So a few weeks ago I started parting out an old Excursion 200 inch stretch limo that I've owned for a little over 10 years.
Sold the engine in the rear hatch and some other parts and in the midst of stripping things off and listing some parts on eBay and selling some locally.
I was going to just pull it with a strap or Bumper to Bumper push it to the salvage yard like I did when it blew an engine back in 2014 but I thought there was another option...
It's already been cut in half once when they stretched it so why not cut it in half again?
It's 36 ft long overall and I've determined that if I make 3 cuts I can put it in the back of a pickup truck one fourth of it at a time and carry it off for scrap metal.
I have to admit I would prefer to see the look on their faces when you pull it in and put it on the scale to weigh it at the scrap yard but it's not the first limo that we've actually junked so this will be the first time we've cut one in half ourselves.
I did a little bit of reading up on metal cutting Sawzall blades and end up buying the Diablo which is about $13 for the nine inch long blade.
I very well might get the entire job finished on the one blade.
I've seen videos of them cutting brand new cars in half and they usually do use just a reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade. I guess they have a lot of practice so I can keep the line pretty straight I guess they can grind it off to even out later too. I do have a hard problem following a straight line unless I'm walking at toe-to-toe and saying the alphabet backwards I do it. I'm a master at that.
But since this is just to get the metal cut in half it doesn't matter how crooked the line is. It goes amazingly fast! You can cut through the entire roof from door to door in about 2 minutes.
The floor takes a little longer as you have to pull the carpet up and find a better spot to cut so you're not coming through as many layers of sheet metal. Then when you get to the frame you have to raise the blade up and flatten it out so you're not touch the flame and just cutting through the floor pan which is about an inch and a half off the frame anyways. I'm saving the frame cuts for last.
Sold the engine in the rear hatch and some other parts and in the midst of stripping things off and listing some parts on eBay and selling some locally.
I was going to just pull it with a strap or Bumper to Bumper push it to the salvage yard like I did when it blew an engine back in 2014 but I thought there was another option...
It's already been cut in half once when they stretched it so why not cut it in half again?
It's 36 ft long overall and I've determined that if I make 3 cuts I can put it in the back of a pickup truck one fourth of it at a time and carry it off for scrap metal.
I have to admit I would prefer to see the look on their faces when you pull it in and put it on the scale to weigh it at the scrap yard but it's not the first limo that we've actually junked so this will be the first time we've cut one in half ourselves.
I did a little bit of reading up on metal cutting Sawzall blades and end up buying the Diablo which is about $13 for the nine inch long blade.
I very well might get the entire job finished on the one blade.
I've seen videos of them cutting brand new cars in half and they usually do use just a reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade. I guess they have a lot of practice so I can keep the line pretty straight I guess they can grind it off to even out later too. I do have a hard problem following a straight line unless I'm walking at toe-to-toe and saying the alphabet backwards I do it. I'm a master at that.
But since this is just to get the metal cut in half it doesn't matter how crooked the line is. It goes amazingly fast! You can cut through the entire roof from door to door in about 2 minutes.
The floor takes a little longer as you have to pull the carpet up and find a better spot to cut so you're not coming through as many layers of sheet metal. Then when you get to the frame you have to raise the blade up and flatten it out so you're not touch the flame and just cutting through the floor pan which is about an inch and a half off the frame anyways. I'm saving the frame cuts for last.