JD Corporate steps up to the plate...

   / JD Corporate steps up to the plate... #1  

MotorSeven

Elite Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
4,174
Location
NE TENN (Hancock Co)
Tractor
Kioti DK40SE Hydro
I just thought I would pass this along:

My neighbor has a big cab 4wd FEL JD that he bought new in '06(65 horse I think). Along with the tractor he also purchased a JD Backhoe, JD MX7 brush hog, forks, grader blade and post hole digger. His health is not so good and he has a caretaker working full time on his spread. Anyway, the caretaker was mowing one day last fall and felt a "thump". He looked back to see the entire blade hub(Stump Jumper) w/ blades laying in the pasture(not good). Upon inspecting he found that the main shaft out of the gearbox was snapped. He called me & said that he must have hit a big rock, but could not find anything sticking out of the ground, nor did he hear a "bang". I was suprised that a big 7' hog could break that easily even though we do have a zillion rocks here and hogs do take a beating on them.

He brought the hub over to get help removing the shaft. First thing I notice is that there was a huge void in the 2" shaft right were it sheared. I'm talking a "cave" that covered 50% of the center of the shaft. You could even see little stalagmites & stalagtites in the void:laughing:. I immediatly said let's get this into the dealer & see if they will cover it.

The tractor owner had not been happy with the dealer he purchased from, so we took the parts to a different dealer-Ritchie Tractor in Knoxville. First thing the mech said when he looked at the shaft was, "what did you hit?" We explained that rocks are unavoidable variable, but the bad cast in the steel shaft casued the failure regardless of what had been hit. He didn't see too convinced, but said that the JD Rep would be in in a week or so and would take a look at it. At that point I was not very confident that JD would cover an OUT OF WARRANTY PART...they simply do not have to do so ...legally. We are talking about a 5 year old Brush Hog here, so I figured it was worth a shot since the parts alone to fix it were over $600.

Less than a week later, Ritchie called and requested the hub/stump jumper for inspection, so we brought it in to them. They were still thinking that a heavy hit or strike caused the failure and again it was pointed out that if the shaft didn't have a bad cast/void it would not have failed.

A few days went by and Ritchie called back and said that the Rep agreed that the part was defective. JD replaced the entire gear box, PTO shaft and the hub/stump jumper! Needless to say I am suprised and impressed that JD stood behind their product even when they did not have to do so. Also, Ritchie Tractor gave us great service for a machine that was not bought from them. It's just nice in this day and age to have a local business & big Corporation take care of something because it was the "right thing to do"....kudos JD & Ritchie!
 
   / JD Corporate steps up to the plate... #2  
From my experience and long-time knowledge of Deere, that is not unusual for Deere.

And you are right, they didn't have to! :)
 
   / JD Corporate steps up to the plate... #3  
You are lucky to find a John Deere dealer that will treat the customer right. Our local dealer is terrible. They do not have time for you unless you have spent a boat load of money with them in the past. Most parts have to be ordered, ect.... I bet the next time you need some new equipment you will remember your experience at that dealer. Many complaints out in the community on our dealer but I do not think they care, not one bit!!
 
   / JD Corporate steps up to the plate...
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Sweet, I won't name the dealer he purchased from(and spent about $60K), but you are right, that dealer could care less. He even had to threaten a lawsuit to get them to respond and fix easy initial warranty issues(tire going flat, hydraulic hose defective, etc). Ritchi's however has been great & I would not hesitate to do business with them.
 
 
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