Wheel weight cost

[Rando]

I'm going to the junkyard this weekend to pick up a load of wheel weights (my first!). What seems to be the going rate for a 5-gallon bucketfull? I don't know what is a reasonable amount to pay. If it's too much it won't be worth my time and trouble. I know I can get it from Midway for about $2.65/lb shipped. I'm hoping for a whole lot less, but don't even know what to expect.

Also, if I toss the entire weight into the pot, do the clips melt? I'll be using a smaller Lee electric pot.

Thanks.

[bradh]

Clips are lighter and will float....I pick them out with a long nosed pliers, let cool
and throw away.

[targetshootr]

At $2.65 per lb that's $265 for a bucketful. Mine are usually free but I don't mind paying $10 or $15 for a full bucket when they ask.

[wills]

Looks like lead is about seventy three cents per pound as a commodity. Even considering retail prices, 2.60 seems high.
http://www.metalprices.com

[Lawyerman]

$2.65 shipped is an awful lot to pay for lead. I have bought wheelweights for as little as .05 a pound locally. I just bought a bunch of linotype, 4,000 pounds to be precise, for .25 a pound.

Alot of tire shops will sell it by the 5 gallon bucket. Prices vary but $20 seems kinda standard around here. If you provide beer or doughnuts the prices seems to go down considerably.

[Rando]

Don't get me wrong, I know that $2.65/lb is expensive. I was just trying to get a feel for what to reasonably expect to pay for a bucket load from the junkyard. $10, $20, $45...?

[VTDW]

Rando,

I strongly suggest you do not use your Lee pot to smelt. Get something else or you will spend LOTS and LOTS of time cleaning and attempting to make your Lee quit dripping. I use a hot plate and small cast iron pot or SS pot to smelt.

Dave

[Rando]

It's not a bottom pour.

[IcerUSA]

I get mine for 0 to $10.00 for a 5gal. bucket, check with your tire dealer and any others that are close by, I go as far as 30 miles away to get mine, worth the gas if you can pick up a couple at a time :) The Lee pot will work but will be very slow, look into something with at least an 8 quart cast iron pot and enough heat to melt a pot full inabout 30 min or so and then it will go a little faster, just did 4 buckets this week and it still took awhile to sort and smelt it all down [smilie=1: Still have to check a couple more tire dealers to the east of me, hopeing to get a route so I have lead comeing in all year , locale scrap yard here is a pain to deal with, he doesn't like to deal with people seems to me, so tire dealers are the ones to deal with for me, have one tire dealer who wants $15.00 a bucket but I can get it for less so he's out for now hehe Hope this helps a little and I'll stop rambling now, Good Luck in your search :drinks:

[Shepherd2]

I pay $0.15 a pound for wheel weights. A 5 gallon bucket will hold about 150 lbs. so that would be about $22.50 a bucket. I live in a remote area so I'm glad to get them at that price without driving 30 miles one way.

I second those that advise you not to smelt in your casting pot.

[imashooter2]

A scrap yard is going to sell by the pound and not the bucket. I bought 137 pounds of WW at a scrap yard 2 weeks ago in south east PA. Price was 30 cents a pound.

[454PB]

Since the Lee 10 pound melting pots are only about $30, I don't see anything wrong with using them for smelting small amounts. Yes, it's slow and the pot will get crud on the sides, but it's easy to clean the pot. Fill it half full of water while it's cold, then turn the thermostat up slowly and let it boil for a few minutes.

No matter what you use to smelt, you have to clean it sooner or latter.

[dakotashooter2]

At 2.65 lb your price per boollit will be getting awfully close to that of condom bullets. I get a pail for 10-15 bucks. A good time to ask is when you buy new tires or get work done.

[imashooter2]

Here in the squalid suburbs of Philly there isn't a tire shop or gas station that isn't on contract with a scrappy for all their waste metal. You guys getting buckets for $15 or less should be putting back as much as you can. The glory days are coming to an end.:(

[targetshootr]

I have the same feeling so I stow it away as long as there's a place to put it. So far there's about a ton ready to smelt but even that doesn't feel like enough.


:castmine:

[Rando]

I stopped in at about a dozen tire stores and service stations yesterday. Most of them have a contract with a recycler to buy their lead. One of them sold to Interstate Battery. I was lucky enough to have two of them that just throw them away. They agreed to save the weights for me and I gave them each a bucket. One of them had about 30 pounds on hand that they gave me. I'll go back in about a month to empty the buckets.:-D

Here's another question. I was going through the weights last night. Is there any way to identify zinc weights, or should I just be careful to keep the heat below 650? There were LOTS of weights (1/3 of them?) that had a shiny, aluminum-like surface, but when I put them on the anvil and hit them with a hammer, they felt soft, like lead weights. They may just have a coating on them. I'm not sure. They also didn't crack like I would expect a harder metal to do. (Not that I have any idea how hard zinc is.) They just deformed like lead.

Do you discard the very small weights, or toss them all in? Should I give any special treatment to the adhesive on the "stick-on" strip weights?

Thanks for all the answers thus far! I'll be looking for some cast iron for smelting.

[ANeat]

Rando as far as Zinc WW I just throw them all in and let the lead melt. All the coated ones Ive seen are all lead. Every Zinc WW Ive found has Zn on them somewhere but I cant imagine sifting thru a bucket of WW looking for them. I do find more and more here recently. I think I had 4 or 5 in the bucket full I did a couple weeks ago. When the lead ones melt and youre skimming off the clips it will be obvious.

As for the small ones heck yea, melt them to it all adds up. Some guys will seperate the tape on weights, they are usually pretty close to pure lead but myself I just melt them along with the rest. Perhaps if I had a very large % of tape on weights I might save them but I might end up with a pound or two out of a bucket full so I dont worry about it.

Adam

[OBXPilgrim]

Local scrap yard near here sells WW for .30/lb, they'll buy them for .03/lb. Most anywhere will sell them for .10/lb - if they won't give them away. Market lead prices are higher, but you have to remember that WW are lead with IMPURITIES. Never mind the fact that we would rather have those IMPURITIES (i.e. alloy). To the scrap yard, it's not pure so therefore, it shouldn't cost as much/won't bring as much as pure lead (market price).