I had the transmission on my 1990 F150 (4.9L I6 M5OD) take a crap on Monday. I want to tow the truck home and part it out. I figure the engine could sell for a decent amount and other engine components that are in good shape could go as well. The engine has 147k original miles. Based on the collective experience here, suggestions on selling whole truck (minus box because I need it for a project), parting out, or scrapping? I want to keep it and make a crazy "go-kart" type rig out of the motor/stripped cab and frame, but not sure how realistic that is. So, like I said, based on y'all's collective experience, what would you do?

 

well, i think you can rule out scrapping ... that would surely bring the lowest return.

 

I have about 20 trucks in various state of condition.

Truth is, they are never going to make me rich. Plenty of people want parts, but the minute you sell anything, what is left is much less desirable and you are left holding the bag. The odd person is willing to pay a fair price, but most people want to grind you down to the point it is not worth your labour to remove parts. Letting them remove the parts will result in the vehicle becoming derelict much more quickly as they will destroy valuable parts simply to get at theirs more quickly.

I have the advantage of a place to store these vehicles without hassles or high costs. Try to part a vehicle in your driveway and local bylaws are going to swoop in pretty quickly. Just something to keep in mind when you decide how you will dispose of your old vehicle.

Your idea of building a buggy out of the remains means you are going to have to replace that faulty transmission. Give any thought to replacing it while the truck is still intact? Harvesting the parts you need for another project is fine, but you will likely need to scrap what is left. By the way, around here, scrap prices barely cover the costs of towing the vehicle to the crusher. Again, you need space to accommodate the activity, be sure you have it.

I constantly ask myself why I do this. Probably because I can and my vision is to assemble a couple of interesting trucks out of what I can collect. Maybe Frankenstein to some, but recycling at it's finest to me. Lots of these parts are getting hard to come by and my 20 trucks will eventually distill down into about 4. I am getting older and maybe this will never get completed. No matter, the cost to me has pretty much been a wash. My trucks were accumulated by horse trading and selling the odd part that was deemed disposable. Sometimes, I have bought a truck simply for, say a set of tires because the cost was less than buying the tires new. I call that a win as the rest of the truck is essentially free, but the day all this becomes a problem is the day I call the crusher.

Don't know if any of this helps you to decide what to do with your truck, but good luck!

 

Site won't let me delete the double post and edit function wants to make me write something, so I'll wish everyone a happy Wednesday.

 

Parting it out sounds like a big pain. Unless you want to remove parts yourself you'll end up with a mess on your property, damage to other parts, cut wires & connectors, spilled fluids etc. Someone gets hurt while removing parts, bring their kids , dogs along. Think I would fix it or scrap it.