Your most difficult junkyard pick?

[IndyIan]

I'm sure mine wasn't all that hard in the grand scheme of things, so think about some of yours and which was the worse.

In this case I need a muffler for the 03 Sequoia as well as at least one of the pipes to the cat which isn't available separately, to get it through a Virginia inspection. Aftermarket mufflers are around $250 and the cats even more so I was determined to find something on the cheap. Found another Sequoia at the junkyard that still had the wheels and tires on it just so I had a fighting chance. Most of them didn't and were sitting on the ground. This one did have 3 flat tires but luckily the one near the muffler was good.

If you're ever tried to pull under body parts from a car you know what a pain it can be. Thank goodness the two cats were already cut off and I only had to make one cut behind the muffler with a chain strap type cutter. Not fun with your face inches from the floor and your arm stretched out working that thing. The half a dozen rubber hangers were no picnic either but after an hour and a half I was able to get it out. Thing must weigh over 50 pounds. Paid $31.25 for everything but I have a feeling I'm going to pay for it even more next morning.

View attachment 95907

What car are you driving here? Looks like an 80's or early 90's.

 

[atikovi]

95 Skylark

 

[14Accent]

I actually AVOIDED a yard, based on Google reviews insisting they were scammers. Listing everything as low mileage, asking for payment in advance, and not coming through. Again, exactly like an experience with a mobile in Ohio. Asks for payment. Disappears. So I avoided the yard.

Ended up using EBay, that's a great resource that avoids going to the yard.....

Most difficult pick/locating it, had to travel.. was a transmission for a Buick Reatta.

Funny, a Reatta transmission shouldn't have been any more difficult to find than any other 4T60, unless it was the pre-electronic version AKA the 440-T4. Those are tough.

I've had a few doozies:
1. 8.8" disc brake rear-end out of a 5.0L Ford Explorer (my buddy and I had super fun getting this out)
2. Front springs off a fox body Mustang. Anybody familiar with how these go in know that if you don't have a spring compressor, this is a nightmare (it was a nightmare)
3. Motor mount mounting plates out of a V8 F-250 to convert my I6 into a V8. Had to unbolt the engine and jack it up, which is super fun on non-solid ground in a yard

Also funny, my story is about the same: my worst JY pull was a rear end for my '03 Marauder. I needed it fast, and I knew I'd never find another factory 3.73 LS unit so I settled for a 3.27 LS out of a PI. That's not the most fun thing to pick and drag through a muddy yard.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Funny, a Reatta transmission shouldn't have been any more difficult to find than any other 4T60, unless it was the pre-electronic version AKA the 440-T4. Those are tough.



Also funny, my story is about the same: my worst JY pull was a rear end for my '03 Marauder. I needed it fast, and I knew I'd never find another factory 3.73 LS unit so I settled for a 3.27 LS out of a PI. That's not the most fun thing to pick and drag through a muddy yard.

Apparently the differences between the early run and the late run were more than my mechanic thought because we had to do a lot of searching and a lot of swapping. I also had to travel 250 miles for one that was a four model year difference and was worried when the mechanic looked at it and thought it wasn't going to fit.

This is some time ago so I'm doing the best I can to remember.

Also.. TH-350C? But again I do not exactly recall. Riviera??

 

[14Accent]

Apparently the differences between the early run and the late run were more than my mechanic thought because we had to do a lot of searching and a lot of swapping. I also had to travel 250 miles for one that was a four model year difference and was worried when the mechanic looked at it and thought it wasn't going to fit.

This is some time ago so I'm doing the best I can to remember.

Also.. TH-350C? But again I do not exactly recall. Riviera??

That makes sense, I had to replace a 4T80-E in one of my Seville's, and the used 2000 unit needed several modifications to work with the 1994 I installed it in.

It wouldn't have been a TH-350, that's a RWD transmission. The only options for a Reatta would have been a 4T60/440T4 or a 4T60-E.

 

[eljefino]

Over the weekend, not far from home I found one in the junkyard that had a good subframe with almost no rust , engine and transmission were out, problem is the car was sitting on the ground, no tires. I had to crawl under and start digging out the dirt, enough to get a wrench in there to undo the bolts holding it to the car. I dug and dug and dug, using every screwdriver and tire iron I could find. Got the subframe out...

So this same Saturn junkyard I visited... man was I in heaven... for a subframe. I brought my dinky little MVP jack, my breaker bar, none of the bolts were turning, I thought I was done for.

Then a yard employee found me and said, you want a subframe, I have one over here from a car we pulled the motor out of! I hadn't surveyed the entire yard, LOL.

 

[e40]

When I lived in NorCal in the 1990's, Pick-and-Pull was a regular stop for us high schoolers to keep our $250 cars running..

A friend of mine had a VW Golf and needed an exhaust manifold. We found one and pulled it in about an hours' time. I wouldn't say it was difficult, but it sure was blazing hot that day. (Not to mention risky crawling under a car with no wheels on it, balanced on steel rims..) Not a risk I'd take today, LOL.