Is it me?

[nasdaqsam]

Hi Gang,

It's been a while since I have last posted. In the past I received a ton of help in building some real cool things for my little BX23. I hope some where able to take advantage of some of the feed back provided through those projects. (Hydraulic Grapple, Hydraulic thumb, BH mounted rake, electric/hydraulic controls and much more). So when it came time to look for a top n tilt I came here first to see whats hot. Which brings me to me rant.

So; is it me or have company's just gotten lazy? Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't the BX a pretty common tractor? I know when I ordered most if not all the items I have needed for this tractor it is as simple as tell them what i want, give them an address and a CC number and parts just show up. While looking for a top-n-tilt I did the same. Sent an e-mail or two pretty much saying I want one, I want to order one and this is my tractor. What I get for a response is a list of needed information I have to dig up to figure out what I need. It would seem to me if I wanted to sell a product and it was as specific as a TnT I would sure know what parts are needed for what tractors. Wouldn't you? It is not that tough. Am I expecting to much here or is business so good in this area there is no need to do any research as a company?

Anyway, it's good to be back and congrats to all the cool projects I have been seeing.

Regards

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I dont think companies are being lazy when they ask for info. to make sure you get the right part the first time. If you have a quick hitch it changes the length of your top link. If they just sent you one for a BX23 and you have a quick hitch, it wouldn't have enough stroke,and you wouldn't be happy. Take the time to answer their questions or don't complain if what you get doesn't fit.

 

[nasdaqsam]

I dont think companies are being lazy when they ask for info. to make sure you get the right part the first time. If you have a quick hitch it changes the length of your top link. If they just sent you one for a BX23 and you have a quick hitch, it wouldn't have enough stroke,and you wouldn't be happy. Take the time to answer their questions or don't complain if what you get doesn't fit.

I see what your saying and would normally agree but 95% of what is being asked would be common information to which ever tractor you have. An easier way to ask this would be is your 3pt hitch stock or not? If so we need this information, if not this is what you need. They should be telling me if my hydraulics are open center or not and what ther length of my arms are. Of course as a company it's much easier to have the consumer do it and save the leg work. I have a different view of that I quess.

Regards

 

[dillo99]

I also think the tnt's are generally sold for large tractors moving large equipment so despite the popularity of the BX series, the tnt sellers probably don't deal with them a lot. I know when I bought one for B7500 it took awhile to find one that was short enough for my needs.

 

[sailnseagulls]

Good Luck finding a kit for TNT for the BX. I also looked and found nothing available. As I got further into this project I realized that I could find a toplink but that because of the short length of the side arms I would have to use a cylinder on each side if I wanted to be able to tilt both directions. I put together a list, had some help fabbing up some brackets and welding them on, and ordered the hoses. Of course, I found some things I hadn't planned on like the hose/fittings hitting the rear shroud. So now I'm back to ordering a couple new hoses a bit longer and different fittings at the end of the hose. It has been trial and error because, like stated, companies don't seem to bother with a TNT for the BX.
Maybe next for me will be the grapple..I'd like to hear how you accomplished that. Sure would be handy to have a kit already made for the BX !

Larry

 

[texbaylea]

nasdqsm
I have some questions for you. Where would a dealer go to find a tabulation of of the specifications needed to establish the correct size of top link or side link? What brands and what years should he look for?

I personally prefer to provide the necessary information and get what I need the first time and be able to put it to work. Better that than a lengthy back and forth.

Vernon

 

[nasdaqsam]

You have all brought up some good points, certainly all worthy of consideration.

Here's my point. I was at the auto parts store today getting wiper blades for my car. For a $ 9 dollar item the manufacturer of the blades has listed every possible combination of blades available for this car and every other car on the planet. Thats just blades and it changes every day as new cars are introduced. Now granted they sell a lot of blades so it is worth it for them to do this even for such a low profit. Regarding tractors. There just are not that many manufacturers or that many series that it would be anywhere near as hard to accomplish and this is not a $9 item. A TnT is going to cost $400+. Finding the info is not brain surgery here. Most if not all manufacturers have the specs available. The question of the valves may get a little tricky but it can be done. I'm in housing and sell to three different states and who knows how many different counties all of which have different ground loads, D-1 designations, specifications and requirments. When a customer comes into to me it is I that has to do the research and find out what they need. I do not ask them to come in with their counties specs and then I will help you. I could but I would lose a lot of sales to builders that would do this. Why is this one product so different?

SailnSea: On my grapple. I did this project back when no one really built kit for these tractors so it was a do it yourself project. If you look back at my older psots there is a whole thread detailing the project from start to finish. I had a lot of help from peolple here. There are a few company's around now that do build the kits for different tractors. They saw a market and picked up on it.

tex: The same place every other after market manufacturer finds their info. It's out there. It's just a question of who is finding it. Should that be up to me or the guy trying to make a sale. For my money it's their responsibility. Thats what I do for my customers. Yes it is a pain but thats the price of doing business. Look at WRLong. Call them and tell them you need an elec/hydraulic kit. Once they know what you have for a tractor all they need is a CC and your parts are on their way. I guess if your the only game in town you can afford to have the customer do all the leg work as there are not many TnT dealers around so they can get away with it. As soon as four or five others start selling them I can guarantee that attitude will change and kits will be available for each tractor or at least the most popular. I would also venture to guess that the same kit (barring the connections) would work for most size tractors in that catagory. Example: The same TnT hydraulic cylinders are probably going to work for my Bx as well as the Massey sub-cut and JD sub-cut. I could be wrong but I doubt it. Most of these manufacturers follow a fixed set of specs when it comes to 3 pt hitches.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

My local auto parts store has a sign that reads "if you want to guess at the model and year we will be happy to guess at the parts". What I am getting at is if you take the measurements they ask for it decreases the chance of a wrong part. Some times manufactures make changes as they go. All BX 23's might not be the sam even if they are the same year. When I bought my tractor I was told the lift arms had been changed and the new ones were 2" longer. If I didn't know this it would cause a problem if I ordered a TNT for a standard 1900. At work every time I order parts for a truck I have to give them the vin #.

 

[Tractors4u]

Here's my point. I was at the auto parts store today getting wiper blades for my car. For a $ 9 dollar item the manufacturer of the blades has listed every possible combination of blades available for this car and every other car on the planet.

But wiper blades are very simple. One blade can fit a multitude of vehicles and they are only $9. With TnTs were are talking about an item that costs a few hundred dollars. if I were building a TnT for the John Deere 4X10 series it would be easy. The 4210, 4310, and 4410 are all build on the same chassis and all have the same dimensions. It would be easy to go out and spec a TnT for those, but honestly there are too many tractors in various shapes and sizes to be able to go out and measure every one of them and hope you have X number of customers buy a TnT to cover your R&D for the product. If I were in the TnT business I wouldn't consider many people buying TnTs for the sub compacts and it would be towards the bottom of my list.

Actually it is a good thing that they want specs from you. It keeps you from worrying if they have the correct information.

 

[nasdaqsam]

My local auto parts store has a sign that reads "if you want to guess at the model and year we will be happy to guess at the parts".

LOL, good sign but in this situation I am giving them the currect make, year and model.

What I am getting at is if you take the measurements they ask for it decreases the chance of a wrong part. Some times manufactures make changes as they go. All BX 23's might not be the sam even if they are the same year. When I bought my tractor I was told the lift arms had been changed and the new ones were 2" longer. If I didn't know this it would cause a problem if I ordered a TNT for a standard 1900.

I suppose that can happen but how often would it actually happen? I think we have to look at this in realistic terms. These are cylinders that have a range of motion. They are only using a few cylinders to accomplish this task. They do not have ten thousand cylinders to chose from. In reality I would venture to guess one or possbily two cylinders would fit any and all sub-cuts on the market today. Several quick easy to answer questions would suffice to order the correct one for your application. Year, brand and model? Category I, II or III? Does it have stock 3 pt hitch? Quickhitch? Do you have rear hydraulics? All of these questions could be easily answered sitting at your computer and never looking or needing to be near your tractor. That is is enough info to order any part for these units from any manufacturer except a TnT. If you want to sell a product for a particular application such as a TnT. Do you not feel the retailer has some responsibility to do some research also? Even a little DD would get the right cylinders in the hands of the consumer.

At work every time I order parts for a truck I have to give them the vin #.

I think that is my point. You give them one key piece of information and they have gone to the trouble of finding all the inofrmation for your truck. Makes sense from a retailers stand point. They get the part right the first time. They are not asking you for horse power, foot lbs of torque and other things you may no clue of the answer to. How many tractor owners know wether thier tractor has open center hydraulics or not? I would have never known the answer to that had it not been for a lot of help here on the forums. Basically it boils down to they are to lazy to do any research and are leaving it all up to the consumer. Actually not a bad idea form a retailing end. You bring me all the information and if any of it is wrong it's all your fault and they have no liability. So they have made a sale doing no research and having little to no liability for the outcome. It's just not the way I chose to do business or to purchase products. If I am going to put that much effort into it I will build my own set up.