Deck parts

[OutbackL130]

I'm rebuilding the 60" deck for my john deere 420 and need to order new bearings and a belt. On the jd parts catalog there are two versions of the deck with different serial number ranges. I'm assuming the serial number goes by the tag on the deck and not the serial number of the tractor?

 

[joecdeere]

yes, use the serial number for the deck

 

[JD420]

Yes it's the serial number on the deck. I just put bearings in the deck on my 420. I was told it was a difference in the spacers and if it was a greasable spindle or non greasable

 

[LD1]

You can get the same or better quality bearing for less money if you ditch the JD parts catalog. Measure the bearings and get them online or from a bearing retailer. Likely a 6200 series bearing.

Same with the belt.

I NEVER buy bearings, seals, or belts from the MFG of the machine. JD dont make bearings. So for them to sell them, they mark them up big time.

 

[JD420]

I agree with LD1 that John Deere doesn't make the bearings but they buy them from a out side manufacture. But they do have them manufactured to specific tolerances. Just because a bearing is the name number doesn't mean it's been made to the same quality standards. I used to think the same thing until talking with a person that worked for Timkin bearings and was telling me about the different ways they market the same bearing but with different tolerances. I would suspect that the belts are the same way. After 15 years of gm dealership experience as a technician I would tend to say that is true. 99% of your aftermarket parts aren't worth the time it takes to install them. It's much easier and more cost efficient to pay a little more the first time than to do the same repair two or three times due to poor quality parts. But that's just my two cents worth everyone has there own opinion. I wouldn't waste my time with anything but factory replacement parts.

 

[LD1]

It's much easier and more cost efficient to pay a little more the first time than to do the same repair two or three times due to poor quality parts. But that's just my two cents worth everyone has there own opinion. I wouldn't waste my time with anything but factory replacement parts.

I disagree.

I am not talking about buying a $2 from the cheapest Chinese source online. I dislike OEM cause you never know where their bearings came from. They may have done just that, and sourced to the cheapest at that time.

I would rather buy a SKF, NTN, Nachi, Timken, RPH, MRC, or any other that I have come to know and trust. I like to know what I am getting, and buying OEM, ya never know...

So I agree with you that it is much easier and cost efficient to do it right the first time, but how we get there is where we go astray.

 

[JD420]

I get what your saying about not buying the cheapest Chinese product out there but my point was that quality manufactures build there product to different standards. For instances when G M asks for a bid on a wheel bearing they include the required tolerances and quality requirements for that part. So when you buy the same part number wheel bearing from napa or koi it doesn't mean it's been manufactured to the same spec as the one sold by G M. But I will say sadly over the past years the quality of the factory parts has sadly declined to the how can we make it cheaper vs how can we make it last and the higher price you pay worth it.

 

[LD1]

Thats why I listed quality manufactures that I have come to know and trust their products.

I have a hard time believing that SKF or Timken build a lesser quality bearing under their own name than they do for GM, Deere, or any other large MFG

 

[JD420]

You would think that would be the case. But The ac Delco parts you get at napa or koi are not factory replacment parts the are what's called there advantage line. But the are marketed as gm parts. Our dealer also sells them and they are not even close in quality. But they are boxed almost identical. I don't know why we even stock the. Because none of the techs will use them do to high failure rate of some of the parts. I don't under stand why a company would put its name on a cheap part but they do and it makes them look bad.

 

[JD420]

To me that's like saying that a L A series jd tractor is going to have the same manufacturing quality as X7** series will have just because its produced by the same company. When in reality the differance between the two is huge. But I encourage everyone to use there experience to make the best decision. That is just what my years in the repair field has shown me.