Every build in the game needs gears at one time or another. Over the life of a character, you’re going to need a metric-crapton. This guide will show you all the best ways and places to get all the gears your heart desires.
The best way to get a lot of gears is to farm Deathclaws at the following guaranteed spawn locations:
- Abandoned Waste Dump
- Deathclaw Island
- Hopewell Cave
- Archery Set
- Thunder Mountain Substation TM-02
You can server hop any of these locations, and each Deathclaw drops four to eight gears.
As with everything in Fallout 76, there are multiple ways to accomplish any task. In the case of farming gears, there are precisely four ways to acquire vast amounts of them:
- Scrap Items That Contain Gears
- Farm Mole Miners for Miner Suit Scrap
- Farm Deathclaws For Gears
- Purchase Gears From NPC Vendors or Players
We’re going to cover each of these in much greater detail below. By the end, you’ll know all there is to know about how to get gears in Fallout 76.
Scrap Items That Contain Gears
Fallout 76 is full of junk that you can pick-up. You can then take that junk and scrap it down to its component pieces at a workbench. Scrapping items that contain gears is a great way to keep a stable supply of them coming into your inventory.
Items That Give You Gears in Fallout 76
The first thing you need to know to make this effective is which items are best to go after. I’ve got a list below of all the things that provide you gears at a workbench.
| Item Name | Value | Gear Yield | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjustable Wrench | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Bone Cutter | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Broken ProSnap Camera | 33 | 1 | 4 |
| Bulk Gears | 80 | 10 | 1 |
| Camera | 11 | 1 | 3 |
| Carlisle Typewriter | 24 | 2 | 5 |
| Chez Vivi Typewriter | 20 | 2 | 5 |
| Desk Fan | 14 | 1 | 3 |
| Fishing Rod | 10 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Giddyup Buttercup | 35 | 2 | 8 |
| Giddyup Buttercup Back Legs | 69 | 2 | 1 |
| Giddyup ButtercupFront Legs | 69 | 2 | 1 |
| Gold Pocket Watch | 25 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Grey & Gould Pocket Watch | 25 | 1 | 0.5 |
| High-Powered Microscope | 29 | 1 | 5 |
| Loose Gears | 0 | 1 | 0.1 |
| Microscope | 18 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Miner Suit Scrap | 11 | 1 | 0.6 |
| Office Desk Fan | 1 | 1 | 2.5 |
| ProSnap Camera | 30 | 4 | 3 |
| Restored Desk Fan | 8 | 2 | 3 |
| Silver Pocket Watch | 24 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Typewriter | 12 | 2 | 4 |
| Undamaged Camera | 18 | 2 | 3 |
Best Locations For Farming Gears
You’ll find these items all over Appalachia. Most of them are common. To really make this work though you want to find places that have a lot of the items on our list close together.
Below I’ve gathered a list of locations that fit that bill. I’ll show you how to run each site to be efficient.
Sugar Grove
Sugar Grove is right on the border between the Mire and the Savage Divide. You’ll find it northeast of the National Isolated Radio Array.
This location is a favorite for anyone needing gears, springs, and screws as it is abundant in all three. If you’re looking only for gears, focus on the desk fans in the main office area. There will also be a couple more in the server room. Make sure to hit the toolboxes along the way as they commonly have adjustable wrenches that give you gears as well.
- 9 Office Desk Fans (1 Gear Each)
- 1 Desk Fan (1 Gear)
- 1 – 3 Adjustable Wrenches (1 Gear Each)
Abandoned Bog Town
The Abandoned Bog Town is a claimable workshop just to the west of Pylon V-13 in the Cranberry Bog. Look northeast from Watoga right on Highway 65.
When you arrive, find the scaffolding that spans the street and climb into the second level of the building nearby. Pass-through the hole in the far side and climb to the roof. There will be an elevator shaft that you can drop down into the gear motherlode.
This small office area has tons of typewriters and some desk fans. You should end up with over twenty gears on a full spawn.
- 1 Desk Fan (1 Gear)
- 2 Office Desk Fans (1 Gear each)
- 9 Typewriters (2 Gears each)
Charleston Herald
The Charleston Herald is in the northern part of Charleston. You’ll find it south of the Charleston Station and northeast of the AVR Medical Center.
This spot is quick and easy. Just enter the lower level of the building and find the ruined display case, and inside are a standard typewriter as well as a Carlisle Typewriter. Not a huge haul, but it’s four gears super quick, and it’s also close to our next location.
- 1 Carlisle Typewriter (2 Gears)
- 1 Typewriter (2 Gears)
Charleston Capitol Building
I recommend running here from the Charleston Herald and getting the two typewriters there first. The capitol building is southeast of the Charleston Herald building. You’ll want to enter through the Department of Motor Vehicles entrance.
This location, much like the Abandoned Bog Town, is loaded with typewriters. They are, unfortunately, a little more spread out and protected by a lot of ghouls. You’re going to hit all of the small offices along the way. There is one room in particular at the top of the makeshift stairs formed out of a destroyed ceiling that houses four in one small place.
Be careful in here as the ghouls tend to gang up on you.
- 9 Typewriters (2 Gears each)
- 2 Office Desk Fans (1 Gear each)
- 1 Camera (1 Gear)
National Radio Astronomy Research Center
This spot mentioned earlier is to the southwest of the Sugar Grove in the Savage Divide. It’s straightforward to spot on the map. Just look for the giant telescope, and it’s right there.
Once inside, Scorched form the welcome wagon that will greet. You will have no trouble dispatching these low-level enemies. The layout is simple. There is a central “courtyard” office area with two floors of balconies surrounding the main floor.
Make sure to hit the main floor first. Most of the desk fans and typewriters are there. Then make your way up and around the second and third floors for the rest.
- 1 Broken Camera (1 Gear)
- 7 Desk Fans (1 Gear each)
- 4 Typewriters (2 Gears each)
Farm Mole Miners for Miner Suit Scrap
Mole Miners are an excellent source of gears, but not in the sense that killing them will drop gears as Deathclaws do. Mole Miners carry Miner Suit Scrap that when taken to a workbench and scrapped, will yield one gear (and one black titanium) each.
Note that they don’t always have Miner Suit Scrap. So it’s not a one to one ratio, but they’ll have it often enough to make it worth your time. The following locations are guaranteed to spawn Mole Miners in large enough numbers to make farming them worthwhile.
Blackwater Mine
The Blackwater Mine is directly east of the Whitespring Station in the Savage Divide region of the map.
Mole Miners are the primary inhabitants here. There will be several protecting the outside and many more located within. Throughout the entire area, there will be toolboxes and other loot containers that could yield adjustable wrenches and other items that will give you gears.
From the Mole Miners themselves, you should be able to reap ten to fifteen gears worth of Miner Suit Scrap from a whole run, not including what you may have looted from containers.
If you see an event pop up on your screen called Uranium Fever, I suggest you complete it as well. This event brings wave after wave of Mole Miners and will get you a lot of Miner Suit Scrap.
Mount Blair
Mount Blair is located smack dab in the middle of the Ash Heap. It is literally the giant excavator on the map. This workshop is home to a bunch of Mole Miners.
Starting from the ground floor, work your way up the outside of the excavator. You’ll run into Mole Miners along the way as you head ever higher. It’s not a bad idea to search the areas and building surrounding Mount Blair too, as they often spawn Mole Miners.
Welch
In the far southwest corner of the map lies the town of Welch. It is another hotbed of Mole Miner activity. It’s right next to the aptly named Welch Station.
Throughout the small houses and buildings that dot the landscape of Welch, you’ll find Mole Miners and their precious Miner Suit Scrap. Once you’re down among the houses, you’re more likely to hear them before you see them, so make sure to keep an ear out.
Farm Deathclaws for Gears
It seems odd that seeking out such a dangerous creature to acquire something as simple as gears would be as effective as it is. The truth of the matter is that Deathclaws drop between four and eight loose gears each, and there are several locations that they are guaranteed to spawn. Add to that the fact that you can server hop to farm them almost infinitely, and you’ve got an excellent recipe for amassing a large number of gears in a short amount of time.
Such a great thing is farming Deathclaws that I’ve written another guide specifically on this topic. Clicking the following link will take you to my guide.
Fallout 76 Deathclaw Locations: A Detailed Farming Guide
I’ll re-hash some of that information below, but make sure to check out my guide as it goes into much more detail.
Deathclaw Island
Daethclaw Island is on the west side of the map near the Tyler Country Fairground. A level twenty-one Deathclaw always spawns here. Helpful for lower-level characters.
Abandoned Waste Dump
The Abandoned Waste Dump is my favorite Deathclaw spawn since it is the only guaranteed spawn with two Deathclaws. They’re close together in the cave, but can be fought separately.
Hopewell Cave
Now probably my least favorite location. You have to get close to this one to make him spawn. He also pops as a level ninety-one Deathclaw. A couple of good whacks and you could be in trouble if your build isn’t up to snuff.
Archery Set
Archery Set is an unmarked location near the Top of the World. The Deathclaw that spawns here is always level twenty-one, so it is another excellent option for low-level characters.
Thunder Mountain Substation TM-02
Thunder Mountain Substation has a level 91 Deathclaw every time. Be aware that when he spawns, he will almost always be fighting a group of insects or other creatures. If he isn’t, then he probably already finished them off.
Purchase Gears From Vendors or Players
When all else fails, and you need gears now. Buy them. There are several vendors all over the map where you can purchase Bulk Gears. Each set of Bulk Gears breaks down into ten loose gears.
Here are some locations that you can find vendors:
- Flatwoods
- Morgantown
- Train Stations
- Whitespring Resort
You could fast travel around the map and hit all these vendors if you needed to amass a lot of gears quickly as most if not all of them will have Bulk Gears for sale.
There is one last option for buying gears. Players might also have gears for sale at their camps. It might be worth fast traveling around to player camps to check on what they have available as well.
