BX Bolt Price Alert

[Anonymous Poster]

Thought I'd share what I think is an absurd dealer replacement part story. I made a directional mistake removing one of the blades on my BX2200 60" mmm resulting in snapping the head off the bolt that secures the blade to the pulley. Lucky for me, the stem of the bolt backed out of the shaft with no problem, leaving me in need of just a replacement bolt. A phone call to one of the local Kubota dealers to make sure that they have bolts in stock before making the trip turned out to be a prudent thing to do. The 1-3/16" bolt was not in stock, and if I wanted to buy one, it would cost $5.10 plus $7.50 for shipping and handling. Obviously, I am now planning to stop at a local generic hardware store to find a reasonable replacement. One would think that bolts, nuts, etc... are kept in a dealer's stock if for nothing else but to stay in the maintenance and warranty business. I shutter to think about leaving my tractor at the dealer's site and having a bolt snapped off by one of their own staff, and then being told that they will have to keep the tractor for a few more days until their next shipment of nuts and bolts arrives.

Unbelievable!

 

[theboman]

Just make sure they are the same kind of bolts. Bolts are made to be broken in many cases.
Righty = tighty
Lefty = lucy
In most cases.


Bluegrass, Pick It Up!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Sometimes bolts specially made for a manufacturer may not have the typical 8.8 10.8 etc grade markings, which can make it difficult to analyze for the layman. Also it may have a weird shank height that you won't find on a "universal" bolt. You can probably find something that will "work" but with something like a BLADE I sure hope it works well /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

del

 

[TresCrows]

Are those reverse cut bolts? I cannot remember. I do not find that price exorbatant for a high quality bolt. Some of you guys--not a flame---are accustomed to buying cheapo hardware store stuff so the first time you have to buy a quality piece of steel you have a heart palpatation. I work in the aviation industry where the failure of a bolt is catostrophic poitential--some of the bolts and fasteners I use cost hundreds of dollars for an innocent looking little bolt so 5 dollars for a quality bolt that will not break and allow the blade to go fling off somewhere into your neighbors plate glass window sounds like a deal to me. Pay the 5 bucks and next time don't get directionaly confused--honestly--that happens --I saw a top mechanic ruin a shaft on a turbine when he became confused--that bolt and the attached shaft cost about 50,000 dollars. The boss was not happy. So it goes so don't beat yourself up to bad.
I am not going to go into boltology here but suffice it to say there are many grades of bolts and grading systems --SAE, Metric--AN--MS etc. Hey motorcycles have some expensive bolts in them also cuz if one fails your butt goes skidding down the road at 60MPH--I would rather pay the 5 dollars. J

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I recognize that you get what you pay for, and that quality bolts are no exception. I did expect the bolt to cost a few bucks, but what I found to be the issue was that the bolt had to be ordered as a stand-alone item with full shipping and handling costing more than the bolt. Certainly a few bolts could have been added to the dealer's next batch of nuts and bolts to maintain inventory, but that wasn't even offered.

My search with other local dealers and/or hardware store continues for one in stock.

 

[huckflynn]

I had a similar experience when getting shear pins for my snowblower. The local dealer charged me over $5 for a single bolt (without the washer or nut.)

I considered using stuff from the hardware store but decided I'd put a call in to Carver's (http://carverequipment.com/) first. Carver's came back with something like a 10 pack for 17.50 including nuts and washers. I didn't have to leave the house -- the trip to the store alone would have been worth $17.50 in gas and time.

(and these were the true *Kubota* parts)

Huck

 

[MikeGross]

I lost one of the bolts for mounting one of my wheel rims. Since I knew I would eventually have an oil and air filter change due, I ordered them all together to save on shipping. Check out http://tractorsmart.com for mail order. They seem to have reasonable prices and be well stocked.

-Mike

 

[MarkV]

TresCrows,

A buddy of mine does nothing but inspect "cone bolts" for one of the major airlines. Heck, I didn't even know what a cone bolt was, so he gave me one that didn't pass. Tells me that these bolts cost $1500 each and that is without the nut and washer. But hey, two or three of them hold the engine on big planes. I guess, given the job they do, that isn't to much for a bolt./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

MarkV

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Yeah, but look at the good side. If the dealer DOES stock the commonly needed items it means that bolt will probably never break again since he doesn't stock it/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

 

[boatman]

you have to look at it from the dealers side. he buys the bolt from kubota someone has to pay for the shipping. i would not sub the wrong bolt here. you can ask the dealer to include the bolt on his next stock order or try another dealer who will. depending on the size of the dealer there is no way to stock every nut, bolt, hose ect of every tractor, deck and so on.