

lordhelmet

:beer:

[Duff 206]

I like the idea and wish there were more of them across the country. Maybe people would quit hauling them in for scrap if there were more options for disposal of the un-wanteds.

A very large "AMEN" from the congregation on that one, my friends!

Duff :thumbs:

[Doubletrouble 10]

I like the idea of tractor salvage yards myself. I wish I knew of one close to me. Just an idea but if you go and start one what kinda discounts will redsquare members get? just kidding, I say go for it just to keep the oldies runnin and pass our hobby down to the younger folks.

[jdog_kustoms 82]

1 thing that has me really thinkin about doin it is i am only 2 miles from the annual wheel horse show

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 132]

1 thing that has me really thinkin about doin it is i am only 2 miles from the annual wheel horse show

check your local town code and zoning because I think a reason there aren't a lot of salvage yards is because they are looked at unfavorably by Environmental departments due to oil leaks and soil contamination from lead paints, etc. If anything is outside they'll probably require a high fence to block what the town considers unsightly. If you do it out of your back yard it would only take one P.O.'d customer to rat you out to make your life very difficult and expensive. just some things to consider