What to do with old parts?

glowell222

TJ Enthusiast
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Nov 10, 2019
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855
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Northern VA
What do you do with your old parts? I have the original Saginaw steering box, lower steering rod, and Sahara side steps from when I swapped my ‘98 frame for the ‘06 frame. I don’t want to just chuck them in the landfill.
 
I miss my old scrap guy. Where I live now. There's no scrap guy. My stock bumpers and tire carrier aren't going to sell. To the landfill they go.
 
I miss my old scrap guy. Where I live now. There's no scrap guy. My stock bumpers and tire carrier aren't going to sell. To the landfill they go.

I have a recycling center by me that takes cans but will take any metal. I didn’t know this till I pulled up to drop of cans and had an old washer in the back I had to get rid of. The guy wheeled a cart out and said dump it on here. Got a couple dollars but it was gone.
 
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When I replace the old parts with new or upgraded parts I evaluate whether I can rebuild them for future use, whether other Jeep owners would be interested in purchasing them for their spare parts cabinet, whether the parts can even be reused or whether they will be put out for trash.
Most of my parts usually end up in the first two categories.
Last year I upgraded the factory front tubular bumper and was able to sell to a local Jeep owner whose front bumper was badly rusted due to living near the beach, I was able to replace the bearing on an idler pulley that I removed and placed the part in my spare parts cabinet, but did finally toss the factory tubular rear bumper since after 8 months there was no interest by other Jeep owners.
 
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I miss my old scrap guy. Where I live now. There's no scrap guy. My stock bumpers and tire carrier aren't going to sell. To the landfill they go.

Too bad you're on the other side of the country. I've been looking for a stock front bumper, but I can't seem to locate one here in New England (or at least nobody is selling one on creigslist around here).
 
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What do you do with your old parts? I have the original Saginaw steering box, lower steering rod, and Sahara side steps from when I swapped my ‘98 frame for the ‘06 frame. I don’t want to just chuck them in the landfill.

Original parts that are rebuildable like a steering box will have a core value at minimum, which will modestly go up as these vehicles get older and the aftermarket parts get worse. Wear parts that are meant to be replaced like TRE and shocks go to the scrapper after I get a decent pile built.
 
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Depending on what parts you replaced you may want to hang onto the old parts a while. Especially if it's something you may not like.

Example is I'm installing a different transmission shifter. I carefully removed the original. And will put it in a box in my storage for a while. Maybe a long time. You never know when you'll change your mind or the aftermarket parts you bought fail. And you wish you had the old parts to just put it back.

Way too many times I've thrown old stuff out. I'm not saying be a hoarder. But think about what you replaced.
 
Depending on what parts you replaced you may want to hang onto the old parts a while. Especially if it's something you may not like.

Example is I'm installing a different transmission shifter. I carefully removed the original. And will put it in a box in my storage for a while. Maybe a long time. You never know when you'll change your mind or the aftermarket parts you bought fail. And you wish you had the old parts to just put it back.

Way too many times I've thrown old stuff out. I'm not saying be a hoarder. But think about what you replaced.

I swapped to a B&M short shifter and boxed up OE in storage in the shed. I love the B&M, but you never know. Took off a stock rear bumper because I bought a second on the real-cheap to modify with aux lights and a BBQ mount. Gave the old one to my buddy since I will never be looking for another stock rear bumper. Replaced a one-year-old set of RC N3 shocks with Rancho's. Never will I need those shocks so they went to my buddy. Bought a second set of front seat belts with the intentions of sending off the first set to be rebuilt. Went on a binge cleaning the garage one weekend afternoon and threw the old belts away, completely forgetting the intent to rebuild. Those, I regret getting rid of. Times like that will make you think twice about get rid of stuff.... just in case..

I guess it depends on the parts..
 
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I put my take offs in the rafters and I look at the wanted section here on the forum.

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I don’t scrap much of anything. With the exception of wear parts.
Hell I had an old manual hydraulic flow control valve that I kept for over 30 years and countless moves over five states.
It finally came in handy last year when I had to overhaul my irrigation system.
You never know.
 
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I've been scrapping stuff for years. There's an old quarry pit on my place; I dragged out tons of scrap that was dumped out there. I still pile up stuff, stack it on my trailer, pile small bits in my truck, and haul it all to the boneyard. Enough $ for fuel and a burger and a beer.