Foreign made Deere parts future

[CinderSchnauzer]

I am not trying to be obnoxious, and I really wanted to purchase a John Deere, but will probably be getting a Kubota L3700 instead. Please convince me this logic is wrong.

Companies have been bought / sold / merged / bankrupted since the inception of commerce. What logic have you used to convince yourself that Kubota will be here 20 years from now and even if they are why are you so sure they will still have L3700 parts?

Buy whatever brand you want and don't worry about parts in 20 years. Maybe the parts will still be available, but you won't.

 

[amaxwell]

Yannmar got out of the US market when they stsrted making tractors for Deere. Now that Deere is getting tractors made in India, China, Mexico, they are getting back in, with Cub Cadet.

I went with a Cub Cadet because it was $$$$ less than JD and has many of the same parts as my old JD 790. (dash,fenders,tail lights ,and many other parts)

Amaxwell

 

[stlawrence]

I say, buy what you need for the moment and for your foreseeable future, but don't buy for the long, long term. Chances are, you won't have the tractor in 30 years.

I'm guilty of the same thing, myself. I come up with all kinds of reasons to buy what I really want anyway. I happen to like John Deere. I'm coming to like Kubota. I'll buy one of those two, and I'll convince myself it's because of parts availability, residual value, etc. The truth is, though, it's emotionally based.

Just about all the major tractors today are pretty solid, I'm told, so it comes down to price and dealer service. Will the dealer provide pickup/drop off at no, or a fair, charge? Will he get out of bed on Sunday morning to find a part for you?

Go with what you really want. Your guts are sometimes better judge than your brains, if you know what I mean.

 

[brucew44guns]

When the guy bought my old JD 630 originally in 1959, he may have worried himself sick whether or not the parts would always be available. And 51 years later, I can walk into a JD place and get about anything for that old tractor, which it seldom needs anything. If you like that 5045, I think you should buy it. I'm a little interested in a JD 6115D, I'm not going to worry about parts. If the end of the age is coming, tractors won't matter anyhow.

 

[Rob-D]

I went with a Cub Cadet because it was $$$$ less than JD and has many of the same parts as my old JD 790. (dash,fenders,tail lights ,and many other parts)

Amaxwell

Why do people keep making this mistake?

Two companies use parts from the same supplier, one company's parts cost more. What's the difference? It's called specs. When a company gets parts they tell the supplier what criteria to meet, tolerances, materials, etc. (When I was in business this is exactly what I did, by the way).

Just because both companies use the same parts does not mean that they are comparable.

True story.... Walmart had an ad with two cans of Hill Brother's coffee side by side. Both cans were the same. Walmart showed the prices also and of course their price was less, much less in fact. What's the difference? Walmart speced less coffee in the can.

Caveat emptor, just because you buy a product that uses parts from the same supplier as another product does not insure you get the same quality. That's what they want you to think and the hook sets very deep!

Rob

ps:

Let's say I run a company that machines brake cylinders for cars. A company comes to me and says these are the tolerances we want. That means I have to bore those cylinders to a spec. If the carbide cutter I'm using to bore those cylinders wears to a limit I change it OR the tolerances run out. You may go to the same company and give them 'looser' tolerances so they get to run that cutter past the wear point I speced. The result? You get a cheaper part that doesn't last as long.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Why do people keep making this mistake?

Two companies use parts from the same supplier, one company's parts cost more. What's the difference? It's called specs. When a company gets parts they tell the supplier what criteria to meet, tolerances, materials, etc.

while I am sure there are some examples of that, in the AG business there are many companies springing up (Tisco, A&I, etc) who specialize in buying the same parts from the suppliers the OEMs are using but selling them at a discount. If the parts where different the OEM would own the patents and design and these guys would be out of business. This is not a difference in specs... its the same stuff. Its much cheaper to design around commonly available parts than it is to reinvent the wheel.

 

[Rob-D]

while I am sure there are some examples of that, in the AG business there are many companies springing up (Tisco, A&I, etc) who specialize in buying the same parts from the suppliers the OEMs are using but selling them at a discount. If the parts where different the OEM would own the patents and design and these guys would be out of business. This is not a difference in specs... its the same stuff. Its much cheaper to design around commonly available parts than it is to reinvent the wheel.

Think about what you're saying. A large company like JD is going to pay MORE for parts than another seller with less clout when they're both buying from the same supplier?

It's not a matter of "owning patents" I duplicate a part, that doesn't mean it's built to the same specs. I can tell the supplier to use looser tolerances. He doesn't care, it's just a matter of letting a cutter run a few more cuts or passing parts with a wider range of acceptability.

I want my part to say, "genuine JD, Kubota or whatever". I've looked at some of the tractors coming out. I won't name brands but they're not up to what I see in my tractor. They look good until you get up close. What do you think is going on under the hood and in the gear box? The metalurgy, the casting quality, etc.
I think there are a lot of people who don't know how to tell quality in a machine. That's not me, I've run CNC lathes, I know what goes on when that spindle turns.

Deere? It's not perfect but it's a very well designed machine with quality parts. Five years down the road, who knows.

That's my two cents on it.

Rob

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Think about what you're saying. A large company like JD is going to pay MORE for parts than another seller with less clout when they're both buying from the same supplier?

They are not paying more, they are marking them up more. If you want several real world examples take a look at

A&I Products: A leading manufacturer and distributor of agricultural and industrial products

(who incidently, Deere now owns a controlling interest in... wonder why?)

and

tisco web site | tisco Home Page

I won't name brands but they're not up to what I see in my tractor.

no doubt thats true, however I'd make a case it has more to do with the engineering and how those parts are used than it is the initial quality of the parts that are chosen.

 

[DavesTractor]

It's nothing less than the destruction of the middle class, but the rich will do just fine, thank you. Wouldn't want them to pay any taxes, would we?

OK, I can't just leave that dangling without a response. The top 10% pay 65% of the total tax burden. Expand that to the top 25% and it is 83% of the total tax burden. The remaining 75% of people make up the remaining 17% of taxes. The idea that financial over-achievers don't pay taxes is falicious. I think most well-to-do folks would love to see everyone pay an equal percentage.

Back to tractors, I'd think the overseas JD's will have fairly good parts support for a long time, not just because they are JD, but because they had adequate quantity of them sold into the USA that if JD discontinues some parts, an entrepreneurial person will get the parts made somewhere and have himself a nice little business. And for his efforts, he may fail and lose all, or he may suceed and join those that pay 83% of all the taxes.