Trunk trailer >cutting rockers, etc. sawsall, how hard?

[AtlantaSteve]

Most ACC ports are rated at about 30 Amps. That's 360 watts(assuming ideal conditions). You're not going to get more energy out than you can put in, regardless of inverter size. Your only chance of getting the inverter to work is powering it right from the battery. Even then at 1200w you're pulling 100Amps (Actually a little less since a car usually produces 14-15 volts)

To be frank, I think you're biting of a LOT to chew in a few hours time. I wish you luck. If I was in spitting distance I'd be there to help (at least to see what happens!)

The car stripped like that should be very light weight, and you're only going 5 miles with the full car. It might be worth renting a bigger trailer. Of course, UHaul probably won't rent you one to tug behind an escape.

 

[AzPete]

The more I read this, the more I wonder if an cutting torch would be better. Plus a fire ext. Maybe you should just take it all home to have time and not rush. Things go wrong that way. What happens if the junk yard closes before you get done? Another trip to dospose of things or paying someone....... Think things thru real good.

 

[lethal289]

look for a scrap guy in the area. Im sure theres adds on the local craigslist (where the car is) asking for scrap metal, and have him meet you there with a torch, generator, what ever it takes to get the job done. For the trouble he goes through to help cut it up, he can have the parts you dont need or wont fit on your trailer. Just a thought. It may work out to an extra set of hands, and save a trip to / from the junk yard.

 

[scedd]

Remember the golden rule of Murphy's Law - If something can go wrong it will.
You are looking at (short amount of time + lack of power + small trailer = ? consequences)
Expect the worst - You will never be disappointed.

 

[Shrinkdude]

Too bad you don't want to tow it back home, it would be easier to cut up then and also you could sell some of the parts off of it before taking it to the junkyard.

 

[Jonk67]

Ha Ha, this is looking more grim for me with every post, thanks for cheering me up :ep

Couple more good options:
'I wonder if an cutting torch would be better. Plus a fire ext'
'look for a scrap guy in the area. Im sure theres adds on the local craigslist (where the car is) asking for scrap metal, and have him meet you there with a torch, generator, what ever it takes to get the job done'

I found out the JY stays open 9a-9p but the part that buys scrap closes at noon so worst case I turn it in for free, would like to recoupe whatever they will pay me but I can sacrifice that if I run into time trouble.

Seems like odds are ~10:3 that I will fail, I nominate Steve SellersRodShop to hold the bet money :$$$:
'and then get the rearend to the junkyard by noon.
Good luck.'
'without pictures it never happened!'
'To be frank, I think you're biting of a LOT to chew in a few hours time' 'If I was in spitting distance I'd be there to help (at least to see what happens!)' Thanks AtlSteve, it takes a real friend to document my failures! :wm?
'Things go wrong that way.'
'short amount of time + lack of power + small trailer = ? consequences'

All the concerns and warnings really help as I try to think of alternate options.
I figure if the front leaf bolts are froze/rusted I can cut the U clamps to get the rear loose, drop the shackle end and worry about the springs at home. Again worse case I haul the rear home attached and dump it later. Once in half the front half should be ~8ft. and 3ft. of that being just the front floor (no motor). I've hauled ~600-900lbs. on this trailer before as I changed the axle and springs for stonger ones years ago.

Don't worry, I will take pics of my failure or triumphant return. My last thought it to drag the whole car home, I fear more chance of something breaking while I drag it home 3 hours and being stuck on the side of the road or worse it causing me to wreck a perfectly good vehicle pulling it when it looses a wheel and drags me sideways into a ditch. Plus I have no place to keep it until I could get it to a JY, remember SWMBO is not on board for this...I work on the 'it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission' montra. I plan to sneak the trunk into the yard at first opportunity, I can't hide cutting up a car in the driveway.

3 days and counting...tic toc
Jon 'phail'

 

[scedd]

short amount of time + lack of power + small trailer = ? consequences'

You only have to change one of these to solve your problem.

The junkyard is open longer = more time to cut up the car

Fix your generator and take it with you = a power supply for the reciprosaw you can borrow

Find a larger trailer = take the whole car to a power supply.

Cheer up, all is not lost yet






Until the borrowed oxy torch leaks and starts a fire that spreads to the Mustang body, then your car and trailer, then the storage sheds and then a news helicopter films the inferno live and shows it on the TV and your missus sees it. Then your up sh1t creek without a paddle!

 

[Shrinkdude]

How do you intend on lifting the two sections onto the trailer?

 

[Jonk67]

Thanks Scedd, the news crew in the helicopter solves my 'w/o pictures' problem and adds video!
I guess one is solved in that I have until 9p to get it to the JY, just won't get any cash for it after noon.
Hopefully the local news in TN won't pick up the KY story, maybe they'll treat it as another KY 'hey, watch this' story....

Shrink, the trailer is a tilt with wench and I only have to move the front clip and differential first. I figure once it's cut I crank the front clip onto the 8' trailer, strap it down, then crank or roll the diff on and strap it down. The JY is only 5mi. away so I could also make 2 trips if I have time to do the clip first then diff. Once those parts are gone I return for the trunk half, crank it on, strap it down and head for home (may have to park the trailer close by and send the wife out on a store errand first).
Jon

 

[daveSanborn]

(may have to park the trailer close by and send the wife out on a store errand first).

You might as well just pull in the driveway with it and say "hey, look what I got!"

She's going to find out about it sooner or later. Whether you "ask for forgiveness" now or later doesn't really matter to you, but it may to her.

 

[Jonk67]

You might as well just pull in the driveway with it and say "hey, look what I got!"

She's going to find out about it sooner or later. Whether you "ask for forgiveness" now or later doesn't really matter to you, but it may to her.

Well my car still doesn't have a drivetrain in it and I'm trying to drive it to the MCA show at the Biltmore Labor Day weekend so "hey, look what I got" might be the last words I speak...I don't plan to work on the trailer this year, more of a winter project after the car is running.

I don't know how your marriage works but 'later' is always better for me, there's always jewelry to soothe the savage beast! Hell hath no fury like a woman that doesn't get new jewelry...
I can hide it behind my shed under a tarp for 6mos. I bet without her finding or looking for it, I cut the grass and it's at the back of the yard.

Once my car is done and painted I'll have the trunk stripped and primed and then show it to her and say 'look what someone on Stangfix gave me, wouldn't that make a cool trunk for chairs and picnics?' Come to think of it I may have to make it long enough to sleep in. My wife doesn't have the 'diamond in the rough' eye that most guys do, she has to see the finished or near finished product before she's on board. She also doesn't understand that if I passed on this one it might be years before I find another so cheap, close and (hopefully) solid.

Just promise me ya'll will make sure that my tombstone says something about 'mustangs' and 'ladies man' and chisel off the stuff about 'no good lying, etc' that my wife has etched on...
Jon

 

[AzPete]

Drop it of at Tarafied's house.....do the to together...completed, bring it home as a freebe you won, and look honey, it has a diamond inside that just fits your finger.

 

[jrherald420]

Sound like you got one hell of a deal Jonk67!! You got a good deal!!

 

[garner67]

You might as well just pull in the driveway with it and say "hey, look what I got!"

She's going to find out about it sooner or later. Whether you "ask for forgiveness" now or later doesn't really matter to you, but it may to her.

+1

That's what I did with my last 71 F100 purchase. If I asked for permission, it would have been a definitely, No Way In Hell kind of reaction. Instead she was miffed for a couple of weeks, but she got over it.

Better to ask for forgiveness, I say.

 

[AzPete]

A friend of mine used to do the ask for forgiveness routine all the time. Then one day he had a deal on a new, 1992 Honda GoldWing 1500. I think the price was around $13,000. He bought it with a loan, hid it for a week, and then took it home after the dealer had added some options. He sold the bike 6 months later to a friend. That friend was behind on the payments to him. Then the new owner got drunk, ran into a tree, and died. The bike was still in my friends name.....stuck with another $6000 or so because no one had insurance.

My friends wife got pissed the day she saw the bike. Would never ride on it. Bitched all the time....and to this day, she reminds him of it, and adds on the crap about having to pay off something that was wrecked.

Point it, watch out for the asking forgiveness routine as it can come back and get ya.......

 

[Jonk67]

Sound like you got one hell of a deal Jonk67!! You got a good deal!!

Thanks for all the help cutting up and loading it James, was a hot day even though it only took us ~4hrs. total.
James had some left over parts he may list in the for sale section if anyones looking for misc. 68 stuff.
Jon

 

[jrherald420]

Im just happy its still going to "live" in a different way. If anybody is looking for a cheap cordless set go with a Porter Cable 4pc 18v combo for 160.00 at Lowes!!! Almost cut the whole car in half with one battery!!!! I will be listing a few parts on here before they go on Ebay. Oh and i found the caps you were wanting, the reason i couldnt find them is because they were sealed up in a box in my spare bedroom insted of my storage unit so send me your address and ill get them in the mail for you.

 

[Jonk67]

SUCCESS!

I hope ya'll put some :$$$ on me making it, pics say it all:
5 a.m. head out after 4hrs. sleep from driving 6+hrs. back from work assignment, this tilt trailer has moved more stuff than I can remember, loaded most heavy things by myself using the tilt and wench, it used to be a boat trailer and is galvenized:

Cut the car in half just behind the front seats, took 3 lennox metal blades as suggested, cut through both rockers, 1 w/s post and got 3/4 through the 2nd before I had to change batteries on the porter cable 18V sawsall. 2nd battery cut through, then the floor and a couple of the rear end u bolts then I switched to ratchets. Rockers aren't as thick as I thought they'd be. Starting at ~8:30am, had the car apart by 9:30a and loaded to the JY at 9:40am:

Front clip weighed 600lbs and paid $59, I gave it to the seller for some more parts

Next part was to strip the rear clip of everything I wouldn't need (rear, gas tank, etc.) took the longest and put us past noon so the seller offered to take all that during the week when they were buying again. I got the rear spring shackles loose, removed the Ubolts, removed one tire and slid the axle out. I'll just take the springs off at home as I didn't have the energy to fight the front bolts, didn't bring enough water and was getting dehydrated. Tilted the trailer and cranked it on, strap down and ready to roll in ~4 hours start to finish:

Had a couple inches clearance before the tires would hit the fenders on the trailer, have to weigh it at some point to see how much it weighs. Compared to the pic of the front clip on there looks like it's ~100lbs. lighter. If I coulda' got the springs off it would have sat nice and flat over the fenders in the wheel wells:

Trip home was uneventful, stopped at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green to snap a couple pics to drive the corvette forums nuts, back home safe and hid behind the shed, will add a tarp:

Cut frame pics for reference:

I made it home ~3pm put the trailer in the yard, showered and hit the bed exhausted, slept from ~5pm til 9a the next morning...nothing caught on fire, no one died, I got a little heat exhaustion and a couple scratches on my wrist the wife noticed but survived despite the morbid predictions. I would do it this way again rather than drag home a full shell which would have been heavier (there are a lot of steep long hills in KY and TN and my Escape is V6) and more prone to swerve or brake loose, the car was hard to roll as some of the drums were stuck, something I never even thought of with a car that's not been maintenanced so thank goodness I didn't try that route.
Now it will sit until my car is done but at least it's there.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions you guys gave bj
Jon

 

[AzPete]

Glad you made it and all is well. Now, continue the story when the wife sees what you brought home....

You could do a bit of trimming and just drop the body down on that trailer and be done..... :lol

 

[jrherald420]

I have to say when you pulled up with that trailer i thought " this is going to be one sh*tty day"!!! LOL....That little tilt trailer made things ALOT easyer loading and unloading. Im kinda sad seeing my dream cut up and hauled off but it needed way too much work.