Stupid car part leads to Lead Score

[metricmonkeywrench]

My best gals wheels started acting up with the cold weather throwing some codes for a faulty thermostat. What was supposed to be a “quick” Sunday job turned south when I snapped off the cap/retainer portion of the drain plug on installation. As this is Mama’s ride “creative maintenance” fixes are not authorized. The local alphabet parts places were of no use as this style is a dealer only part. After the inevitable “I need my car, I have stuff to do” discussion I set out the next morning (Monday) to locate a replacement plug. The 2 local dealers had none in stock and could order them. The local Pick-A Part close to work on a lunchtime trip and a $2 entry fee yielded a pristine drain plug from taco’d radiator from the only correct model car on the yard that still had a front end. The nice lady at the cashier laughed at what I had brought to the checkout window and told me no charge.

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On the way out I passed the tire shed and enquired as to what they did with their old wheel weights. The first feller didn’t quite understand what I wanted and pointed to the pile of scrap rims and said pull all you want, his coworker overheard and led me back into the container/workshop and showed me a busted up homer bucket overflowing with wheel weights next to the balance machine. A quick discussion with the boss about wanting them for fishing weights and $10 later the 2 great workers strained a bit and lifted and dumped the bucket into the back of the truck after watching me cart over up several handfuls by hand. About halfway thru the dump their wheel weight tool flopped out for that “is that where they went” moment. I left my contact info and the second feller also mentioned that they fill the bucket about once a month and generally just dump them in the trash. Guess they will now be on the rotation for occasionally stopping by, I may even buy them a new bucket to further the cause.

The priority was successfully getting the Best Girls wheels operational again. So for now I have a heap of weights, valve stems, lugnuts and who knows what else in the bed of the truck. I’m half tempted to leave them there for winter weight in the back of the truck behind the wheels but know I just cant leave them alone for long.

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[TyGuy]

Might not be a bad idea to let the rain and snow clean them up a bit. Plus cigarette butts and stick on weight backer paper may get blown out while you drive.

I’ve thought about pouring a big zinc block with handles cast into it to put into the back of the truck during cold hard sky water times. May be a good use for all my culled zinc weights.

Congrats on the successful repair and the bonus WW find!

[lightman]

Nice score! It pays to keep your eyes open.

[skeettx]

Did you get the car fixed??

[Mytmousemalibu]

Looks exactly like the drain and bleeder screws that BMW uses minus the clog pick on it.

[metricmonkeywrench]

Whoops… did leave a couple bits out to complete the tale, the car is a second gen Dodge Journey and that evening I figuratively threw some bacon on a biscuit and finished the job so that Mama was mobile once again. I did have cool points deducted for taking 2 days for a “guick” easy repair.

[MrWolf]

Nice job, especially noticing the wheel weights and asking about them. Stock up while you can. I have about 2,000 lbs smelted. At my age and with my back and getting my home range finished should be my lifetime amount. Hopefully. Good luck.
Ron

[fixit]

The pick a part near me thinks their wheel weights are gold plated. I once asked about a bucket of w W's and was told 90$.....not going to happen! Other options are utilized, consequently.

[45_Colt]

As for the lead WW's, get 'em while you can. Lead is being phased out for steel and zinc WW's. I have a couple of older cars that I do all of the maintenance on myself. Couldn't find lead stick on weights anywhere...

[TyGuy]

As for the lead WW's, get 'em while you can. Lead is being phased out for steel and zinc WW's. I have a couple of older cars that I do all of the maintenance on myself. Couldn't find lead stick on weights anywhere...

Depends on where you are located. Some states have outright banned lead whee weights. Our shop has been running zinc and steel weights for the last 15 years but we recently switched our stick on weights to lead. I had seen them in the catalogs in the parts department in the past but we never ordered them. Not sure why the switch now but it makes me happy.

[Eddie Southgate]

I been thinking about molding some bullets from zinc . It cast just about like lead just makes some lighter bullets . Free or cheap lead goes away some nice zinc bullets might look pretty good .

[JeepsAndGuns]

I too recently scored some free wheel weights from a local store. The place I work at uses a local tire store for all our tire work. I told the guy that takes the stuff to the tire store to ask what they do with the old weights and see if he can get some if they throw them away.
He came back with a 5 gal bucket, but it was only 1/8 full, maybe 15-20 pounds.
I sorted through them using a pair of wire cutters to cull out the non lead. About 90% of what I got was lead. All but a couple of the stick on weights were either steel or zinc. There was also some plastic clip on weights. Did not even know they made those. Then some clip on zinc and steel.
Hoping to get them melted down here in the next week or two.

[TyGuy]

I too recently scored some free wheel weights from a local store. The place I work at uses a local tire store for all our tire work. I told the guy that takes the stuff to the tire store to ask what they do with the old weights and see if he can get some if they throw them away.
He came back with a 5 gal bucket, but it was only 1/8 full, maybe 15-20 pounds.
I sorted through them using a pair of wire cutters to cull out the non lead. About 90% of what I got was lead. All but a couple of the stick on weights were either steel or zinc. There was also some plastic clip on weights. Did not even know they made those. Then some clip on zinc and steel.
Hoping to get them melted down here in the next week or two.

Those plastic ones usually have steel under the plastic coating. I wonder if the plastic is to protect the finish of the wheel or keep the steel weight from rusting. Either way, they all go in the scrap metal bucket.

Sounds like a solid score for you! Congrats

[JeepsAndGuns]

Those plastic ones usually have steel under the plastic coating. I wonder if the plastic is to protect the finish of the wheel or keep the steel weight from rusting. Either way, they all go in the scrap metal bucket.

Sounds like a solid score for you! Congrats

Probably a little of both, and probably a little for looks as well.
I need to stop by a couple other tire stores and see if I can score any more.

[metricmonkeywrench]

Small update, Mamas car is running just fine and the heater is really kickin out the btu’s just in time for winter

Initial sorting is finally done, took a couple days to pick thru. I don’t have a scale so I can’t get an official weight. It looks like about a 45/55 split of lead to other weights and about 3lbs or so of SOWW. Also pulled a 3/8 4in Craftsman extension, a decent #2 screwdriver and a 2 sided lug nut socket (which I will likely return on the next trip) from the pile.

The next goal before I get to smelting is to take the scrap bucket to the recycler and see if they will buy it, otherwise it’s off to the scrap metal bin at the landfill.

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[lightman]

You did pretty good. I feel lucky that I'm still seeing 55-60% lead around here. Many report seeing much less than either you or I are seeing.

[TyGuy]

Looks like a win to me! It’s such a good feeling and even better when it’s finished and you can admire your stack of shiny new ingots that you made from that filthy junk. I find that so gratifying.

[Smoke4320]

Take the shop a dozen doughnuts as a thank you.
Then every time you go back to pickup weights bring them some more
You will not believe the payoff you will get in return.

[JoeJames]

You did pretty good. I feel lucky that I'm still seeing 55-60% lead around here. Many report seeing much less than either you or I are seeing.

I have been getting mine for free from a local farmer's tire shop. A 6 gallon bucket at a time. Since they primarily do farm trucks, I think it is running @ 80% lead.

[wmitty]

Metric…. You BINGOED! Congratulations on the W W and on getting her vehicle back on the road, even if it took two days!

[metricmonkeywrench]

Update #2 Got some time this afternoon and swung by the local scrapyard on my way home. According to the scale minus bucket weight I got back a whopping $6 and change for the 77lbs of “dirty lead” at .08c a pound. To make it even better the scrapyard guy gave me 2 newer buckets so he wouldn’t have to dump that one out.

[John Boy]

Word must have travelled fast about WW’s. When Was scrounging and we are talking hundreds of pounds, price was a Thank You 6 pack of beer. Then I moved over to sheet lead at recyclers for 60 cents a lb of pure lead