Scrapping Forklifts & Other Industrial Equipment

Find The Best Solution For Scrapping Forklifts

People always ask us about scrapping forklifts and other industrial equipment and how they can make money scrapping or reselling them, and we decided to talk about them. Forklifts can be a hard item to scrap sometimes because they are not easy to cut up, you need to drain the fluid out of them, and you have to really put some effort into them to be able to scrap them correctly….but once you figure out how to make money with them you can be really happy while scrapping forklifts & other industrial equipment.

Scrapping Other Industrial Equipment

Larger industrial ovens, dryers, washing machines, and cutting equipment can be used for dozens of years at large commercial companies, but there comes a time when they are just scrap. We want to help you determine what to look for and how to scrap them.

Other Equipment Examples:

  • Cherry Pickers
  • Scissor Lifts
  • Off-Road Forklifts
  • Earth Moving Machines like Bulldozers
  • Cranes

What’s a Forklift’s Scrap Value?

These large pieces of equipment have one thing in common: they are heavy and worth a fair amount of money when scrapped. But there is a very important thing to think about when you talk about scrapping this equipment, and that is moving it….so let’s go over the logistics.

Moving Equipment

This is one of the harder things to do when you are looking to sell equipment. For example, when you have a piece of machinery that weighs 12,000 pounds, you generally have to hire a larger truck to move them. Larger trucks = larger costs, meaning you need bigger equipment to move these already big pieces of equipment.

Kinds of Scrap Forklifts

When working with large forklifts you will have two kinds of forklifts that you can scrap. The first kind is an electric forklift with a large battery (similar to the orange one below), and you could get a nice score this way. The electric forklift batteries will weigh anywhere from 1200-3500 pounds and can be a nice score if you can buy the whole forklift for a flat steel price.

The second type of forklift is a propane or gas forklift, which will only have smaller batteries, similar to your car or truck. The rest of the machine will have an engine, and one of the most important things about these machines is to ensure that you have the fluids drained out of them when scrapping them.

Scrapping Forklift Batteries

Forklift batteries

The steel-encased batteries will take some work to get out of the forklifts, but the dividend will come after you sell them. Ask your scrap yard if they will help you take it out beforehand, which may make it easier for you.

The engine and hydraulic oils going throughout the machine will have to be drained for most scrap yards to take them, but if you don’t have a way to drain them yourself, ask your scrap yard if they will help out or maybe take a deduction for weight off of your scale ticket.

Struggles of Scrapping Equipment

One of the biggest problems with scrapping forklifts & other industrial equipment is the hauling part of it. Many times the big machines you may find are hard to move, and because of that, you will have to figure out how to haul or cut them up…but we will leave that conversation for a different post.

These things are very heavy, and one thing that you don’t think about is the torching and cutting up of the materials. The counterweights on forklifts can only be torched, and some yards do not have that ability, so they have to send it out to other places.