Mechanical Parts Farming Guide

Mechanical Parts are the bottleneck resource for vehicles, electric tools, and most workbench-tier crafting in mid-game 7 Days to Die. Since Alpha 20+ you cannot craft them — you can only loot or salvage. This guide covers the highest-yield routes.

Salvage With a Wrench

Salvaging gives the highest yield per minute. Equip a Wrench (or upgraded Ratchet/Impact Driver) and target metallic objects:

Source	Approx Yield	Where to find
Engine (scrap a full engine)	~30 parts	Wrecked vehicles in junk yards, garages
Air Conditioner	5–10	Rooftops, residential POIs
Gas Station Pumps	3–6	Gas stations
Office Chairs & File Cabinets	1–3 each, abundant	Office buildings, plentiful
Reinforced Drawbridges	5–10	Castle/military POIs
Shopping Carts	2–4	Shoppy supermarket parking lots
Ovens, Safes, Metal Doors	3–8	Houses, apartments
Sedans / wrecked cars	10–20	Roads, parking lots, junk yards

Best POI Loot Routes

Junk Yards

Highest concentration of wrecked vehicles in one place. A single junk-yard run with a wrench can yield 200–500 mechanical parts in 20 minutes.

Parking Garages

Multi-floor structures stacked with wrecked cars + occasional vending machines + safes. Lower zombie pressure than industrial POIs.

Gas Stations

Gas pumps, ovens (in attached convenience stores), wrecked cars in the lot, and the occasional toolbox or working stiff crate inside.

Factories & Construction Sites

Best late-game source: high concentration of destroyed workstations, toolboxes, broken-down machinery, plus the occasional Mo Power Crate. Bring backup; zombie density is high.

Container Loot

If you don't want to salvage, mechanical parts spawn in:

• Toolboxes — common in garages, basements, repair shops.
• Mo Power Crates — the orange utility crates found in factories.
• Working Stiff Crates — the green crates with the worker silhouette.
• Destroyed Workbenches — salvage with a wrench for guaranteed parts.
• Shelves and storage racks — lower yield, but sometimes worth a quick check.

Tool Tier Matters

The salvaging tool you use changes both speed and yield:

Tool	Salvage Yield Modifier	Speed
Wrench	1.0× (baseline)	Slow
Ratchet	1.5×	Medium
Impact Driver	2.0×+	Fast

Get an Impact Driver as soon as you can craft or loot one. Salvaging a junk yard with an Impact Driver doubles your hourly yield vs a stone-tier wrench.

Salvage Operations Perk

Each rank of Salvage Operations (under the Strength attribute) adds:

• +5 to +50% extra yield (rank 1 to rank 5)
• Faster salvage animation per rank
• Rank 4 unlocks the Impact Driver recipe
• Rank 5 caps out the multiplier and unlocks max-tier quality drops

If you're running a vehicle-heavy or industrial-perk build, max this perk before Day 14.

What Mechanical Parts Are Used For

You'll need them constantly. Major sinks:

• Vehicles: Bicycle (10), Minibike (50), Motorcycle (100), 4x4 Truck (150), Gyrocopter (200)
• Electrical Tools: Auger, Chainsaw, Impact Driver
• Workstations: Workbench (15), Solar Bank (heavy)
• Trader Quests: Tier 4–5 quests often request 50–200 parts as a turn-in

Pro Tips

• Always carry a wrench. Even on a meat run, salvage opportunities pop up.
• Save engines for trader quests. Some quests pay better than scrapping.
• Office chairs are infinite. Office buildings respawn looter-style on most map presets — revisit them.
• Stockpile before Day 14. Mid-game vehicle and Auger demand spikes hard.

Stop running out of parts. Host a 7 Days to Die server with the team behind this wiki and run a long-form campaign without lag.