Guide: How To Farm Fallout 4 Gears

An Important Mechanical Component.

Fallout 4’s gears are a critical component used in creating some of the most useful items in the entire game. They are essential for crafting weapons and Automatron mods and for defensive contraptions for your settlements, like turrets and traps, among other things. If players have the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC installed, a whole new set of structures requiring this resource is also introduced into the game.

Key Highlights

  • Like many other essential items in Fallout 4, such as oil and adhesives, gears are also used for crafting.
  • One of the most efficient ways to gain gear is by using the Scraper perk, which lets you gain gear when dismantling junk.
  • The junk items that provide the most gear units are:
    • ProSnap Camera, Typewriter, Gold Watch, Giddyup Buttercup, Camera, and microscope.
  • You can also farm gear by going to certain locations on the map, such as:
    • Vault 75, Vault 85, Yangtze-31, The Prydwen, Park Street Station, Greentech Genetics, and Wilson Atomatoys Factory.
  • Gears in Fallout 4 lets you craft items that greatly increase the quality of gameplay, such as weapons and automation mods.

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Gears In Fallout 4

Unlike resources like Fallout 4 Oil, however, Gears are significantly easier to come across. You probably won’t ever find yourself swimming in them, but you also won’t have to waste a lot of time farming for them either. If you’re playing the game regularly and picking up Junk as you go along, you should probably be okay.

But on the off chance that you are short this guide, we’ll show you the most effective ways of acquiring this component.

Fallout 4 Gears
Gears.

The first thing players have to do is invest at least a single point into the Scraper perk. This allows you to gain uncommon items like screws and Gears from the Junk items that you dismantle. Breaking down items without this perk will not yield the component; you’ll simply be wasting them.

If you meet the requirements to unlock the third level of this buff, we highly suggest that you go ahead and take it since the yields will be doubled because of this upgrade. This will, in turn significantly reduce the time you spend farming for items.

Now with the preparations out of the way, let’s move on to all of the items that contain Gears.

How To Find Gears

Fallout 4 Gears
Gears In Your Workshop.

Every junk item listed below will yield gears when it is broken down. The amount you’ll get varies from item to item, and many of them will also contain other valuable components like Adhesive or Aluminum.

Even if you’re unsure if an item contains the particular component you’re looking for, loot it anyway in case. You can never have too many of any one resource.

Item Name

Yield

Adjustable Wrench 1 Unit
Antique Pocket Watch 2 Units
Camera 2 Units
Desk Fan 2 Units
Fishing Rod 2 Units
Giddyup Buttercup 3 Units
Giddyup Buttercup Back Leg 2 Units
Giddyup Buttercup Front Leg 2 Units
Gold Watch 2 Units
Microscope 2 Units
Office Desk Fan 2 Units
ProSnap Camera 4 Units
Restored Desk Fan 2 Units
Silver Pocket Watch 2 Units
Typewriter 3 Units
Undamaged Camera 2 Unit

And that about does it for all of the items in the game that have Gears.

Now let’s take a look at some significant farming spots in the game.

Gears Farming Locations

Fallout 4 Gears
Adjustable Wrench.

Most items mentioned in the table above can randomly be found while exploring the world. The chances are that you might get lucky and come across a bunch of them while doing a main or a side quest as well, so always keep a sharp eye on your surroundings.

But if you don’t want to leave it all up to luck, there are a handful of areas where many junk items can be found altogether. We’ll try and mostly list those locations where players will get the maximum amount of items possible. Also, keep in mind that we’re not accounting for distance here, so players may have to travel for a long time to reach their destinations.

Location

Details

Greenetech Genetics The Greenetech Genetics building is located to the south of the Cambridge Crater. There are five cameras inside.
Medford Memorial Hospital The Medford Memorial Hospital is located to the south of Dark Hollow Pond. Nine Microscopes can be found in the building.
Park Street Station This is an underground location in Downtown Boston, and you’ll come here as part of the ‘Unlikely Valentine’ main quest. A whopping eleven Adjustable Wrenches can be found scattered around here.
Parsons State Insane Asylum Directly north of The Slog, players will find the Parsons State Insane Asylum. A total of nine Desk Fans are scattered around the various buildings of this location.
The Prydwen The Prydwen Flagship will appear as you work your way through the Brotherhood of Steel questline. Nine more Desk Fans can be found on it.
Vault 75 Vault 75 is located southwest of Greentop Nursery. Ten Desk Fans can be located inside.
Vault 81 To the southeast of Forest Grove Marsh, players will find Vault 81. There are nine different microscopes inside.
Wilson Atomatoys Corporate HQ An incredible fourteen Giddyup Buttercups can be found in this building. You can reach this location by going east from Diamond City.
Wilson Atomatoys Factory Seven more Giddyup Buttercups can be found in this factory. This is located southwest of the Quincy Police Station.
Yangtze-31 Ten Adjustable Wrenches can be taken from the Yangtze submarine off the east coast of the Boston Commonwealth.

If some players do not want to go through the trouble of exploring all of these locations for gears, they can also purchase the resource directly through different vendors in the game. There aren’t a whole lot of them though, and their inventory is minimal.

Gears are sold in shipments of 25 units that each cost around 450 Caps. This is quite a hefty sum for new players, but those in the late game should not have any trouble with this amount. Either way, you’re looking for the following NPCs:

  • Arturo Rodriguez – This character is found in the Diamond City market. He’s the owner of the shop named Commonwealth Weaponry.
  • Cricket – A roaming merchant that travels through a variety of different locations. Players are most likely to find her in Diamond City, Warwick Homestead or Vault 81.
  • Rufus Rubins – You can find this NPC in the town of Goodneighbor, which coincidentally is also where you first encounter the companion Hancock. He can be found living at the Hotel Rexford.
  • Isabel Cruz – Isabel is a major character in the Automatron DLC. If the player spares her, she will sell Gears to them.
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Huzaifa is eXputer's Review Editor, who’s all about RPG games. He’s got several years of experience critically judging games and writing his unbiased thoughts on them. You can also find his content published on sites like Twinfinite & GearNuke. Huzaifa has been gaming for 23+ years, during which he managed to amass 400+ hours on Elden Ring! You can follow his gaming activity on his Xbox and Steam Profiles.

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