Well, generally speaking you'll do better with this outside of New Jersey, that's for sure -- as I posted in the 98 Rodeo tail light thread, NJ junkyards tend to be piles upon piles of cars and trucks, no rhyme or reason to anything, all on top of 5 feet of mud. You have to trudge through it all, and usually when you find the part you need, it's either broken or there's another car on top of it and you can't get to it.

Best pick-and-pull I've been to was somewhere in Westchester County, NY, IIRC, but even that wasn't terribly well organized. At least they had all the 4x4's in one area, anyway, instead of randomly all over the place. Plus most of the vehicles weren't double-stacked, so at least I didn't have to jack up cars off the top of what I needed....

I've heard great stories about pick-n-pull yards elsewhere tho. Cars and trucks propped up with two tires under each wheel so you can get underneath without a jack, gravel drainage beds underneath them so you can lay there and not be in 5 feet of mud, etc, etc... But not in Jersey that I've found, that's for sure.

Usually if and when I go (I try not to unless I REALLY need it) I go once to locate the part I need, and a second time to actually get it. This is mostly because you can usually get the parts you need with basic hand tools, but sometimes it takes specialty tools to get to them -- like, for instance, a high-lift jack to get the car on top of what you need off of there.... Kinda stinks really. Worst part about it is, the places I go to aren't even true pick-n-pulls -- usually if you're doing all the work anyway, they charge you pennies on the dollar... But where I go, I go through all that drama to get the parts I need, then they charge me as if THEY did all the work! Bastards! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Nonetheless, when I really need it, it's a much better option than paying dealer retail...

-Chris